How To: Sew Easy Felt Christmas Tree Ornaments

Time for another festive tutorial: how to make simple felt Christmas tree decorations.

 

These ornaments are quick and easy to sew - perfect for beginners! They're also a great way to use up lots of decorative odds and ends from your stash - mix and match embellishments to create a whole set to hang on the tree.

You could also string them on some pretty ribbon to make a holiday garland, maybe with beads or felt balls or pompoms in-between the trees.
 

You will need:

- the templates at the bottom of this post
- dark green felt, brown or red felt (& optional: yellow felt)
- matching sewing threads
- sequins, beads, ricrac, ribbon, mini buttons, embroidery thread, etc to decorate the trees 
- narrow ribbon in red or green
- sewing scissors & a needle

To make the ornaments:

1) Cut out all your felt pieces. For each tree you will need 2 x tree shapes (in green), and 2 x trunk shapes (brown for a natural trunk or red for a pot).

2) Decorate one of the tree shapes. You could use sequins (sewing the sequins on with three stitches of green thread)...

... beads or mini buttons (sewing them on with a double thickness of green thread), or sew a pattern with some colourful embroidery thread (floss).

For my embroidered ornament I divided a length of thread/floss in half (using 3 out of the 6 strands) and stitched overlapping stitches to create little star shapes.

You could also decorate the tree with scraps of ribbon or ricrac. Cut the trim so it overlaps the tree as pictured, and sew it in place with running stitch in matching thread...

... then fold the ends over and secure them in place with a few whip stitches (sewing into the felt but not all the way through it).

You could also cut out a star from yellow felt and sew it to the top of the tree:

3) Use running stitch and matching thread to sew the two trunk / pot pieces together. You only need to sew along three sides, as the top (not sewn) edge will be hidden inside the finished ornament.

4) Add a ribbon loop.

Cut a length of narrow ribbon approx 5 inches (12.5cms) long. Fold it over to form a loop and sew it in position at the top of one of the felt tree shapes using dark green thread. Make sure you sew it to one of the "wrong" sides so the cut ends of the ribbon will be hidden inside the ornament when it's finished.

Sew it in place with whip stitch, sewing into the felt but not all the way through it.

5) Stitch the ornament together.

Hold or pin the two tree pieces together, with "right" sides facing outwards. Use dark green thread and running stitch to sew around the edge, stitching the layers together. When you sew along the bottom of the tree, insert the trunk / pot piece in between the two layers as pictured and sew across it, sewing through all four layers of felt to hold the trunk / pot in place.

When you've finished sewing all the way round the edge of the tree, finish your stitching neatly at the back.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only. Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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To print the templates click here to view the template sheet in another window or tab. Make sure you're viewing the image full size then print at 100%. I've added a scale so you can check if your templates have printed out correctly, but you can make them larger or smaller than mine if you prefer.

Book Review: Ultimate Papercraft Bible

The second book I'm reviewing this month couldn't be much more different from the first! 

To start with, the Ultimate Papercrafting Bible is HUGE. It's a massive hardback - 300 pages long and so tall it doesn't actually fit on the shelves I'm currently using to store all my other craft books (it's going to have to live with my lever arch files instead). And unlike State of Craft, it's not about personalities and trendy projects but instead is very much a traditional-style reference book of techniques.  

 

It reminds me a little of the huge DIY manual my dad bought me when I first moved into my old flat: a really detailed reference book with lots of clear diagrams and step-by-step instructions.

The first chapter,"Getting Started", covers equipment, materials and basic paper crafting skills like folding and simple techniques like adding decorative edges by stitching or punching. All the techniques are explained in step-by-step guides with easy to follow diagrams and extra hints and tips plus a few photos added to illustrate how particular techniques look when finished / can be used.  

The second chapter, "Colouring, Decorating and Texturing" includes colour washes, marbling, stencilling, stamping, glittering, gilding, and transfering images. From this point on in the book, tutorials and ideas for specific projects begin to be included to demonstrate particular techniques and processes.

Chapter three covers cardmaking, including adding inserts and making shaped cards, window cards, 3D cards, pop up cards and fold out cards. There are also some project ideas for making batch cards, like this change of address card:

Then chapter four focuses on making envelopes, decorating gift wrap (and gift wrapping techniques like tying neat bows), and making gift tags, boxes and gift bags. A few templates are included for the envelopes in this chapter.

Chapter five looks at scrapbooking - customising journal covers, cutting and matting photos, and adding text, embellishments and pockets.

Chapter six is all about papercutting, with lots of projects that have templates provided for them at the back of the book. I especially liked these garlands....

... and these candle shades:

Chapter seven introduces some basic origami techniques and step-by-step guides to a few simple designs like a flower, a bird and a notecard with a fan-like leaf:

Then the final chapter covers "Other Papercrafts" - including papier mache, techniques for making paper flowers, decoupage, quilling, and also making your own paper. 

Most of the templates in the book do need enlarging, but there's so much squeezed into this book that you really can't complain - plus many of the templates would always need enlarging as they're for quite large-scale designs like lanterns, etc. The majority of projects and techniques in the book don't require templates anyway. 

Because this book covers so many different techniques, I think experienced paper crafters might find it a little basic but I think it'd be perfect for a beginner. I think it'd also be a good book to flick through to spark ideas for new ways to use your paper stash, and it'd be a great fit for for someone like me who dabbles in paper crafting from time to time but could do with adding some skills to their repertoire!

 
Ultimate Papercraft Bible is published by Collins & Brown. RRP £25. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: Collins & Brown sent me a free review copy of this book, and the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Book Review: State of Craft

Time for the first review of Book Month: State of Craft, edited by Victoria Woodcock.

This compact little book contains over 60 projects from designer/makers and bloggers, a selection of interviews with crafty business owners (like the ladies behind Tatty Devine), and quite a detailed how to section at the start of the book with step by step diagrams and tips on how to do the crafts in the book (knitting, crochet, cross stitch etc).

All the projects have a photo or two of the finished project, step by step instructions and a box with a little blurb about the designer, with links to their websites and shops. Most of the projects have either step by step illustrations or a helpful diagram or two - some are very simple and involve just a couple of steps, and others are more detailed, time-consuming projects with a few pages of instructions.

There are just a few templates, and I'd assumed they were all actual size as they didn't include instructions for how much they needed enlarging but for the project I checked (a bear) it turns out you need to enlarge the template so it is "about 40 cm high" which is a little annoying as not only do you need to enlarge the template, you need to do some maths to work out what percentage it needs enlarging by! This isn't especially hard, but it's just unnecessary and I don't think I've ever seen a craft book before where you needed to enlarge something but it didn't actually tell you by how much.

The editor uses a lot of phrases like "handmade manifesto" and "at the vanguard of the new-craft (or is that neo-craft?) movement" and writes with a very consciously chatty, modern style (e.g. "So, yeah, cool.") which (depending on your taste in these things) will either make it a really fun and enjoyable book to read or really  annoying.

Similarly, while a lot of the projects just have a modern/current feel to them and could be found in many recent craft books (button rings, a giant cushion, a fabric necklace, bunting, a fabric-covered lampshade, etc) some of them are a bit bonkers - like the furry ears for adding to your cycling helmet, and a "Christmas pudding cape" (shaped like the icing on said pudding) - and involve a lot of quirky materials like using ping pong balls to make hair bobbles and using water pistols to customise some fairy lights.

Depending on your tastes, some of these quirkier projects will either make you think "ugh, that's just bonkers, why would I want to make that??" (in which case: this may not be the book for you) or "wow, how brilliantly bonkers and awesome is that??" (in which case: buy this book, buy it now, you're going to love it!).

I definitely wouldn't make everything in the book, but some of my favourite designs include...

This sweet bunting necklace:

Pretty paper fruit:

A space invaders cross stitch tote bag:

A cute bear:

This pun-tastic needlebook:

And this clouds & mountains mobile:

There's also a lamp made with a jam jar that almost (almost!) makes me want to take up woodworking.

The book also doubles up as a mini directory of cool modern makers and bloggers, as you can follow the links to buy the designers' work / read their blogs / etc.


If you want a change from more girly, "stylish", "vintage chic"-style craft books and fancy some fun & creative projects, and the chance to try out some new crafts this might well be the book for you!

State of Craft is published by Cicada Books. RRP £14.95. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: Cicada Books sent me a free review copy of this book, and the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Stitch it for Christmas: A Giveaway to Celebrate the Start of Book Month!

Remember that big pile of craft books I blogged about earlier this autumn? Well, I've got so many lovely books to review that I've decided that November = Book Month! Throughout the month I'll be sharing a whole bunch of crafty book reviews, and there will be some giveaways too (with my regular mix of random posts in between). I hope you'll enjoy it :)

To kick us off, I've got two copies of Stitch it for Christmas by Lynette Anderson to give away...

Stitch it for Christmas is about 50 pages long. It includes a short guide to the quilting and embroidery techniques you'll need, and 7 "festive projects to craft and quilt".

There are larger projects like this cushion (pillow) and table decoration...

... and smaller ones like these star-shaped Christmas ornaments...

... all with a country-style patchwork/quilting base to them and embellished with one of Lynette's quirky designs in either applique or embroidery. And of course you could also stitch the embroidery designs on anything you fancy making, or just on their own to be framed in an embroidery hoop as part of your festive decor.

Stitch it for Christmas is published by David and Charles. RRP £7.99. It's available from Amazon UK and Amazon USA, and from RUCraft. The fabrics used in the book are from Lynette's own festive fabric range, which is also available at RUCraft.


And I've got TWO copies to giveaway. Hurrah!

Just leave a comment on this blog post for your chance to win. The lovely folks at David and Charles are happy to ship this internationally, so anyone can enter. Leave your comment before 10pm on Thursday 8th November, and I'll pick the winners at random on Friday 9th November.

Please make sure you leave a name or pseudonym (no anonymous comments please!) and leave a blog link, Twitter username, Etsy username or email address so I can contact you. If I'm unable to contact either of the winners within two weeks, I will pick someone else.

Apparently some people are having problem leaving comments on my blog at the moment. If you're unable to leave a comment here on my blog, you can enter via my shop's contact form instead. Please make sure you say which giveaway you're entering!

[P.S. The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click on them and then make a purchase I get a very small % as a referral fee.]

This giveaway is now closed.