Wizard of Oz

When my sister and I were little, my grandmother bought us a Christmas ornament at a church bazaar. It was a little felt Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and was covered with beads and sequins. My sister still has the original ornament in her collection. It wasn't until a few years ago that I learned the ornament had been made from a Bucilla kit that included the other 3 main characters.

I began looking on Ebay for an old kit. I could find them, but they were ridiculously expensive, typically going for around $75. One day last fall, I took a quick gander on Ebay and found that mere moments earlier, someone had listed a kit with a "buy it now" price of $35. I pounced immediately!

Before I cut anything out, I made copies of all the pieces so I could make a set for Jenny and a set for myself. Then I measured all the sequins and got online to order extras. I'd never done one of these bead-and-sequin ornaments before. Yikes -- I about went cross-eyed! There were a million tiny little pieces to keep up with. The kit called for the faces to be embroidered and satin-stitched, which I did. On the copies, I cut out little pieces of felt for the noses and cheeks and stitched them on. They were a labor of love, but it was all worth it. They turned out beautiful!

Here's Dorothy from the kit. I only had to make one since Jenny has one. I don't know why she's wearing red instead of the standard pale blue. Her beading was the most tedious since the beads and sequins made a plaid pattern on her dress. That hair wasn't much fun, either!




This is the tin man. That's the kit on the left and the copy on the right. The one from the kit was more difficult because the shiny metal vinyl was very difficult to sew through. The stuff I used for the 2nd one was from the fabric store and was softer.




This is the kit on the right and the copy on the left. The scarecrow presented its own challenges because I did him a little different than the directions. I like to sew everything front-to-back and then stuff it. The pattern had some kooky directions for putting the yarn on first, stitching and stuffing the head, and then slipping it over the body piece like a helmet. Yuck. I like my way better, though working around that yarn wasn't much fun.




That's the kit on the left and the copy on the right. I think you can clearly see why the lion was a nightmare! I didn't glue the mane, because I thought hot glue would be too stiff. Instead, I made a loop of yarn, then tacked it. And just went around the whole head like that. And because I wanted the mane very full, it literally took hours. But I'm so glad I did! I know he looks good in the picture, but he's amazing in person!



I doubt my sister has any idea that three other ornaments exist. I've never mentioned it to her. She will be SHOCKED when I give these to her and I can't wait!!