Tutorial: Doughnut Ornament of the Month Construction

Most of you have already seen the January and March ornaments in their finished shapes. The centres of both were done a little differently as the January ornament was the first I'd ever done like this. To say that I was a little nervous about cutting a hole into my embroidery that I'd spent some hours making is a bit of an understatement - I didn't even do it till I was on Skype with my fiancé! This tutorial is picture heavy.
Obviously I can totally understand people who have chosen to instead do something else with the empty square in the middle of the embroidery rather than cut a hole, but for those of you who are feeling a bit adventurous - and the curious - I have written this tutorial.

Not all steps have photos as I didn't think to make a photo of some parts of this - I'll try to remember to make more next time I assemble ornaments.

What you need:

• The embroidered Ornament of the Month of your choice with a backstitched outline at least 1 stitch outside the embroidery.
• A back to the embroidery - this can either be the same as the front or just the backstitched outlines.
• Fabric glue or Fray Check.
• Sharp pointy scissors, but not your favourite embroidery ones.
• A small needle - if you are using beads make sure it goes through the beads.
• Some matching thread.
• A tassel (see how to make one here)
• A cord (see how to make one here)
• Seedbeads if you wish to add them.
• A chopstick or something similar to assist with stuffing.
• Stuffing - I used toy stuffing but you could use another type of stuffing, just make sure it's light weight so it doesn't make a tree branch bend so much the ornament falls off.

How to make the ornament:

 

First cut out your ornament front and back. I like to put a little dot in the seam allowance to mark the top as Aida isn't very square and I like to make sure the tops are both pointing the same way.

I don't normally use fabric glue for making my smalls but this one time it felt necessary. Put a little fabric glue or Fray Check (please read the packet for exact instructions, I have never used this but know from friends that it works) into the centre of the square and spread it out. Make sure you go up to the thread outlines but not over as then you will glue the threads down and make future steps difficult. On the left you can see there is too much glue, on the right is just right. When I did the January ornament I didn't do this step and found that the triangles I cut frayed a LOT which made construction difficult.

Let the glue dry a bit (but not completely - it should still be a tiny bit tacky) and then fold your embroidery on the diagonal - I started with the back as it was less scary to start there with cutting - don't press it flat, just let it be a bit curvy.

Snip towards the corner - don't snip all the way as you can't see where you are on the back.

Unfold the square and carefully snip to the corners making sure to stay approximately half a square away (if you are using evenweave that's one thread away) from the backstitched line. Do the same for the other half of the ornament.

Turn your embroidery so the front is facing the table and fold the corners over - you can use the slight tackiness of the glue to help them stay flat. 

• Thread the needle and tie a knot in the end. 
• Slip the needle behind one of the triangles and bring it out to the front of the fabric though one of the spaces between the backstitches about three stitches from a corner.  
• Place the embroideries wrong sides facing and whip stitch to the nearest corner. 
• Make sure you go under each backstitched thread. 
• You may find it easier to do each half of the whip stitch separately and threading the needle back through the hole for each new stitch.

Once you are round the first corner you may find that it's possible to bend the fabric that's in the way backwards so you can do the whipstitches in one go. Keep going round till you reach the starting point, make a knot as you do the last stitch and bring the thread to the back through a hole between the backstitches. Cut the thread.

Without glue used my central hole was quite rounded at the corners as I battled to keep the escaping fabric threads from showing.

As you can see above the hole with the glue covered central bit looks much neater. In the photo you can also see the beads, tassel and cording I made for this ornament. I use what the Dutch call a "Thee Tip" - a little dish meant for parking teabags - and it's perfect for small amounts of beads.

• Thread your needle with a new thread to make sure it's long enough for the entire outside seam.
• Start a few stitches away from a corner - I usually start five stitches away but it's not too important how many you do. 
• If you wish to use beads add one every other stitch.
• Whip stitch to the corner. 
• Keep going towards the second corner adding the first end of the cord three stitches away from the corner. 
• Whip stitch the next six stitches which will bring you to three stitches past the corner. 
• Add the second end of the cord. 
• Whip stitch to about five stitches past the third corner.

Your ornament will now look like this.

It's now time to stuff two sides of the ornament as it's not possible to do a good job of stuffing it evenly if you don't. Use the chopstick to push small amounts of stuffing towards the top corner and stuff till the stuffing is level with the inner seam. You will have to stuff from each open side so as to stuff it properly. It should now look a bit like the photo above.

Stitch along the third side of the ornament right up to the corner. Tuck the threads of the tassel into the ornament making sure the knot is inside the seam allowance. Whip stitch five stitches past the corner and stuff the third side as you won't be able to do this if you don't do it now.

Your ornament will now look something like this.

Whip stitch till you are about half way along the side. Now it's time to finish stuffing your ornament - make sure you stuff the corners properly.

All you need to do now is:

• Finish stitching the seam.
• If you find that it needs a little more stuffing add some before you finish the seam.
• Tie a knot as you do the last stitch.
• Slide the needle through one of the spaces between the backstitches.
• Bring your needle to the back of the work.
• Pull it through and snip off the thread!

 

And here is the end result!

I hope this tutorial was helpful, if you have any questions please do ask!