Personalized Cross Stitch Ornaments

I picked up a new hobby while staying home for the better part of 2020 – cross stitching!

I don’t think of myself as a very creative person, but the structured nature of following a pre-planned pattern drew me to this craft. I started out by ordering several inexpensive kits on Amazon that came complete with instructions and all the thread and supplies needed for one specific pattern (here is the first kit I completed). There are a lot of great videos on YouTube to teach you the basics of cross stitching so I will not go over that information here. I learned basic cross stitch techniques including how to thread a needle, start a new thread, and secure the end of each thread on Phil’s Next Kick page on YouTube.

After I completed a few purchased patterns, I decided to branch out and start designing my own patterns that I could make a bit more unique. This eventually this led me to the idea to create personalized cross stitch ornaments to give to my family and friends.Among others, I made a bread-baking Santa for my bread-baking mother, a Christmas Brutus Buckeye for my OSU-loving grandpa, and a Christmas cacti for my succulent-loving father. In this Instructable, I will walk you through making a Christmas quarantine golfers ornament! Now let’s jump in and learn how to make one together!

- Several small hoops – I used 3 inch hoops as they seemed most appropriate for ornaments but 4 inch and maybe even 5 inch hoops would work as well

- Aida cross stitch fabric - I used a beige colored fabric for this project

- Thread in a variety of colors

- Needle

- Scissors

- Ribbon – mine was 3/8 in x 10 yd (9.5 mm x 9.1 m) and that width match the width of the hoop perfectly

- Hot glue gun

When I first started creating my own designs, I used Stitch Fiddle. It is a free website online where you can select a grid size and colors to easily make your own patterns. Since then, I bought an app called “StitchSketch” to create my designs and that's what I used for this project. This app has slightly more features that allows you to add in half stitches, back stitches and more. Both options work great, especially for the simple designs required of such small ornament projects!

Be sure to count out how much room you have in your hoops so you know your designs will fit! Using 3 inch hoops, I had about 35-40 squares in the widest cross sections. I choose to make my design on a 40 x 40 grid and try to keep it just under those dimensions.

I tried to leave at least an inch of fabric around all sides of the hoop. Center the fabric paying attention to line up the lines in the fabric parallel to the clasp at the top because you will be leaving this fabric in the hoop to display. Get stitching! Follow the instructions on the YouTube videos above if you need assistance learning how to cross stitch.

Be sure to save your back stitches for the end (used to outline the masks and shoes here).

I opted to use French knots for the white fur on the Santa hats in this design. I like adding in details like this to add more personality to my projects! Here is a YouTube video I used to quickly learn how to do them.

For a few of the other ornaments I made, I added beads connected by weaving back stitches to create the illusion of a string of lights wrapping around the subject.

After completing your cross stitch, use a dark colored thread (I chose dark green) and start by making small, loose (this will ensure the stitches will look like string rather than completely straight) back stitches across the bottom of your object. Play around with whether one, two, three, or more pieces of threads give you the thickness you desire for you string of lights (I choose just gold in these). Extend the back stitches out just beyond the edge of the object, then make a small loop back ending at the edge of the object. Now imagine looping the string of lights behind and up the back of the object and start your next back stitches on the opposite side of the object and a bit higher. Repeat this until you create the illusion of a light strand wrapping up your entire object.

After your back stitching (light strand) is complete, it is time to add in the beads (lights). Make a knot in the end of a single strand of thread and feed it through your needle. From the back, poke the needle through where you want your bead and pull the string through and out of the needle. Feed the thread through the needle and then back through your needle. Poke the needle back close to (but not exactly) where you just came up. Tie and cut the string. Repeat along the back stitched line to create a string of lights effect!

This ensures there is not too much to neatly glue behind the hoop.

Secure the extra fabric to the back with hot glue. Do only small segments at a time to make sure you get it all to lay down as evenly as possible.

NOTE: There are videos online that show ways to add felt or other fabrics to the back of projects to better hide the back of your cross stitch. I did not opt to do that on this year's ornaments but may do so in the future.

Again, be sure to do this small segments at a time.

Cut a large piece of ribbon (about 12-16 inches). Use about 1/3 to ½ the length of the ribbon to tie a loop to the hoop’s clasp with two, EVEN, long tails. Tie the loop so it is secure and the knot it tight (to be easily hidden behind the bow). Next, use the two tails to tie a bow with the center of the bow over the metal clasp and knot you created.

Now hang your handmade ornament up to display or wrap it up and watch your family and friends expressions as they open up their personalized gifts!