Sew a Hexie Christmas Ornament

This sweet and simple ornament is a great way to use up small felt and fabric scraps. With very little sewing and easy assembly, this project will be finished in no time!

And if you like this tutorial, you’ll probably like the Hexie key ring tutorial too!

But back to the Christmas ornament sewing! Here’s all the details you need;

Finished Size – 4 ¾ inches (12 cm) tall (including hanging loop)

MATERIALS REQUIRED

• Two 4″ (10cm) squares of print fabric. I used Liberty Betsy
• Scraps of Wool Felt in red and green
• 5″ (12cm) of 3/8″ (1cm) wide red ribbon
• Embroidery needle
• Fine sewing thread like 60 weight bobbin thread
• 2 x 1 ¼” hexagon paper templates, or light card to trace and cut out your own from the template provided
• Freezer paper (optional)
• Glue stick or English paper piecing glue basting pen
• Hot glue gun (optional)
• General sewing supplies
• Print out of the template

NOTE: This tutorial is for personal use only, for sewing at home and/or teaching another person or child to sew FOR FREE. Reusing or repurposing free Molly and Mama tutorial instructions, templates and images for paid classes, or distributing the materials in classes, to groups, or for commercial purposes, is strictly prohibited. For clarification, or to seek a commercial arrangement, please contact Molly and Mama.

LET’S GET SEWING

Glue Baste the Hexagons

1. Use the template provided to trace and cut 2 identical 1 ¼ inch hexagon shapes from light card. Alternatively, use pre-packaged laser cut hexagon papers.

Download the template HERE.

2. Place a hexagon paper on the wrong side of a fabric square and hold in place. Roughly cut around the hexagon shape leaving at least a ¼” (6mm) seam allowance.

3. Using a glue pen, run a small amount of glue along the edge of one side of the hexagon paper. Fold the fabric over firmly and secure.

4. Glue the second side and then fold it over, including the edge of the first side. Fold the third side next, continuing in a clockwise direction.

5. Repeat this process to fold over all six sides of the fabric. Be especially careful to keep the fabric folded firmly near the points or corners.

6. Create a second fabric covered hexagon using the same process. KEEP THE PAPERS INSIDE THE HEXAGONS! This will give your ornament more structure.

For more information about English paper piecing and sewing hexagons, please see my comprehensive Tutorial.

7. Place the two hexagons together with wrong sides facing, being sure to line up the edges and corners.

8. Thread your needle with a single strand of bobbin thread and knot one end. Use very fine and small whip stitches to sew the two sides of the hexagons together. Start at one corner and stitch along the edge to the next corner. As you stitch, catch 2 – 3 threads from the folded edge of both pieces of fabric, being careful not to stitch through the actual paper. Small, closely spaced stitches are best.

9. Repeat the method described above to sew around four sides of your hexagons. As you near the corner between the fourth and fifth sides, insert the raw ends of the piece of ribbon that has been folded in half to make a loop. Align it in the corner.

10. As you sew the remaining sides, catch the ribbon in your stitches, to secure it in place.

11. Use the template to create two holly leaves from green felt and three holly berries from red felt. There are a couple of ways you can transfer your pattern template to your felt, in preparation for cutting. Check this tutorial for more details on cutting out felt.

12. Adorn one side of the hexagon ornament with holly leaves and berries. Stitch or glue the two holly leaves in place on the base of one side of one hexagon.

13. Glue the overlapping red berries in the centre. Your pretty ornament is all set to decorate your tree!

EXTRA PROJECTS, TIPS AND TRICKS

• Customise or personalise your ornament with a name embroidered on one side.
• Add holly and berries to both sides of the ornament.
• Create a whole collection of ornaments in different print fabrics and colours.
• Use the ornament as a Christmas present gift tag instead of a decoration.
• Reduce or enlarge your hexagon template on your printer to create different sized hexagons for other projects. Alternatively, you might find yourself buying English paper piecing templates of all shapes and sizes!

Feel free to share your creations on the Molly and Mama Facebook Page. Use the hash tag #MollyandMama on Instagram.

If you’ve had fun creating this project, you might like some of my other Christmas tutorials, including the Sugar Mouse project. Check the Tutorials tab for more ideas.

Feel free to check out my patterns in the store too!

Happy sewing, Lauren x