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In this video, we're going to make some easy felt stars
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Great for your Christmas tree and for gifting to friends. So you're going to need some embroidery thread
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Any colours you like, it's entirely up to you. Something to act as a hanger
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You could use the embroidery thread or gold rickrack, some cord, or a piece of ribbon
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You're going to need a star shape. Now this template's available for free on my website
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or you can just find a star online and use that. Something to fill your stars
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your stars. I'm using toy filling but you could use scraps of fabric or
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indeed cut up bits of felt, whatever you've got available and obviously you're
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going to need some felt. Now you can see I'm using up scraps from other projects
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and that's definitely what I recommend. If you haven't got any you can buy some
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and use that but it is a great scrap busting project. So start by cutting out
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your star template. They can make these any size you like. I've done nice cute
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little ones but you can make big stars if you wanted to and all you need is one
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plate and then take the felt that you want to use and you need to cut two of those out
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Now for ease you can obviously fold your felt in half and pin it down and away you go
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If you want to make a pin cushion like mine that video is also available on my channel
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so please feel free to have a look and I'll put a link in the description below
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So once you've cut your stars out it's up to you to decide how much you want to decorate them
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So you could leave them as they are or you can do fancy decorations. Now some ideas for you are ones that I've done
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So I'm going to put them up on the screen now and I'm just going to do a little bit of a talk through
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You could just decorate one or you can decorate the front and the back. I've put some little snowflakes on, sewn some beads, sewn some sequins on
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and done the standard star shape on the middle which I rather like
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You can see it's a bit of a favourite. But once you're happy with your decoration, it's time to sew your star closed
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And we going to use a blanket stitch Now start inside and have your knot between your two layers And then you going to take your thread right over both layers
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and then come in from underneath through both layers. And it's going to form a loop around the edge of your star
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But before that loop gets completely tight, you're going to run your needle through it
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and that's going to stop you getting a diagonal stitch at the beginning
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And then we'll carry on with our blanket stitch by just going from the front to the back
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through both layers. So through both layers and then bring your needle through the loop you've
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made. Now if you're not familiar with blanket stitch there is a tutorial on my channel
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that's dedicated just to doing blanket stitch so please feel free to take a look at that
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and have a full lesson but it's probably enough here for you to do your stars and
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again through the loop and then just keep going so if you're struggling a little bit
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please look at the video I've put it on the screen and in the description below but
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if you're confident just keep going so you can see I'm going round the top back
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down the other side and you're just going to do this for each point
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So just keep going all the way around except for the last two points
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So when you get to the point where you've still got two of those points not sewn
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it's time to think about your hanger. So when you start your blanket stitch
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if you've got a certain way up you want your start to be, you need to think about it and make sure you put the hanger in the right point
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Decide how long you want your hanger to be and then add some extra on to go inside
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the star to secure it. Depending what you're using, there's different ways to do it
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So if you going to do Rickrack you just want it a little bit longer and then you going to sew it in If you using a cord or an embroidery thread you going to put a knot in the bottom to secure it So you need to allow extra for that knot
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So in this case, I'm going to use the cord. So I'm going to cut it to the length I want and then I'm going to put a knot in the bottom
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And it's going to go inside that top point. So I'll just knot it
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Nothing fancy. It's just so that I've got something to secure it in with
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And then place that knot or just the ends of your ribbon if you're using ribbon into that point
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And then as you work your blanket stitch, you are going to secure it so that it holds and you can hang your star by it
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So now you can set off up that final point with. your blanket stitch. If you're going through ribbon, just make sure your ribbon's
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flat and where you want it and then your stitches will go through the two layers
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of ribbon and you need to make sure they do. If like me you're doing a cord or
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an embroidery thread you need to make sure that knots down there. I'm just
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going to do one more stitch before the cord and then you need to do a stitch
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through that cord so it's above the knot so it's going to catch that knot and stop it pulling out
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so then take your needle down out the bottom and then you're going to come up through the loop of cord
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not like that like i just did over the top you're going to come through the cord and then
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through the loop of your stitching and then once you're happy that's laying properly, you can start coming down the other side. So now you come and come outside that little loop of cord and do a stitch
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And then you can set off down that side of that point just like you were working before If you enjoying this video please give me a thumbs up so it spreads to more people
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and then everyone can have cute Christmas stars on their tree or popping them in their Christmas cards for their friends
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Now when you've got one point left, it's time to add your filling
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So for me it's toy filling, but it doesn't matter what you're putting in
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you need to do it now while you can still get it in there. You might find her okay with your finger, you might want to use a chopstick or a pencil
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just to push it down into those points. And how much you put in is entirely up to you
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So if you want quite chunky little stars, put plenty in, if you just want them to have a little bit of filling, then just put a little bit in
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You could even add lavender in if you wanted to, it's entirely up to you
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But get them so that you're happy and then your final point
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you're going to sew around that, but you may have to pause while you're going around it to push the stuffing back in or indeed to add some more to make sure your final point has got plenty in
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So just keep checking as you work in your way along so that they're exactly how you want at the end
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And then work your way down to the bottom and when you get back to where you started, you can't just cut your thread off
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Just take your thread through one of those loops right where you're working
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and then take your needle through the loop you make and pull it tight
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And then push your needle into the star so that it pops out of the felt somewhere
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And then you can pull that nice and tight and you want it nice and tight
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and then you're going to cut it off really close to the felt. And because you've pulled it tight, it'll just pop back into the shape and you'll never see it again
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but that extra length will just mean it doesn't get pulled undone
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And there you go, completed star. Thank you so much for watching and making your own stars
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and I hope you enjoy them and have a fabulous Christmas
