Sew Your Own Christmas Ornaments From Felt Sheets

Tiny Stockings, Wonky Stars and a Very Happy Tree

A felt ornament is two matching shapes cut from a thick sheet of felt, stitched together around the edge and plumped with a pinch of stuffing. That's it. People sew them at home in the weeks before Christmas, and the sequin-covered felt kits sold since the 1960s have their own collectors, with finished pieces still turning up at estate sales. The fabric itself is ancient. Felt is made by matting fibers together instead of weaving them, and it's one of the oldest known textiles, with possible traces of felting from around 6000 BCE.

This isn't needle felting, where you poke loose wool with a notched needle until it firms into a little sculpture, and there's a whole needle felting setup for that craft. It isn't quite embroidery either. Here the felt sheet is the ornament, and your stitches hold it together. You'll borrow a couple of embroidery stitches for faces and snowflakes, but the one doing most of the work is the blanket stitch, looping round the edge like a tiny fence.

Keep the first shop small. Wool-blend felt, a pack of floss, a needle, small sharp scissors and a bag of stuffing will make a whole row of ornaments.

Nothing below costs more than a takeout dinner, so a lopsided first star won't sting.

Five Things Between You and a Finished Star

Spend your care on the felt. Cheap acrylic craft felt looks fine in the packet, but small pieces fray, it grows a fuzzy halo of pills once it's been handled, and it melts under an iron. Wool-blend felt is wool mixed with rayon. It feels dense and matte instead of slick, and a sheet usually costs about twice what acrylic does. Over a batch of palm-sized ornaments, that difference is tiny.

Floss comes as six thin strands twisted together. Split it. Three strands sit neatly on a small shape, while all six look chunky. A size 5 embroidery needle handles most of the stitching, and small pointed scissors are what get you clean star tips.

Little Helpers for the Second Batch

Freezer paper is the one I'd get first. It has a plastic-coated side that sticks to felt after a couple of seconds under a warm, dry iron, so your template stays put while you cut right along the line, then peels off clean. Don't mix it up with wax paper. They're not the same thing. Only iron it onto wool or wool-blend felt, though, because acrylic felt can melt.

A hoop earns its keep once you want a face or snowflake on the front piece. It keeps the felt taut while you backstitch. Tacky glue is for basting. A tiny dot holds a small piece while you sew it down, and used sparingly you can still stitch straight through it. Felt offcuts are too pretty to bin, and they add lovely texture to a junk journal.

Lumpy Stars, Sliding Stitches and Other First-Batch Surprises

Why does my blanket stitch keep sliding out of place?

Usually it's tension. Beginners tug each stitch tight to make it look neat, and a stitch pulled too hard drags sideways and bunches the ones next to it, especially where the stitch length changes. Pull each loop just until it lies flat against the edge. If one has already wandered, a tiny extra stitch over it will hold it in place, the same tension habit covered in embroidery beginner mistakes.

I used loads of stuffing, so why does my ornament look lumpy?

Lumps come from pushing stuffing in as big balls, not from using too much. Big clumps stay separate inside the shape and show through the felt as bumps. Pull the fill into small, fluffy wisps and fill the points first with a chopstick or hemostats. Then keep adding, because most first ornaments are understuffed rather than overstuffed.

How can I tell whether the felt I already own is wool or acrylic?

Feel it first. Acrylic felt is light, slick and a bit shiny under a lamp, while wool and wool blend feel denser, look matte and wrinkle when you ball them up. If you're still unsure, safely hold a small scrap to a flame. Acrylic melts, and wool smolders.

Why don't my front and back pieces line up after I embroider the front?

Embroidery pulls felt in slightly, so a shape cut before stitching often warps and ends up smaller than its plain back piece. Beginners cut both halves first because it feels organized. Instead, stitch the design on a larger square of felt, then cut the front shape out around it and cut the back to match.

Should the hanging loop go on first or last?

It's tempting to stitch the loop in at the very start and forget about it. The catch is that you can't see how a stuffed, embroidered ornament balances until it's finished, and a loop fixed early can't move. Plenty of pattern designers add it last instead, so they can check how the ornament hangs and put the loop where it sits straight, with the ends still hidden inside.