Does your sewing machine have a heap of decorative stitches? Did you think how cool they all were when you bought it? Have you EVER used them?? This is the prefect project to test them out.

If your sewing machine doesn’t have any decorative stitches on it, tracing around Christmas cookie cutters onto the felt and then hand embroidering over the outline would look lovely.

It’s a good idea to test out your decorative stitches on a piece of scrap felt before starting. I used a Sulky Cotton 12 for my lines because I love the shine it gives. It is a thick thread so it didn’t work for all the stitches I tried as some used very small stitch spacing. I also used an Size 90/14 Embroidery needle in the machine to make sure the thread flowed smoothly.

Felt Christmas Ornaments

You’ll need:
Felt
Tailors Chalk
Heat n Bond Ultra
Ribbon
Suitable thread for your stitches
Glitter fabric paint and paint brush (optional)

The size of felt you need depends on how big you want your decorations and how many you are making.

Using tailors chalk, mark lines along the length of the felt to use as guides when stitching. I spaced mine 1.5cm (5/8″) apart and used 7 lines.

Then choose your stitches (testing them first) and sew each stitch down a line following the chalk line. When done, give it a light press on the wrong side of the felt to flatten it out again. Cover it with baking paper to protect the iron.

On the paper side of the Heat N Bond, draw your circle to size. I added the little square at the top so it looked more realistic. Repeat for how many ornaments you are making, lining them up and making sure the tops are all level.

Cut it out roughly in one piece and then line up on the wrong side of the felt. Iron onto the felt following the directions. Again, put a piece of baking paper over the top to protect the iron.

Once completely cool, cut out along the lines.

Cut a short piece of ribbon. I used a 5cm (2″) piece. I was worried that the 1 layer of Heat n Bond wouldn’t be enough to hold the ribbon so I cut a scrap slightly smaller than the top of the ornament. I then peeled the paper off the ornament and layed the ribbon how I wanted it, then put the scrap of Heat n Bond on top. Then I very carefully ironed just the scrap onto the back of the ornament. For this step you cannot use the baking paper so very carefully keep the scrap in place with your fingers while you iron it down.

Once it has cooled, peel off the paper and then put the ornament onto a plain piece of felt. Iron it down, using baking paper to protect the iron and then once completely cool, trim the back piece of felt to the size of the front.

This step is optional but I think it finished off the ornament perfectly!
Using a paintbrush, paint some glitter fabric paint onto the top square to make it look like the little gold cap on the top of an ornament. Leave to dry overnight.