Saturday, December 4, 2010

How to make lid-like ornaments

I've always thought stitched jelly jar covers are cute, but what do you do with them if you want to, you know, eat the jam inside?  And besides, I need my jar lids to, like, seal my jars.  So when I wanted simple finishing for those red snowflake ornaments I figured out a way to get a similar look, but without having to use any of my jar lids and being able to adjust the size. 



If you'd like to try this too, you'll need:

Your stitched motif (needs to have several inches of blank fabric on all sides)
Double-sided fusible interfacing like Wonder-Under
Peltex #70 (it's a lot like the stuff that makes baseball cap brims stiff)
2mm ribbon to match your stitching
Needle with large eye for the ribbon
Scissors
Pinking shears
A variety of size glasses or jars, don't forget a shot glass (very handy for small ornaments, also for making you feel better if you've had to frog)

All of this stuff can be had at your average large craft store like JoAnn, I happened to have it in my stash.

First step, find a glass that has a top or bottom of appropriate size for your stiched motif.  You can judge this by laying your stitched piece on the top of the glass and seeing how much is hanging over, you'll need at least one-half inch beyond the edge, one inch would be better.  This shot glass was a *smidge* too big but I used it anyway.  Sorry about the sorry state of my manicure.


Use the glass you've decided on to trace circles on the interfacing and Peltex.


And cut out those circles.  What you should now have should look like this:


Center the interfacing on the Peltex, and center the motif on top of that.  Careful here, everything needs to be exactly centered, there's no undoing it after it's ironed, and if that two-sided interfacing is off center it'll stick to your iron, or ironing board, or anything else (learned the hard way).



I'll never be a hand model.  Iron that sucker down on lowest heat, which is all you'll need to set the interfacing.  You will need to iron on the top of the stitching, not from the Peltex side. 

Using the pinking shears, cut about 1/2 -3/4 inch around the Peltex circle. What you have now should look like this from the wrong side:


Decide where you want the top of your ornament to be.  Start stitching at that point with your 2-mm ribbon, leaving a long tail of several inches.  This tail will eventually become your ornament hanger.  Stitches should be long and a fraction of an inch outside the Peltex circle to allow you to gather it later.


When you've gone all the way around the circle, pull the ribbon snugly to gather the fabric slightly to the Peltex side.


When it looks the way you want, knot the two tails of the ribbon together at the fabric, and again a few inches up to be your hanger. 

TA-DA! 

 

All done, go have some Christmas chocolates.


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