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In today’s post, I’ll show you how to sew magical Christmas ornaments from fabric with 5 different techniques! You will receive the pattern as a free download.
And with that, welcome to the second door of the digital BERNINA Advent Calendar 2024! As every year, we would like to accompany you through a creative Advent season with our ideas and contributions!
2024 is a very special and magical year for us creatives, because since summer we have been able to use the wonderful BERNINA 990 to our BERNINA family. In keeping with this, the motto of our Advent calendar this year is “Create your Magic”. Let’s make some magical Christmas ornaments with our machines!
At first glance, the ornaments may appear to be made in a similar way, but each has its own unique processing technique. Working with BERNINA offers limitless possibilities! The same project can be reinterpreted again and again. I could think of many more processing options, but they would have gone beyond the scope of this article. I hope you have lots of fun and enjoy experimenting. Let your creativity run wild under the motto “Create your own Magic!”.
Sew your own Christmas ornaments from fabric – instructions
Material requirements
You will need for all 5 ornaments:
- Wool felt in various colors | 2 mm thick, but not too stiff | approx. 11 x 25 cm per ball (approx. 4 1/2 x 10 inches)
- various threads, e.g. from Mettler: POLY SHEEN Stickgarn, SILK-FINISH Cotton Baumwollgarn or Metallic
- Embroidery bobbin thread, e.g. Bobbinette
- Ribbons for hanging made of satin, velvet, etc.
- Cotton wool for stuffing
Also optional, depending on the model:
- Hand embroidery threads
- Pearls
- Iron-on stars
- Tassels or yarns to make tassels yourself
- Wool remnants
- Cotton fabrics
- Stabilizer
- Vliesofix
Now I will introduce you to the individual variations of my ornaments. At the very end of the article I will show you how to sew them together and finish them.
Free pattern for the Christmas ornaments
With the exception of the version made with the embroidery machine, five parts are cut out of wool felt for all models and then processed as described below. You can find the corresponding template here as a free download.
Download Pattern Christmas ornaments
Sew your own fabric Christmas ornaments in five variations
Variant 1: Christmas ornament for appliqué fans
Appliqués can be used to conjure up wonderful images on fabric. A technique that I particularly enjoy working with!
First transfer the patterns/templates of your choice with a pencil onto the smooth side of the Vliesofix, then cut them out roughly and iron them onto the back of the appliqué fabrics. Now cut out very precisely. Align the pieces with the adhesive side facing down on the felt blank and iron on.
I appliquéd the hearts with a B 990 quilting stitch. Depending on the size of the part to be appliquéd, the stitch width and length should be adjusted accordingly; the smaller the parts, the smaller the stitch should be and vice versa for larger parts. A wonderfully clear view of the piece of fabric to be appliquéd is provided by the Appliqué Foot #23
The Pinpoint Laser on the B 990 does an excellent job of showing you where the stitch will be before the needle is inserted. The Appliqué Foot is shorter than other feet and is therefore particularly “agile” in the curves, and the clear sole further improves your view onto the design.
Alternatively, you can also appliqué the pieces with a narrow zig-zag stitch.
I add some freehand embroidered elements to my appliqué. For this I use the Free-Motion Embroidery Foot #24. In the new B 990, the BERNINA Stitch Regulator is integrated as a BISR. This has the great advantage that it can be used with all “free-motion embroidery feet”, for example also with the Ruler and Quilting feet. A consistent stitch length is always guaranteed, because the machine takes care of the control for us, regardless of how fast or slow we move the fabric.
Here all parts are embroidered and appliquéd.
Variant 2: Cross stitch ornament for machine embroidery
Nostalgic cross-stitch embroidery goes particularly well with the Christmas season. These baubles were decorated with the embroidery machine.
You can download the matching embroidery file here.
Christmas ornament cross stitch embroidery file
Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer in the oval embroidery hoop of your BERNINA. Next, place an appropriately sized piece of wool felt on top and secure it with the stapling function of your machine. Alternatively, you can also work with self-adhesive stabilizer or use sequence 1 of the embroidery file to attach the felt to the stabilizer. All further cross-stitch sequences are then embroidered.
Then take the embroidery fabric out of the hoop and remove the stabilizer. Now cut out the parts exactly at the marking seam, taking care not to damage the crosses. Some of the threads of the auxiliary lines “fall” out of the felt or can simply be removed. This seam was only used for fixing in the frame or marking for cutting and can be completely removed.
Here you can see once again that the stitches “fall” out of the felt.
Now the five parts of the ornament just need to be sewn together. See further details below.
Variant 3: Christmas ornaments for decorative stitch lovers
Wonderful and creative projects can be conjured up with decorative stitches. In some cases, additional decorative yarns were incorporated here.
First, I place laces of different qualities in the Cording Foot with 3 Grooves #22.
These are attached with a matching decorative stitch, here with the number 701 of my B 990. I increase the stitch length and width so that the inserted ribbons are shown to their best advantage.
A total of three seams are produced per ornament part.
I leave the ends of the cords protruding at first.
After I have added more decorative stitches, the ends can be trimmed back. Alternatively, the excess cords can also be folded back and secured by hand with a few stitches.
Variant 4: Christmas ornaments for freehand embroiderers
On this ornament we create freehand embroidery. For a three-dimensional look, I added a few knotted stitches by hand.
There are various options for creating freehand embroidery:
- Lower the feed dog and insert an embroidery/darning foot of your choice, e.g. BERNINA presser feet #9 or #24. This is possible with any BERNINA.
- You are using the BERNINA Stitch Regulator (BSR). For this you need a BSR-compatible machine (4, 5 and 7 series) and the BSR.
- You embroider with the integrated BERNINA Stitch Regulator (BiSR) of the B 990, in which case you can use the BSR function with any BERNINA free-motion embroidery foot of your choice.
With variant one, it is up to you to guide the fabric evenly in the machine for a regular stitch pattern. The BERNINA Stitch Regulator ensures that all stitches are the same size, regardless of how fast or slow you feed the fabric through the machine.
Perhaps you are wondering how the integrated stitch regulator of the B 990 works? This is used in conjunction with the 5.5 mm wide throat plate. It has a small, additional hole through which the BSR, which is located under the throat plate, can “look” at the fabric and register how fast it is moved.
Here, all the parts are embroidered and waiting to be sewn together. More on this later!
Variant 5: Christmas ornaments for felting friends
Perhaps you have already dry felted before. For my taste a very tedious and lengthy task. But I really like the look of felted objects. Did you know that you can add a needle-punch accessory set to your BERNINA and turn your sewing machine into a felting machine? The Needle-punch tool for rotary hook machines is available for BERNINA machines with a rotary hook (also suitable for the new machines with BERNINA hook) and for older machines with CB hook. You can see which set you need in the accessories catalog from BERNINA.
You can use a wide variety of materials for felting: loose felting wool, felt cuttings or – like me here – wool cut offs from knitting.
I leave the ends of the wool as loops at first. This allows me to keep the wool nice and taut while felting and also makes it easier to move the small pieces in the machine.
I then embellish some of the wool with a decorative stitch and metallic yarn.
Finally, the wool is cut back close to the edge.
Variant 5: Christmas ornaments for hand sewers
During the Christmas season, we are sometimes on the road. On the train, as a passenger in the car, and, and, and… Do your creative fingers always itch so much during these quiet “travel minutes”? Then perhaps you would like to make an ornament like this entirely by hand or without a sewing/embroidery machine? The knotted stitches give it a great, three-dimensional look. Cut your felt from the pattern, take it with you and embroider on the go.
Sew your own Christmas ornaments from fabric – finishing
Regardless of how the ornaments are decorated, all models are finished as described in the following section.
Sew the parts together
The five parts are sewn together by hand with small stitches. These run in a zig-zag motion. The thread is always inserted minimally next to the exit point.
You then sew all the way backwards, i.e. two overlapping seams are sewn.
Proceed as described until all parts are sewn together except for a small opening to fill the wadding. Optionally, small chain stitches can be added by hand as decoration.
The hand-stitched chain stitches have also been embroidered with gold thread.
Fill your Christmas ornaments
I close the last seam only halfway at first, then stuff the ball as tightly as I can with wadding. Now close the seam further and stuff some wadding into the last slit as required.
Once the ornament is filled, I get my hands really wet and roll the ball in it like a dumpling. Felt always dries in the form it is in when wet. This makes the ornaments particularly nice and round.
Bow
If you like, you can pull a string through the ornaments or attach a bow.
Now I wish you lots of fun and enjoyment reworking, trying out and experimenting. Best wishes and a wonderful, creative Advent to you!
Claudia from Il Coccolino
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