Embroidered Ornament- DIY

Hey there, it’s Cheri from Tinkerellen and Tinkinstitches here to show you how to create an easy embroidered tree ornament to impress your friends this Christmas. These make great gifts for teachers, helpers, friends and even mailpersons. In fact, I may make one for our mail lady this week!

The most fun part about this project is picking out a holiday fabric you love. I found this great Santa-themed green fabric from a local big box craft shop, but there are loads of fabrics you could pick up online or from your local shops. You’re also going to need some sharp scissors, the mini patchwork scissors and the patchwork scissors are great for different jobs, coordinating embroidery threads, some felt, a hoop (I love the Clover embroidery hoop for while I’m stitching, but you’ll need a small 3” wooden hoop to finish your ornament in), embroidery needles and a marking tool like the water-soluble pencils. An optional element would be metallic embroidery thread and alphabet beads which I used in my project since the fabric lent itself to the extra element. A hot glue gun is also completely optional, and I won’t actually use one this time, but on some hoops I like to finish by gluing felt to the back of the wood hoop frame.

To get started, lay out your fabric and using the inner hoop of your 3” wood embroidery hoop, find your placement. Once you’ve decided what will work best, trace the outside edge of the inside hoop with your marking pencil. For me, the pink worked nicely on the dark fabric. I decided to make two ornaments at once, so I tried to find placement for two close to each other but with plenty of extra fabric around the circles to be able to finish the hoop later. I used the large embroidery hoop for stitching both at once (batch sewing makes it quicker and easier to create gifts in multiples). Trim your fabric with enough extra so you can place it in your hoop and start stitching.

You’re going to be able to find loads of cute fabric designs with Santa hats and Santa himself involved so I feel fairly safe showing you how to embroider a Santa for your own ornaments even if you can’t track down this specific fabric. Start with the red in his hat. I started with a chain stitch for one hat and then decided to brick stitch the second hat. Both of them look great so just go with whichever stitch you’re most comfortable with. (I used all six strands on this project for ALL the colors. We’re going for texture!)

Trim the bottom of the hat with a simple straight stitch, until you have the brim complete.

Let’s make a puffy pom! Fill the circle with French knots for a fun textured pom pom. If your fabric hat doesn’t have a pom pom, create one! It’s as simple as a few French knots in a circular pattern.

 

Now the fun part, Santas beard! But don’t rush it, look what happens! Even the pros make mistakes, the great thing about embroidery is you can always unpick, snip and start again.

Start by outlining the beard in French knots. I know I’ve taught you how to do these before, but if you don’t know or you need a quick refresher, a quick video search will load lots of how-to examples and I have a quick one here.

Now just keep going around the edges of the beard. I know it’ll feel like a lot, but before you know it, the last French knot is going in.

Now you might have some extra things to add, like sparkly embroidered stars or a small personalized name or word. Go for it! Add those little details to make it extra special.

Now that you’re finished with the embroidery, let’s make this ornament tree ready. Trim around the circle you drew with your pencil, leaving approximately ¾” – 1” of fabric. Place in your wood 3” hoop and tighten the hoop. Pull your fabric so it’s centered and tight and make sure the hoop screw is as tight as it can be.

Now this is the point where I’ve cut a 3” round piece of felt and slipped it into the back of my hoop. It’s going to hide and protect all the knots and threads back there when it’s hanging on the tree.

Thread a needle with about 10-12” or white embroidery thread, or really any color that you have, it’s completely up to you. You’re going to sew all around the edge of the fabric, keeping a 2-3” tail on the beginning of your stitches. Go completely around until the thread ends meet, then pull them tight and knot them together. Trim off the excess thread and you’re finished!

I added some twine to hang my ornament and some gold ribbon for a little extra shine. This is a simple, easy gift that you can personalize or make several copies depending on how many people have made it to your nice list this year. And maybe this will remind them to be nice to you again next year!