Hand Embroidered Candles and Holly - Holiday Ornaments 2013

 Last year, I made and shared tutorials for 7 different holiday ornament designs:

Knitted Cat
Knitted Dog
Knitted Bear
Knitted Mouse
Glitter Kitty
Denim Stars
Wooden Snowmen

And the year before, I shared:

Cereal Box Painted Faux Metal Stars



This year, I have already begun my tree ornaments and I will surely have another design or two to share. :)

Before continuing with this tutorial, take a look at this one, which explains the technique for this embroidery technique. I used the Long and Short Stitch to fill in the blocks of color of the design below.

Materials:

• Blocks of fabric with embroidered design on the front
• Scissors, needle and thread
• Crushed velvet fabric
• Lace trim
• Poster board or sturdy card stock
• Strips of brown paper bag

Print the pattern to the left, so that the printed version is approximately 2" tall. Place a 4" x 4" swatch of white cotton fabric on top of the pattern and trace it. If necessary, use a window or a light box to see through the fabric.

Using the Long and Short stitch, fill in the blocks of color with embroidery floss. I filled in the holly with 3 shades of green; the candle with 3 shades of tan/cream; the flame with both yellow and orange and the ribbon with two shades of red.

Using a round object, approximately 3 inches wide (like a pasta sauce lid), trace a circle onto the card stock.

Cut a piece of velvet (or your chosen backing material) to a 4" inch wide circle. Use a needle and thread to loosely sew a basting stitch around the edge of your velvet.

Place your round cardstock on top of the wrong side of your velvet swatch and pull the thread to cinch it up around the cardboard and tie it off.

You could use twine, yard or any tie material of your choice, I decided to use a strip of brown paper sack and twisted it tightly to make a small rope. I sewed the flat ends into the ornament.

I sewed the lace trim around the edge of the ornament.

I pinned the embroidered block of fabric to the front of the ornament, and sewed it in place using small, even stitches.