Winter Caroler Tutorial, Kits to Make Her, and a Giveaway!

I have been working on these forever!  Not that they are a lot of work, but I love them so much that I bring them out at night and embroider faces, or decide that I have to make another one out of more thrifted fabric that I have found.   They are so fun to make and my kids love them too~ they have a cute shape, little winter outfits, and since I weighted the bottom, they stand up no matter how you set them (or throw them with some reprimands by their mother) down.  The inspiration to make them came from this girl I found at a rummage sale 2 summers ago.  That's how long these have been in my head!

  I have made a group of carolers.  Usually I just do 2 or 3 of something before I move on to a new project, but you have to make a whole group of carolers, right?  I have like 4 more that don't have finished faces yet.  Travis thinks I may be going a little crazy for the carolers and some of these may have to be gifted to make room for other Christmas decorations.

 Won't they be cute on the mantel when all my Christmas decorations are out?  The cool thing about these is that they look great and are SO EASY!  Also, they are made from repurposed materials so we got that going for us too.  Here is the tutorial~

Download Caroler

I am going to be selling kits of the materials to make these in my ETSY shop. I have lots of extra since i bought yards of that nice red tweedy wool when I found it.  Hopefully I'll list those in the shop tomorrow.  In the shop now!  Leave a comment here telling me about any personal Christmas caroling experience you may have had (or lack there of and just say hi!) and I will choose a random commenter to send a Caroler kit for free!   It will include all the materials to make your own.  I'll choose the winner on Thursday, December 2nd.

The give away is closed and lovely commenter Sharon from TN won.  BUT, please still tell me about your caroling!  I am having lots of fun hearing about you!  

If you make one of these, please feel free to post a picture in my gingercake tutorials flickr group. 

Comments

[christina]

Such sweet faces and those little pompoms finish them off just perfectly.

I was in choir in high school and we made many caroling trips to hospitals and senior centers. Most people were happy to see us or at least friendly, but a few elderly folks didn't mince words letting us know they were lonely all year round, not just at the holiday season.

[Jacinta]

Living in Western Australia where the weather rarely dips below 30 degrees Celcius (86 farenheit) at Christmas time, cuddled up carolers are one of those things that we only see in the movies. In fact carolling in general isn't part of Christmas life here in Oz. These cute little carolers would bring a little bit of the fantasy white Christmas into my lounge room that I hope to experience one day.

[Hannah P.]

I remember caroling as a girl scout. We caroled in a parade where we were drowned out by a marching band or something like that. My favorite part was caroling at nursing homes.

[Amy Dunn]

Very cute, love the tweeds and that aqua is gorgeous! :)

[Amy]

Those are adorable! I have never caroled by my son will be caroling at the senior center next week with the cub scouts :)

[Sara R.]

I don't think I've ever gone caroling! Does singing in the French choir count? We sang carols for the university president one year...

[Islay]

So sweet! I wish i could do faces - every time I try I end up with a slightly insane looking doll...

[Jen]

We think they're adorable!

[Zane]

I found you through Jenny's flicker project. I'm so happy to have found you.

Your carolers are beautiful. My little five-year-old "carols" every time we go to Grandmommy's house: when Grandmommy comes to the door, my daughter starts singing!

[Sharon Griffith]

I think they are adorable and I agree you do need to make a bunch to have carolers! My favorite caroler story would be the only one I have at the age of 50 something. Two years ago we were at my daughters and I always said that I never had carolers sing for me but when te kids were little we always did the caroling. So my daughter kept telling me she had a suprise for my husband and I this christmas eve and low and behold a fiend of hers and their group of carolers surprised us with our own private little show and I cried. What a warm holiday feeling that was. One I will never forget. I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season.

[Wendy]

These are precious. They remind me of when I was a kid. My mother would gather all the neighborhood kids together for Caroling practice. We must have had 20 kids in our house every Saturday. When our caroling day came, we'd hit the neighborhood singing. Mom would direct us and my father would tote a big wagon with hot cider and gingersnaps for all.

[Julie]

Hi! I live in Houston, so there are never any carrolers.. =(
But when I was a kid, my friends and I did actually go carroling once. We were about ten years old ,and there were four of us. We had just watched a Christmas movie that had caroling, and had never seen it in real life before, so we gave it a shot! I think we hit up about 6 houses before we decided to go back home. ha ha.. We didn't have much luck, but it's a fun memory!

[Rachel Soumokil]

I love your site. I found you via "The Crafty Crow's" Facebook page.

[Becky Carlin]

Although I have always wanted to go carling, I have never had the opportunity! However, one Christmas eve, after my husband and I had been really ill throughout the year, we heard some singing outside our window and found some carolers singing away in our Nebraska winter cold. How beautiful it was! I love Christmas music anyway, but this was just so personal.
I had no idea how to resond. Do you give out cookies and hot chocolate, donations, just smile? I had just purchased the candy canes to put on the tree and had just enough to share one with each caroler. So glad!
What do you do when you find carolers? I still don't know! Maybe candy canes are enough?!

[Linda]

We would go caroling every Christmas and we lived in Florida..South Florida. As a youngster we would carol at the nursing homes and retirement home and it was usually a service project. We also caroled on Christmas eve with brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles and all the little children old enough to go and sing along. It was always fun and those folks we sang for always loved the happy faces and Christmas cheer. No need to respond to carolers except to say.."Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year"

[Wendy]

Love the look of the carolers, they remind me of going caroling here in Michigan, sometimes you are so cold that your teeth make their own music!!!

[hilary]

Oh, adorable! I love their little O mouths! And caroling with my son's preschool class is about the cutest thing ever - we go door to door into all the nearby stores and retaurants.

[amy]

My mother used to drag us around the neighborhood singing while strumming her guitar. I used to be mortified on the outside, but truthfully really enjoyed the singing. Boy do I wish this stuff happened more often.
Thanks for the giveaway! The carolers are adorable.

[Lisa]

My father was burned severely, when I was in first grade. He made it home (quite prematurely and only for a few days) just so we could have Christmas. My mother always tells a caroling story about our neighbors who came to wish him a Merry Christmas and had no idea that he would have on very little clothing due to burns and skin grafts. Everyone had a good laugh, then and now.

[Helen Gillis]

These carolers are the sweetest dolls - thank you so much for sharing your pattern and directions.

Merry Christmas!!

Helen Gillis
Malden, MA

[Laura F.]

Those dolls are beautiful! Thanks for a chance to win.

[Shari @For the Little Doll In Your Life]

These are very cute, and using recycled materials makes them even better. Our family usually sings carols to our neighbors as we make the rounds delivering holiday treats to them, and we all wear our Santa hats.

[Glenyce]

Like Jacinta, no carolers in our part of the world either. Or Snow and winter woolies. We live down in Victoria, Australia and it is usually very hot here. But I love these dolls and love all white Christmas decorations. I will add this to my long list of things I must make one day. They are so cute. Thanks.

[Lise]

These are adorable!! Thanks for sharing. I've got to make some!

[eileensideways]

they look so warm in their woolen coats and scarves. cute