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The same year I made the felt Christmas stockings, I made these felt ornaments for my own family and our extended family and friends. They were super easy. I completed about 40 of them in a couple of evenings, while relaxing on the couch watching my favorite Jane Austen movies.

Supplies

  • Felt in deep, rich colors
  • White embroidery floss, or your choice of color with good contrast
  • Embroidery needle
  • Polyester stuffing
  • Trinkets to sew on the front
  • Wire ornament hangers

Instructions

1. Cut out the felt. Cut out two matching pieces of felt for each ornament. Choose simple shapes — such as hearts, squares and circles — that are about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. You can make yourself a template for each shape out of cardboard or by using the shapes you first successfully cut out of felt.

2. Blanket-stitch 2 matching pieces together for each ornament. Use 2 threads for all stitching. Stitch around entire ornament, but leave a 1-inch opening. With needle dangling and threaded, stuff ornament with polyester filling. Finish stitching it closed. You can find information on how to blanket-stitch at ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Simplicity. Refer to the pictures of my ornaments for a general idea of the look you want to achieve. If you’re not using white embroidery floss, choose a color that contrasts well with the felt color(s).

3. Attach trinket to front of ornament. For this step, use just 1 thread of the embroidery floss to sew the trinket to the front of the ornament. How you attach it will depend on the type of trinket you choose. Very often there will be a little circle at the top that is meant for using thread or wire to attach the trinket to some object.

4. Add a hanger. This can be accomplished in 2 ways. You may poke a wire ornament hanger through the stitching at the top of the ornament. You may also create a thread hanger — use 1 strand of the embroidery floss and sew through the top of the ornament. Instead of drawing the thread tight, leave a loop while you push the needle through the top of the ornament about 3 more times. Each time, leave a loop that matches the size of the first loop. Next, stitch a couple of tight stitches (without leaving a loop) to secure the thread hanger.

That’s it! If you have comments or questions, please comment below.

© Copyright 2006 by Wardee Harmon. Used with permission from the author.