DIY Project: Cross-Stitched Ornament

This isn’t a tutorial on how to cross stitch something. This is just a quick and easy, photo heavy, “how I did it”.

I LOVE to cross stitch. It’s very calming to me. I wait until after CT goes to bed and I just cuddle up with a blanket and watch some TV while stitching away.

Lately I’ve been buying all my patterns from Wee Little Stitches. We love nerdy stuff in our house, and they make awesome nerdy patterns. I highly recommend checking out their etsy shop.

the Tardis, pictured above, is from one of their Doctor Who patterns.

If you would like to see how I made this piece into an ornament, please keep reading…First off, I started this pattern on PLASTIC mesh, not fabric. I felt it would make it easier to cut around and I wouldn’t have to worry about fraying. I live in Maryland and currently can only find this stuff at Hobby Lobby (the closest is 45 minutes away) and sometimes I can find a stray piece here and there at AC Moore. Usually hidden with the regular plastic canvas.

It’s different than the normal plastic canvas in one way, and one way only. It’s perforated, so its small holes evenly spaced, instead of a square grid. I think this stuff is great! You don’t need a hoop and every project I use it in looks so crisp and clean.

See all the little holes?

Next choose any pattern you want and start stitching! The Tardis above took me about a weeks worth of nights to finish. Depending on your pattern, it may take you more, or less, time.

Above is my finished piece.

Next you’ll want to cut around your design, but make sure to cut at least one row away! If you want a larger border around the edge, cut a little more. Just be careful not to cut into any of the slots holding thread.

Here I have the Tardis almost completely cut out. I went boxy on the edges, to keep with the pixelated design, but you don’t need to.

Next I cut a piece of yarn double the length of the loop I wanted on the top. Fold it in half and glue it on the back of your piece where you feel it would hang best. I used Tacky Glue because I was afraid my glue gun might melt the plastic canvas. It worked out well. I left it to dry for about 30 minutes before moving onto the next step.

You’ll need a piece of felt for the back of your ornament, I chose white wool felt, only because it was the best color I had on hand that matched. You could very easily use any kind of felt in this project, I don’t believe it would matter. I piled a bunch of tacky glue on the back of the finished piece, flipped it over and lined up the top, where the loop was, with the edge of the felt. I thought this would help with cutting it out later. It did.

I wanted the piece to dry flat and evenly, so I placed a piece of wax paper on top and then about four large books to weigh it down. I let it be for 3 hours before disturbing it.

Once you feel it is dry enough, carefully cut around the edge of the felt, all the way to the edge of the plastic. As you can see from my photo, I had a loose thread that got caught in the edge. oops. Though it does illustrated the sandwich effect nicely.

Now your ornament is ready to hang!