Felt Animal Keychains for Beginners

5 min read

Felt animal keychains are one of the friendliest first sewing projects you can try, because felt does not fray, the pieces are small, and a finished keychain takes under an hour. A cat, a bear, or a bunny made from felt looks charming on a bag or a set of keys, and the same pattern can become a gift, a stocking stuffer, or a craft fair item. Beginners like this project because mistakes are easy to hide, since a slightly crooked ear still reads as handmade character. You need only a few supplies, and most of them cost less than a cup of coffee.

Start with craft felt sheets in the colors of your chosen animal, plus embroidery thread, a needle, small scissors, polyester stuffing, and a keychain ring with a short chain.

Picking Felt and Simple Animal Shapes

Choose wool blend felt when you can, because it cuts cleanly, holds its shape, and feels nicer than thin acrylic felt. Acrylic felt works fine for a first try, but it can stretch and pill, so buy the thickest sheets your shop carries.

Pick animals with big, simple shapes for your first keychain, such as

a bear with round ears
a cat with triangle ears
a chick with a round body

Animals with long legs or thin tails are harder to stuff and sew, so save those for later.

Limit your first animal to three or four felt colors so the project stays simple and the result looks tidy. A bear needs brown for the body, tan for the muzzle, and black for the eyes and nose, which is plenty.

Cutting Clean Pieces Without Fraying

Sharp scissors matter more than any other tool for felt, because dull blades chew the edges and leave fuzzy bits. Use small embroidery scissors for curves and detail pieces, and keep the blades close to the felt as you cut. Pin the pattern to the felt or trace around it with a fabric marker, then cut just inside the traced line so no marker shows on the finished piece. Cut each piece twice for the front and back, flipping the pattern for the back so the pieces mirror each other.

Cut on a flat surface with good light, and rotate the felt rather than your hand when you reach a curve, which keeps the cut smooth. If an edge looks ragged, trim it with tiny snips instead of trying to fix it with glue, since glue can stain felt and stiffen it.

Stitching Faces and Details

Sew the face details onto the front piece before you join the front and back, because it is far easier to stitch on a flat piece. Use two strands of embroidery thread for eyes and noses, and make small, even stitches so the face looks neat. French knots make good eyes on small animals, while a satin stitch fills a nose or a belly patch smoothly. If you are nervous about embroidery, glue on tiny black beads for eyes, but stitch through the bead twice so it cannot pull off in a pocket.

Keep facial features simple and symmetrical, since one large eye and one small eye will make the whole animal look lopsided. Mark the eye positions with tiny dots of fabric marker before you stitch, and step back to check the spacing. Blush cheeks made with a dab of pink fabric paint or a small circle of pink felt add a sweet finish.

Stuffing and Shaping the Body

Join the front and back with a blanket stitch or a whip stitch, leaving a one inch opening for stuffing. Use matching thread so the stitches blend in, and keep your stitches small and even, about an eighth of an inch apart. Push small bits of polyester stuffing into the body with the blunt end of a pencil, starting with the ears and tail, then filling the head and body. Stuff firmly enough that the animal holds its shape, but not so tightly that the seams strain or the felt puckers.

Close the opening with the same stitch once the animal feels plump and even, and check that both sides look symmetrical. If one ear looks floppy, add a tiny bit more stuffing behind it, and if the body looks lumpy, pull out a pinch of stuffing and redistribute it. Squeeze the animal gently and look at it from all sides, since keychains get viewed from every angle.

Attaching the Keychain Hardware

Attach the keychain ring with a sturdy loop of ribbon, a strip of felt, or a short ball chain threaded through the top of the animal. Sew the loop through the top seam twice with strong thread, since a keychain gets tugged every day and a single stitch will fail. A split ring is the most secure option, while a lobster clasp makes it easy to move the keychain between bags. Test the join by giving the ring a firm tug before you call the keychain finished.

Trim any loose threads and check that no stuffing pokes out of the seams, because small details decide whether a keychain looks handmade in a good way or unfinished. Make a second keychain right away using the same pattern, since the second one always goes faster and turns out neater.

Questions this article did not answer? Chances are DIY Gift Ideas for Kids: Creative & Thoughtful Handmade Presents or one of the guides below covers it.

Reference: Keychains — Wikipedia

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