Make Leprechauns from Pipe Cleaners and Felt
Part 2 of 3 – St Patrick’s Day Crafting Project
This is a fun project for kids and grownups of all ages. This creative project shows how to make Leprechauns form pipe cleaners and felt. Get your green on!
SUPPLIES
- Pipe cleaners (3 white, 1 orange)
- Felt (green, brown)
- Thread (green, brown)
- Sewing needle (for younger kids use a blunt darning needle)
- White glue
- Hot glue
- Scissors
- Paper towel
- Construction paper scraps (black and yellow)
INSTRUCTIONS
For the head and shoulders start with one pipe cleaner, folded in half.
Make a loop for the head at one end and twist few times to make the neck.
Fold each of the 2 ends in half and twist to form the arms.
Take second pipe cleaner fold in half and wrap it around the neck and twist a few timse to form the body.
Fold each of the two ends in half and twist to form the legs and feet.
Follow directions as pictured here:
To make the leprechaun’s face take a piece of paper towel and shape it into a wadded ball, the front side should be smooth.
Fit the wadded paper towel into the head loop of the pipe cleaner body. Glue around the edge where the paper towel and pipe cleaner meet, do the same to the back of the head, gluing paper towel to pipe cleaner edge.
Paint or wipe a thin coat of white glue over the face side of the head and let dry. Once the glue is dry trim any excess paper towel from the back of the head. You can paint or glue eyes and facial features. We decided to keep ours without faces, just because.
To Make the Leprechaun’s Clothes
Use your pipe cleaner figure as a guide for tracing the pants, vest and shoes using the basic shapes shown below.
Stitch the pants starting with the side seams, leaving the waist open.
Stitch the inner leg seams leaving the foot holes open. Put the pants on the leprechaun body.
Wrap the leprechaun’s arms with a green pipe cleaner to make the sleeves. Find the middle and wrap each end evenly around the arms.
With a needle and thread stitch the vest shoulder seams back and front, remember to leave an opening for each arm to fit through and stitch the side seams.
Put the vest on the leprechaun body and stitch the front closed. We added seed buttons but you can use real buttons or thicker yarn to look like lacing down the front.
Stitch the leprechaun’s shoes leaving the top open for the feet to fit in. Put the shoes on your leprechaun and bend the feet until they look how you want them.
To Make the Leprechaun’s Top Hat
Start with a strip of green felt 3″ w x 1 1/2″ high
For the brim cut a felt circle (approx 1 5/8″) (Cut a tiny opening in the very centre of the circle before gluing to brim, this will make it easier to insert scissors to make the opening for the leprechaun’s head to fit into.)
Cut another felt circle slightly smaller than the brim, this is for the top of the hat. After the glue is dry trim any excess from edges.
Join the band together with hot glue to form the hat pipe.
Put a bead of hot glue around the bottom edge and secure to the centre of the large felt circle and apply light pressure to bond.
Run a bead of hot glue around the edge of other end and press into centre of the smaller felt circle, apply light pressure to bond.
For the hat band cut a thin strip of black construction paper, long enough to wrap around the hat.
For the buckle cut a small rectangle from yellow construction paper and a smaller rectangle from the black paper.
Wrap hat band around the hat and glue ends together at the back of the hat.
To make the Leprechaun’s hair take an orange pipe cleaner and fold in half, squeeze the bent end together and use this as the pointy bottom of the beard. Wrap pipe cleaner around face to create side burns, in a W pattern wrap the remaining pipe cleaner around the leprechaun’s head and hot glue in place at the back of the head just below where the hat will be.
Insert scissors in the tiny hole you made in the brim circle, cut a small X to make an opening for the leprechaun’s head. Fit hat in place over hair and hot glue in place.
Tadda! These lovely fellows are ready to celebrate St Paddy’s Day!
If you try this project we’d love to see a photo. Post your masterpiece on Nana’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/GetCreativeWithNana
UP NEXT… How to make a Pot of Gold from polymer clay and gravel
Don’t miss the tutorial on How to Make Fairies from pipe cleaners and paper ribbon: http://getcreativewithnana.com/how-to-make-fairies-from-paper-ribbon-and-pipe-cleaners
