Handmade Christmas decorations. Tutorial + free pattern download

Create A Unique Christmas Home Decor From Felt Or Recycled Fabrics Now!

For me, Christmas equals creation. I adore handmade Christmas decorations, gifts, greeting cards, and homemade food. I like to create and decorate, and also to receive handmade gifts.

And it’s even better if I can make these DIY Christmas decorations from recycled materials!

In this tutorial, I will show you how to embroider and sew handmade Christmas decorations. This tree ornament will be a great home decor accent and a wonderful gift for your loved ones.

download the pattern

Handmade Christmas decorations

How to make ornaments from felt or recycled fabrics: Step-by-step guide

Tools and Materials to make DIY Christmas decorations

Embroidery needle, big enough to accommodate your chosen thread.
Sharp big needle, big enough to accommodate a ribbon.
Scissors. Shears for the fabric and small, sharp embroidery scissors or snips.
Some pins.
Pencil, friction pen, or other tool for pattern transfer.
Brown felt fabric or some old knitwear (I used an old wool sweater, that’s why my decoration does not look like a gingerbread cookie. It is more like a chocolate one :))
Some white yarn. Knitting yarn or pearl cotton will do.
Ribbon or cord for hanging ~30 cm (12 inches).
Toy stuffing (polyester filling or cotton wool).
Wooden or plastic bead with a large hole, big enough to accommodate a ribbon.

Embroidery instructions

1. Download and print the pattern.

2. Cut out the paper House shape from a printed pattern. Place the model on the felt material, pin it, and cut it out. Don’t trace the embroidery pattern, as it will be almost impossible if you use knitwear fabric. Instead, draw the shapes by hand with a white marker or chalk. The forms are simple, so it will be easy! If your material is light-colored, use a water-soluble pen.
As an alternative, you can use a water-soluble stabilizer for the pattern transfer. Learn more about this method in the article “The Ultimate Guide to Water Soluble Stabilizers for Hand Embroidery“.

Handmade Christmas decoration pattern transfer

3. For this handmade Christmas decorations project, you will use these hand embroidery stitches:

Backstitch for outlining the door and a window.
Chain stitch to embroider the wreath.
Fly stitch to make snow on the roof.
Straight stitch to make snowflakes.
Blanket stitch to sew pieces together.

Embroider handmade Christmas decorations

4. After all the stitching is done, remove the tracing marks from the embroidered shape. If you used a Friction pen, you would quickly remove the tracing with a hot hairdryer or an iron. Water-soluble pen marks will be canceled with a wet wipe. The chalk pen is cleaned rapidly with some rubbing.

How to sew handmade Christmas decorations

1. Put both parts together and sew them with a Blanket stitch, using the white yarn (the same as you used for embroidery). At the bottom, leave a hole for stuffing.

Assembling handmade Christmas decorations

2. Stuff the toy filling (or cotton wool) in the gap until the decoration is padded but not too firm. Then, finish sewing and close the hole.

3. Thread a ribbon into the large, sharp needle and pass it through the felt material at the top of the house-shaped ornament.

4. Finally, put a wooden bead on top.

Finish to sew handmade Christmas decoration

Recommended Products

Disclaimer. To cover the cost of creating free embroidery patterns and video tutorials for this blog, I do sometimes link to products. Please assume these links are affiliate links. If you choose to buy through my links, then THANK YOU! – it will make it possible for me to keep doing this.