Felt Templates: How to Make Your Own and Transfer Them to Felt

Every tidy felt shape begins as a piece of paper. Felt templates are simply paper or card outlines that you cut once and reuse, and making your own is easier than it sounds: almost any craft shape breaks down into circles, rectangles, triangles and a fold down the middle.

Two skills are involved. The first is drawing a clean, symmetrical shape. The second is getting that shape onto felt accurately, which is harder than on woven fabric because felt is thick, fuzzy and does not take a pencil line well. Four transfer methods solve that, each suited to a different size of piece.

What You Need

• Plain paper for drafting and thin card, such as an empty cereal box, for templates you will reuse
• Pencil, ruler and paper scissors
• Round objects to trace: a glass, a jar lid, a coin
• Freezer paper and an iron
• Clear tape
• Fine pins
• A disappearing or water-erasable fabric pen, plus a white pencil or chalk for dark felt

Drawing Your Own Felt Templates From Basic Shapes

Folded paper is the secret to symmetry. Draw half the shape against a fold, cut through both layers and open it out: the two sides match exactly.

• Heart: fold a 3 in (7.5 cm) square in half. Starting at the bottom of the fold, draw a curve that swells out and returns to the fold about 1/2 in (1.2 cm) below the top.
• Leaf: fold a 3 x 1 1/2 in (7.5 x 4 cm) rectangle lengthwise and cut one shallow arc from end to end.
• Circle: trace around a glass or lid. For rings, trace a smaller lid in the center.
• Star: trace a 3 in (7.5 cm) circle and mark five evenly spaced points on its edge, like 12, about 2:30, 5, 7 and 9:30 on a clock face. Join every second point with a ruler, then cut along the outer outline only.
• Cloud: overlap three traced coin or lid circles along a straight baseline.

More complex outlines are combinations of these. A simple house is a square plus a triangle; a mushroom is half a circle on a rounded rectangle. The whale, owl and fox in the guide to felt animals are all built the same way, from a traced circle and a few ruled lines.

To resize a shape, draw it inside a larger or smaller starting square or circle rather than trying to enlarge by eye. Once the paper version looks right, trace it onto card for anything you expect to cut more than a few times.

Four Ways to Transfer a Template to Felt

1. Freezer paper

Freezer paper has a matte side you can draw on and a shiny side that sticks temporarily to fabric when warmed. Trace the shape on the matte side, cut it out roughly, and place it shiny side down on the felt. Press with a dry iron on a low setting for a few seconds until it grips. Cut through paper and felt together along the line, then peel the paper away. It leaves no marks and the piece can usually be reused several times.

2. Clear tape

Lay the paper template on the felt and cover it completely with clear tape, extending the tape onto the felt on all sides. Cut along the outline through tape, paper and felt at once, then lift the tape off. Nothing shifts, which makes this the best method for very small pieces. The tape will leave some stickiness on the scissor blades, so wipe them afterward.

3. Pin and cut

Pin the paper to the felt with two or more fine pins placed inside the shape, and cut around the paper edge. It is fast and needs no extra supplies. It works well for pieces larger than about 2 in (5 cm); on smaller ones the pins distort the felt and get in the way of the scissors.

4. Trace with a disappearing pen

Hold a card template firmly on the felt and draw around it with a fabric pen using light, short strokes, since felt drags at the tip. Cut just inside the line so no ink remains on the piece. Trace on the back of the felt where possible, and always test the pen on a scrap, because some inks are slow to fade on certain felts. On dark felt, use a white pencil or chalk.

Which Method to Choose

Whichever method you use, the cutting technique is the same, and the advice on long strokes and turning the felt in how to cut felt applies to all four.

Mirrored Pieces and Layers

Symmetrical shapes can be cut in any direction, but asymmetrical ones need attention. A stuffed shape needs a front and a back that are mirror images, so trace the template once face up and once face down. If you trace on the back of the felt, remember that the finished piece will be reversed, which matters for anything that points left or right.

For layered designs, make a separate template for each layer instead of cutting one drawing apart, and add a small margin where a lower piece tucks under an upper one. Planning those overlaps is covered in the guide to felt applique.

Storing Templates

• Keep each project’s pieces together in an envelope or zip bag, with a rough sketch of the finished item on the outside.
• Punch a hole in card templates and string a set on a loop of cord or a binder ring.
• Replace paper templates when the edges become soft or nicked; a worn edge transfers its wobbles to every piece.

Practice Exercise

Draw one heart on a folded 3 in (7.5 cm) square and transfer it four times, once with each method. Stack the four felt hearts: the closest match to the paper original is the method that suits your scissors and felt best.