Welcome to the 4th and final design in the Beginner Friendly Hand embroidery Patterns.
A simple and festive Christmas Decoration
Just so you know, this post may contains affiliate links. If you click through to a website and register or purchase something, I get a commission from that sale at no extra cost to you. All opinions and reviews are my own. You can read the full disclosure here.
Materials required…
- Wool Felt, choose from an array of gorgeous colours.
- Embroidery Floss, I love DMC stranded for the quality and colours available.
- Sticky Fabri Solvy Stabiliser, a nice easy way to transfer a design to felt.
- Needle – I use a size 5 or 7 when stitching with felt.
- Scissors – these are the ones I use for pretty much all my embroidery needs – from cutting felt to floss!
- For the Hanging Decoration… Extra Wool Felt for the back, Polyfill Stuffing and Ribbon
- For the Hoop Art…
- 5 inch hoop (Flexi hoops are great for framing),
- Fabric
- Bondaweb
You will also need the Pattern Template…
Pattern Template – available from the link at the bottom of this post.
Note on the Sticky Fabri Solvy (SFS) – This makes transferring your design on to the felt so easy and all you need to do is wash it away after.
If you don’t want to use SFS there are other ways to make templates which you can find in my Resource Library with the printable: 5 Easy Peasy Ways to create templates for felt patterns.
For thread I used 2 strands of DMC Embroidery Thread for all stitching.
Let’s get stitching…
Trace the circle template (available from the link below) on to your Sticky Fabri Solvy, peel off the backing and then stick it to your felt. (Your circle does not need to be perfect!)
Start by stitching individual Fly stitch between the two outermost lines as in this photo…
Outermost lines are numbers 5 and 6 counting from the inside out.
Continue stitching Fly Stitch all the way around (stitch the ‘v’ bits right next to one another, this way it will look like zigzags going around).
Between lines 2 and 3 – chain stitch.
Between lines 4 and 5 – Repeat the process with Fly Stitch in a contrasting colour.
Stitch vertical straight stitch all the way around between lines 3 and 4.
Lastly, stitch a Star stitch in the innermost centre circle.
Now trim the excess SFS off from around your design just like the photo.
All you need to do then is soak off the SFS – you can see the process in the Heart tutorial.
How to display your stitched circle in an embroidery hoop..
Iron a piece of Bondaweb to the back of your circle (before you cut the felt shape out).
Using sharp scissors, carefully cut around the outer edge of the circle approx. 1/8th inch from your stitches – if you are not confident then a bigger space of 1/4 inch will still look fine.
Remove the paper backing of the bondaweb and then iron the circle centrally to your chosen piece of fabric.
Hoop up your design and display!
How to make a Hanging Decoration…
Using sharp scissors, carefully cut around the outer edge of your stitched circle approx. 1/8th inch from your stitches – if you are not confident then a bigger space of 1/4 inch will still look fine.
Take your extra piece of wool felt and place on the back of the circle. Using a sewing thread to match the colour of the felt, sew a nice tiny neat running stitch around the edge sewing the 2 pieces together.
Start at the bottom edge and sew around and up to the centre top – just before the centre top – take your ribbon – fold it in half and insert the 2 ends in between the pieces of felt at the top just enough so they will be sewn in securely and give you a nice hanging loop.
Continue with the running stitch and then before you reach where you started – leave a big enough gap to insert your stuffing – pop sufficiant in to plump it up so it is soft and squidgy and then close the gap and secure in the ends to the back.
Finally you need to cut the excess backing felt off (being very careful). Use the front circle piece as your guide cut around the remaining felt edges to create your decoration and it’s all ready to hang on the tree!
Happy Stitching!
That is the last in the StitchDoodles Hand Embroidery beginner pattern series and I really hope you have enjoyed making them. You can send me photos at nicola@stitchdoodles.com and I will include them here with your permission. I lovelovelove to see your photos!
Imagine all 4 of these on your Christmas tree! They would look fantastic.
Want to download the Free Template for the Christmas Decoration?
The link to this decoration design is not available in the pattern list.
Hello, I’ve rectified that now so hopefully it should be working.
Thank you very much. I look forward to making your Christmas decorations from your templates.