Creative articles about sewing

Crafting with children: How to make heart-shaped Christmas tree decorations

Dear community,
in this blog post you can find detailed instructions for crafting with children: How to make heart-shaped Christmas tree decorations (with free pattern).

Crafting with children: How to make heart-shaped Christmas tree decorations

Back in November my neighbour’s daughter Rebekka came to help me work on a couple of pretty things for our BERNINA Advent Calendar. At 8 years old she is the perfect age for this season’s children’s calendar.

So let’s see what I have prepared for you and Rebekka:

Fusible web, colARTex and pretty pearls

Then there are two heart templates in a pdf file that you can print out on DIN4 paper.

 

Download heart templates for Christmas tree decorations:

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The heart templates can be used for the “quick as a flash version” to make a cardboard template – while the “slow and steady version” can use the hearts to draw an outline

Rebekka enjoys painting and so I first let her take her time copying a number of hearts on the paper side of the fusible web. We need 6-7 hearts for our decoration.

 

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The fusible web is then ironed onto the back of the colARTex and the hearts are cut out. Now we need a hanger, which is also cut out of colARTex.

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As her favourite colour is pink, we naturally make the first heart mobile from pink colARTex.

Now we find a suitable thread – the plan is to use the sewing machine to adorn the hearts with pretty decorative stitching.

 

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Time to fire up the sewing machine. Rebekka has done some sewing with me before so the large BERNINA 880 doesn’t pose a problem for her. She chooses a decorative stitch with a star motif, changes the size by turning the dials and sews a few stitches on a test strip.

Now it’s almost time to start on the first heart, but first we have to take the paper layer of the fusible web off the back of the cut-out heart, as it is harder to remove after the embroidery process. It’s not difficult as it’s not sticky.

 

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We’ve done the first curve. We only embroider one half of the individual hearts.

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As soon as all the individual pieces are ready for the hanger, we use a folding stick to make an indentation down the middle of each one so that we can fold them exactly in half.

Rebekka uses the lines of the cutting mat to position the heart with its point and the midpoint of the two curves on one line.

 

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She then places the ruler on top, presses it firmly down on the paper

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and draws the central line using a folding stick.

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This makes it quick and easy to create a clean fold on each heart. We thread a couple of pearls onto the cord,

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then we heat up the small iron. This is a safe appliance for children to use.

The heart halves are laid on top of each other. Wonderclips are really helpful here to prevent the edges from slipping. Now it’s time to do the ironing: always just to the central line, the iron is used on piece after piece and pressed for a couple of seconds onto the colARTex until both sides are well stuck. Then the next heart piece is ironed on, always left sides together.

 

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After the first three bits of ironing, the hanger can be placed in the middle and ironed in position. If this is too hard, the hot glue gun is a good alternative.

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In the meantime, a pretty array of colourful colARTex hearts has been amassed. Some are printed, others embroidered.

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As luck would have it, Rebekka celebrates her birthday today, on 6 December, and she is making these hearts together with her friends. I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Now I wish you all some happy sewing hours with your children in a peaceful and atmospheric Advent.

Best wishes,

Jutta Hellbach

 

Free sewing instructions: Heart-shaped Christmas tree decorations

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