Christmas Ornament Tutorial!

Ok, this is my first tutorial, so be gentle with me, dear readers!

My most recent project has been these fun and easy handmade Christmas ornaments! As I’ve said before, I’m normally a knitter, but I have carpal tunnel and sometimes I have to take a break from the knitting. My hands like to be busy though so I decided I needed a simple sewing project. I also needed some easy but cute gifts to give as last minute gifts and to people I don’t know well but am still expected to give a gift to. Extended family, family friends, etc…

I would say this project is definitely beginner friendly! I am not very good when it comes to sewing. I tend to lack the patience for the exact measurements needed for many sewing projects so I like to keep it simple. So I’m short on technical terms here but it’s all pretty easy! So lets get started, shall we?

Lets start with what you’ll need:

• Whatever fabric catches your eye
• A sewing needle
• Some thread that works with your fabric
• Some buttons (I scavenged mine from some clothing that couldn’t be saved. I like them kinda random)
• Scissors
• A marker (I used a sharpie, not pictured)
• Ribbon, string, or twine
• Some fiber fill or whatever you like to stuff things with

And off we go

Remember how I said I’m not so good with the exact measurements? I turned my fabric over on the back side and folded it in half. Then I drew the pattern on the back side of one half of my folded fabric.

Remember how I said I’m not so good with the exact measurements? I turned my fabric over on the back side and folded it in half. Then I drew the pattern on the back side of one half of my folded fabric.

Then, holding the fabric together (you could pin it first to keep everything in place but I just hold them together) I cut out the shape I’d drawn on my fabric. I used a fine point sharpie. You can use whatever you are comfortable drawing on your fabric with. I knew my pen marks would be hidden by the time I was done so I wasn’t worried about it, I’m a little devil may care with my sewing.

You could also draw your pattern a little bigger than you intend it to be and cut just inside your lines thus eliminating them completely.

For reference, my trees are right around 3 inches tall from trunk to tip and 2 ½ inches wide at the widest part 

So, now I have two Christmas tree shapes and some scraps. For this one I tried using my scraps to stuff my tree, it wasn’t quite enough and in the future I will stick with fiber fill but if you have enough scraps, it’s a nice way to use every part of your fabric. Plus, if you’re lazy like me, it’s less clean up!

Now we begin sewing. I used a blanket stitch but you could use just about any stitch you’re comfortable with. I imagine you could make a ton of these if you used a sewing machine but sewing machines and I never got along and they don’t give me the busy, happy hands feeling I get from hand sewing things. What’s nice about these is that I wanted them to look handmade and a little rustic so if your stitches are a little uneven it just adds to that affect!

I should also mention that you could straight pin your pieces together before you start sewing but for something this small, I didn’t bother. Lol I usually end up stabbing myself with the straight pins so I use them as little as possible.

Since I used a wider piece of ribbon, I had to switch to your average run of the mill stitch for the apex of the tree. This is where the button comes in handy later. The button, or your tree topper, if you will, helps distract from the fact that stitch changes.

To add the ribbon I slid it between the two pieces of fabric. I placed it down just far enough so that the corners of the ribbon were hidden within the body of the tree. You can just hold it in place but I found it much easier to just put a pin in it. Everything stays in place and your fingers don’t have to worry about holding onto the ribbon as well. 

So continue stitching everything closed. On the second side of the tree I stitched a little more and then with about an inch opening left, I stuffed my tree. You’ll want to make sure you stuff the trunk of the tree and make sure some filling gets into the tip of the tree so it’s not floppy. I used the end of a knitting needle to get the filling into the small spaces but you could use just about anything, the end of a pen, or your fingers if they aren’t all pudgy like mine.

Once stuffed, finish sewing up the side and you’re almost done! Sew a button tree topper on each side of your tree so it looks good from all angles and you’re done!

Merry Christmas

Author: Sweet Von Pea (AKA Meagan Ingerman)