Every year my family in Iowa does a 'Homemade Ornament' exchange. Each family member (usually just us girls!) makes their own Christmas ornament and then we exchange them on Christmas. We make enough for each person participating, including ourselves, so that we can have one of each ornament made that year. It's such a cute tradition and it makes me sooo excited to decorate my tree every year!
This is what I chose for my ornament this year (what I'm calling them, at least):
Christmas Birds - Stuffed Felt Ornament
To start my project, I visited Joann Fabrics and got my supplies! (Sorry for the mess on my floor hehe)
I bought:
-Felt (Red, White, Light Blue for less than 50 cents a piece)
-White Yarn
-Holiday Ribbon (A cute plaid ish holiday print)
-Crafter's Choice Stuffing (That bag was about $3 and I have more left over than I know what to do with)
-A package of needles (About $1)
I already had crafting scissors, the blue yarn, and the sharpie.
Getting Started:
To get started with my project, I went online and found a picture of a bird that fit my preferences. : ) I picked this cute little winter bird and printed a small version of it. I traced the bird onto a piece of thin cardboard (so that my 'template' would be sturdy). Once I had my cardboard template, I traced the bird onto my felt.
*Be sure to trace the bird or whatever shape in 2 different directions as shown in the picture below so that your 'trace lines' are on the INSIDE, rather than the outside.
After I got my bird traced (don't forget his wing!), I cut out the shapes. [See how there is one bird facing each direction]
Making sure the trace lines were on the back side, I stitched the wing to the bird. I also left the back part of the wing loose so that it can move around a little. To do that, I just stitched the yarn through the wing only, instead of both pieces of felt. Super easy!
Once the wing was stitched on, I started to stitch the two bird shapes together. Thanks to a suggestion from Mary, I used a 'blanket stitch' to join the two pieces of felt. Don't know how to do a blanket stitch? Neither did I. I learned from this Video on YouTube!
When I got finished stitching the top of the tail and got to the wing area, I started putting some stuffing in. If you wait til the end, it gets really tough to get the stuffing into the smaller parts of the birdie. :)
Once I got to the dip between the neck and the head, it was time to add the 'hanger.' This is where the holiday ribbon came in! I looped the ribbon and then just used some yarn to 'sew' it together. Once it was nice and tight, I just stuck it in the dip and kept stitching so that the yarn went THROUGH the ribbon. This helps make the ribbon more sturdy and secure.
Home stretch! I just finished stitching the head and Voila!
Super cute homemade Christmas Ornament. I made them in a few colors and sent them on their way to IA for the exchange! Hopefully everyone loves them. : D
