I can’t believe how quickly time scurries by… Four years ago we shared our Advent Celebration with our readers. It is a four week long program and each week we focused on a different theme: Week 1 – Gift Giving from the Heart, Week 2 – Symbols of Christmas, Week 3 – Celebrating with Family, and Week 4 – Birth of Jesus. I never completely finished Week 4, and I know at this time of year I start getting emails asking me if I would. So, finally, I am finishing our Advent Celebration. If you are interested in checking it out to use with your family, you can read all about it HERE. Over the next week I will make sure all the links work properly and I will finish all the tutorials for Week 4.

Each week has an applique block that goes along with the week. Today, we are sharing our Nativity Applique Block.  Like all of our appliques, it was designed to fit on a 6″ x 6″ block but it can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. These year we hope to turn the unit into a magazine format like we are doing with our Simple Seasons Curriculum. In the meantime, you can look over the unit now and decide if it is something you would like to do with your wee ones for this coming Advent.

The Pattern for the Nativity Applique Block can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Enlarge and Reduce Patterns can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Cut Out Felt can be found HERE.

The Stitching Glossary can be found HERE.

Our Gallery of all our Appliques can be found HERE.

NOTE: There are many pieces to this applique. When you see dotted lines on individual pattern pieces, they show placement of other pieces or when they are along an edge, that part of the piece is meant to be under another piece. Using the pattern for placement, I highly suggest you baste the body and robe pieces to your block before you start stitching. It is a bit of a puzzle and it will help keep everything aligned. If you are not familiar with a basting stitch, it is a running stitch with long stitches that can easily be removed after you stitch the pieces in place.

DIRECTIONS – Refer to the Pattern and Photo for applique placement and cutting instructions.

  • Make a copy of the pattern.
  • Cut out felt using the pattern and photo for guidance. Transfer any embroidery markings.
  • Using a long running stitch, baste the body and robe pieces to the block, overlapping pieces as shown on the pattern pieces. This basting stitch will be removed later.
  • Using a running stitch, sew neckline and hem of the body to the block using 2 strands of floss.
  • Using a blanket stitch, sew robe pieces to the block using 2 strands of floss. The top part of the robes will overlap the bottom parts of the robe.
  • Remove basting stitch.
  • Using a running stitch, sew Jesus’ body, the faces and Joseph’s beard to the block using 2 strands of floss.
  • Using a stem stitch, embroider the star, halos, Joseph’s staff and Jesus’ body detail using 6 strands of floss.
  • Using a straight stitch, embroider eyes and mouths using 2 strands of floss.
  • Using French knots, embroider hair and star points using 6 strands of floss.