Learn to make this adorable pair –  Mr. and Mrs. Claus – for your holiday décor.

While exploring options on our CreateForLess website for red and white Christmas ornaments, I came across this book Twenty to Make Pompom Christmas by Alistar Macdonald.

I just had to make the Mr. & Mrs. Claus in the book because they were so cute!

The full supply list and instructions to make the pompom figures are in the Twenty to Make Pompom Christmas book. The supplies listed below reflect the changes I made due to the supplies I had available. I purchased one inch wooden balls for the heads and made 2″ red pompoms for the body. This size turned out to be too small for the Santa hat, so I improvised. I decided to make 2″ heads with needle felted white wool roving and 3-1/2″ red pompoms for the body – which worked well with the hat size.

The Susan Bates Pom-Pom Maker Easy Wrap worked great for making the pompoms. For more needle felting information, please check out my blog posting on Hedgehog Needle Felting Fun and the numerous online tutorials.

Here are the supplies I used:

• Twenty to Make Pompom Christmas – for the instructions and illustrations
• Susan Bates Pom-Pom Maker Easy Wrap
• Red yarn
• White yarn 
• White wool roving
• Wistyria Editions Wool Roving 12 in. Flesh (optional for pink cheeks)
• White pencil roving – this makes great hair!
• Needle felting tools
• Clover Natural Fit Leather Thimble – Medium (index finger) and Large (thumb) for protection from felting needles
• Button/s to embellish Mrs. Claus
• Chenille stems – red and white
• Glue
• Jesse James Dress It Up Embellishments Micro-Minis Round Black for the eyes
• White pearl cotton, floss or thread for sewing on the eyes
• Doll needle with large enough for 2 strands of yarn
• Thin gold wire – for eyeglasses
• Jewelry making pliers
• Red floss or pearl cotton #5 for the mouth of Mrs. Claus
• Chenille needle size 24
• Fabric scraps for Mrs. Claus’s hat and scarf (ribbon optional)
• Toilet paper cardboard tube

The above photo shows the 2″ needle felted ball for the head, 1″ white pompom for the hat, the 3-1/2″ pompom for the body and the hat under construction.

I made the white ring by bending a white chenille stem into a circle to fit the head and wrapped it with white yarn. The red part of the hat is made with four chenille stems folded in half,  twisted into a hat shape, trimmed and the ends folded around a 1/2″ slice from a toilet paper cardboard tube.

The hat was then wrapped with chunky red yarn and the white pompom was added – all with glue. The instructions called for white chunky yarn for the hair. I had white pencil roving which worked well – it coordinated with the needle felted head and contrasted with the white in the hat. My first reaction was that Santa was looking a little Rastafarian with dreadlocks!

Pulling the fibers apart helped a lot! The glasses were made with thin gold wire and jewelry pliers. After all the parts were assembled, my Santa looked similar but different than the author’s version, but still quite handsome!

Mrs. Claus was made the same way. The pencil roving made great hair – look at her bun in the back! I glued each loop and then held it in place with a dressmaker pin until the glue dried. The red bow in her hair is actually the yarn from the red pompom pulled up through her head with the doll needle to secure the two sections. I learned from missing this step for Mr. Claus – it was better to do this step before the hat is secured!

I had to remake the hat to fit her head and it is still a bit small. It just sits on top so her hair bun can show in the back. Look at those pink cheeks! I needle felted a very small piece of Wistyria Editions Wool Roving 12 in. Flesh on her cheeks. I am thinking Santa needs some too!

Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus are adding a bit of holiday cheer in our office…

sitting in front of the Christmas Wreath Mini Quilt I blogged about recently. Oh… Hedgehog is photobombing the picture!

The two leftover 2″ pompoms made a fun ornament cut into cubes and decorated with a bow. This was another idea from Twenty to Make Pompom Christmas – which is now on Clearance so get your copy before they are all gone!