Advent Calendar – Ornaments

One down.

Twenty Three to go.

This is the moment where I’m really happy that I chose to use 24 days for the countdown vs. 25. The decorated side of the ornament will hang from the vintage red buttons sewn to the tree. The number side will hang from a small white button sewn above the top lip of the pocket.

The ornament patterns were drawn onto ordinary card stock. A magic trick plastic cone was the perfect size circle. Graph paper sized the octagon. A few freehand attempts yielded a bird. A ruler guided the star lines. The rejects included candy canes, holly leaves and gingerbread men. I used a mechanical pencil to trace my patterns on the light 100% wool felt. A magical white disappearing pen for the dark colors.

The numbers. I first tried fabric paint and stamps. The wool felt is too fuzzy and the transfer didn’t look sharp enough to make out the number. I tried hand painting the numbers yielding only slightly better results. I didn’t want to sew them on and the thought of embroidery gave me the heebie-jeebies. Wonder Under saved the day. I fused a chunk to the back of an 8 x 10 inch piece of felt , removed the paper and cut the numbers freehand. I’m hoping the uneven, jagged edges will look cool post-modern and not half-baked homemade.

For the hanging loop I crocheted a string using #8 Perle Cotton. Backsides together, loop sandwiched in between, a buttonhole stitch around the edges. The design hides all the embellishment threads on the inside. I like the buttonhole stitch which is a very good thing.

to be continued…