Scrap Ornament Tutorial

scraps and samples collected from various places Ikea, and Laura Ashley

ahem

materials:

an assortment of fabric scraps

garden twine or ribbon

needle and thread or sewing machine

poly-fil

(buttons, fabric pen, beads, paints optional)

step 1:

you will need two pieces of fabric the same size ( I didn't measure anything I jsut went by what little scraps I had to hand) and a small piece of twine/ribbon. I used gardening twine from a garden centre but you may wish to make fancier ornaments than me.

step 2: Put the fabrics together facing each other and place the twine/ribbon between them. You may want to hold the fabric and twine in place with a needle or two. Sew along the left side the top (careful of the twine) and along the right side.

Step 3: carefully turn right side out, pressing out the corners, with a chopstick or knitting needle. Fill the ornament with poly fill (if you wish you can add dried lavender, or cinnamon to make the ornaments smell lovely.

step 4: Fold the ends of the material in and hold them with more pins and sew along the bottom of the ornament.

Its not a complicated tutorial because my sewing skills are decidedly advanced, there are a lot of different techniques you could use, you could sew an ornament with the right side out and then crimp along the edges with pinking shears (I don't have any) add buttons, or embroidery. The owl and the quail I hand drew with a fabric pen, ironed it to set the ink and I think they look quite special. I will be giving these out as Christmas gifts as well as decorating our Christmas tree with them.

If you have any questions I will try my best to answer them, and if not I will point you in the direction of someone who can. Its a fun way to use up little scraps that might otherwise sit about in your scrap box feeling unloved and cross breeding with rogue dust bunnies. My scraps and samples have come from some lovely friends, and from ikea, Laura Ashley, and Cath Kidson online ( I er only ordered the samples too chickenshit to order real fabric)