Create: Sew a Felt Star Ornament

Boy, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've been here, just busy with life and not taking enough time to document all of it. But! Today I have a simple kids craft to share with you, just in time for Christmas.

For her birthday, Hailey asked for a sewing machine. She is 5 and has never touched a sewing machine, but she has watched me and decided she wanted to try. I was not about to spend money on her own machine without seeing her sew first, to be sure this is something she really is interested in. Instead I made her a small sewing kit with some essentials to get sewing. Life became busy and we never found the chance to take some time to sit down together and work on a project. Finally one afternoon in a search for something Christmas crafty for Hailey and her friend to do for some quiet time I decided it was time to pull out some of those sewing supplies and have that first lesson in sewing.

We made felt star ornaments. I'll show you what we did.

You will need:

• embroidery needles (for the beginning sewer- they are nice and big and easy to hold onto) 
• crochet thread (it is found by the yarn and is thicker than normal thread, which makes it easier for little hands to handle. You could use embroidery floss as well.)
• water soluble/disappearing ink marking pen
• felt
• star pattern (print one here)
• fiberfill (not pictured- whoops!)

I began by marking a small dot every 1/4 inch or so around the star on the front and the back. This was to help guide the girls in their needle placement so they would end up with reasonably even stitches.

We had a quick chat about the seriousness of using a real needle and I pointed out that the tools used in sewing are not toys. And then I armed them with pre-threaded needles and showed them how to move from one stitch to the next.

They loved it. "This is easy peasy banana squeasy!" Oh that made me happy to hear! I was unsure if they would really sit long enough to finish the simple project or if they would lose interest after two stitches.

Sew on they did. I did have to sit right next to them and help them solve their small issues and occasionally gently encourage them to keep going.

Once you get about 3/4 of the way around the star stop and squish in a bit of fiberfil to give it some puffiness. Then continue stitching the star closed.

When they sewed all the way around the star we pushed the needle back through the very first point we made, right through the knot.

Leaving a small loop of thread to hang the ornament by I slipped the needle underneath the last stitch and tight a knot tightly.

Tada! It was finished. The girls were so excited to have sewn an ornament all on their own. Hailey's hangs proudly on our tree. The first thing she did when her dad came home from work that evening was to show off her fine work to him. Fine work indeed!

I'm hoping she's game for another sewing project in the future and we'll keep working on those stitches. In the meantime, I think this little star is adorable. It makes my heart happy to see it hanging on our tree. My little beginning sewer's first project. :)