We wanted to make some pretty traditional ornaments to go on our light up twigs this Christmas. Since we are currently sewing-machine-less due to an accident with an over-zealous daughter and a large wedge of material, it is handsewing all the way. This time we thought we would add some festive fabrics to our staple felt sewing; I got mine at Hobbycraft but I think the Etsy ones I linked to are much nicer.

I loved that everyone could access these on their own level; the older ones of us beaded them and the younger ones just did stitching, which was a great opportunity for her to work on even stitching and straight lines. The results are stunning and, hung in among Christmas lights, they look very lovely indeed.

These are really simple to construct; draw out some shapes on fabric/felt by using cookie cutters as templates (or anything else festive shaped; I will try to add a printable soon). You need two inner (smaller) shapes, one for the front and one for the back.

Next place this shape on the felt/fabric for the outer (larger) shape. Draw or cut round it with a margin of 0.75cm so it has an edging.

We used a few different methods for completing them:

For the small white star with a heart, I glued it all together and only stitched the hanger in at the end; I left a space in the gluing and stitching from the inside so no ends showed, placed the felt hanger and then glued up around it.

For the circle Josie glued fabric to felt and stitched her button on to each side.We glued it together and stitched the hanger in and then she stitched a white decorative circle.

With all the beaded stars, create the completed felt object, gluing the two sides together. Insert a needle between the felt pieces and come out of one side. Thread a seed bead on and go back into the same place with the needle, this time going right through to the other side. Thread another bead, then stitch back down, this time going at a slight angle so the next bead can be sited a little further along without any stitches showing on the outside.

My Christmas Crafts Pinterest Board has loads of ideas to make use of, including lots of handsewn decorations.

After we had made the above decorations, I found this pin which is even nicer!