Things You'll Need:
- Fabrics like burlap and felt
- Buttons
- Ribbon and yarn pieces
- Embroidery thread
- Polyfill stuffing or quilt batting
- Small grapevine wreaths, stars and balls
- Cookie cutters
- Scissors
- Craft Glue (like Elmers)
- Fabric marker
- White, off-white, red, and black thread
- Sewing Needle
- Yarn needle
- Straight pins
- Paint (optional)
- Dried flowers (optional)
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Step 1
Spread fabric out flat on a table. Use fabrics like burlap and felt that do not ravel when cut to avoid frayed edges. Lay cookie cutters in the shapes of gingerbread men, stars, teddy bears, and snowmen on the fabric. Trace around them with a fabric pen. Make at least two of each shape for a front and a back of each ornament. Paper patterns can be substituted for the cookie cutters if desired, but the pattern may need to be pinned to the material with straight pins for easier cutting.
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Step 2
Cut out each shape on the inside of the traced outlines to avoid marks on the ornaments. Cut around pinned patterns and remove straight pins. Put a top and a bottom together of each fabric shape.
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Step 3
Create unique ornaments by adding eyes with buttons, Put 3 or 4 straight yarn stitches or embroidery thread stitches for a nose and or a mouth. White felt stars can be designed to look like a snowman by tying a yarn or ribbon bow around the bottom or the top point of the star. All details should be done on the front piece of the ornament before you put the two pieces together. Red felt stars can be made to look like a star-shaped Santa by adding a white felt beard to the top point to create a face and black felt triangles on each of the other four points for gloves and boots. Add a white felt band about 1/2 inch from the top of the top point and a white circle for a pom-pom effect on the tip of the top star point to create the appearance of a hat. Perfectly plain stars are also festive, especially if made out of homespun burlap fabric.
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Step 4
Sew the two pieces together with either thread or yarn with small, even stitches or larger more decorative yarn stitches. Leave an opening large enough to add the polyfill stuffing, then stuff and stitch the opening closed. Or cut a shape out of quilt batting by again tracing the cookie cutters or paper patterns onto the batting but cut it slightly smaller within the outline and place it between the two layers of fabric before stitching all layers together. Add a loop on the top with yarn or thread large enough to use as a hanger.
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Step 5
Glue or tie ribbon or yarn and dried flowers to grapevine wreaths, stars, and ornament balls. Add a loop for hanging or nestle within the branches. Grapevine ornaments look wonderful in their natural state, or they can be painted for a different look.
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Step 6
Last but not least you can tie a ribbon loop to the top of your cookie cutters and hang them to your tree, or they can be nestled in the branches.
