Free Embroidery Pattern: Felt Applique Christmas Ball Ornament

This felt appliqué Christmas Ball will make a nice ornament for a tree, a tie on to decorate a holiday gift, or a sweet door knob hanger for the front door. It can be personalized with a name or particular sentiment, and is simple enough for older children to make as gifts.

For this project, you should have standard sewing supplies, and in addition, you'll need:

Craft Felt in Red and Green

White Embroidery Floss

½ inch silver or gold binder clip

Polyester Stuffing

Binder Ring (optional)

To begin, trace a circle on your red felt. I used a mug for my circle, and it's about 4 inches in diameter. You can make yours any size that you'd like, but if you go much smaller or larger, you'll want another size of binder clip for the top so it's the correct proportion. Draw a tab on one side of the circle about a quarter of inch high, by a half inch wide. This tab of fabric is where the binder clip will go.

Cut out this circle using sharp scissors and even strokes to make sure the edges are smooth and not ragged. Pin this circle to the red felt, and cut out another piece exactly like it. To cut the stripe to decorate the ball, cut a rectangular strip of green felt as long as the diameter of the circle by about ¾ of an inch high. Trim the green rectangle into a wavy pattern. I did this freehand with the scissors, but if you'd like to make sure of your results before cutting, use your fabric pen to mark the cutting lines beforehand.

Hold the stripe pattern piece against the front red piece and use three strands of white embroidery floss to stitch the pieces together. Use a decorative whip stitch along the top and bottom of the stripe to hold it in place.

After the stripe has been stitched on, hold the front wrong sides together with the back red piece. Use three strands of white embroidery floss to stitch the two together. Use a running stitch and make the line of stitching about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch from the cut edge. When you are an inch and an half or so away from the beginning of the stitching, stuff the circle lightly with polyester stuffing. You can include some broken cinnamon sticks in the stuffing as well, if you'd like a scented ornament. Finish sewing the ornament closed and fasten off the floss by burying the end inside the stuffing.

Clip the binder clip to the tab on the ornament, and slip the wire handles off of it. To hang the ornament, thread a piece of yarn or loop of ribbon along the top of the binder clip. A binder ring is a useful choice of hanger as well, since it can be used to hang the ornament a number of places, such as from a door handle. If you'd like to use the felt appliqué Christmas Ball as a decoration on a package, simply slip the ribbon tied around the gift through the binder clip.