Free Motion Quilted Ornaments - a Tutorial

Most years I make special Christmas ornaments to give to some friends and family members. I've tried a couple of different versions of quilted ornaments, including these ones two years ago, but I've never been able to come up with a way to finish the ornaments that was fairly quick (so no binding!) and that left me completely pleased with how it looked. Then last year I made these play alphabets, finishing the edges with pinking shears and I thought that would be perfect for finishing ornaments. Unfortunately, I then waited a full year before trying it...

But, finally, here is a tutorial for these fantastic free motion quilted ornaments!

Gather Your Supplies

* Fabric for the front and back of the ornaments, slightly larger than your finished ornaments will be. I recommend solid fabric to allow your quilting to shine. I'm using white yardage for my ornaments, but you could easily make them from scraps in any colour you want.

* Something to create the circle outline. I used the rim of a mug, but you can use anything you have that is the size you want. I wanted mine to be pretty big (as ornaments go), to allow for lots of quilting. Of course, your ornaments don't have to be circles, so play around and use whatever shape you want.

* A hera marker or removable fabric marker. You'll use this to draw the outline of your ornament, so you want to be sure the line will disappear. If you'll be mailing your ornaments, I don't recommend a Frixion pen as their ink tends to reappear if exposed to cold temperatures.

*Ribbon for hanging the ornament. I'm using my quilt labels, but any fabric ribbon will work.

* Scraps of batting slightly larger than your finished ornaments will be.

* Basting pins

* Thread. This is where you can have a lot of fun playing around. Use thread to match your fabric if you want only the texture of the quilting to show, or use thread that contrasts to allow the quilting to take center stage. Use red and green for a traditional Christmas look, or go wild with whatever colour appeals to you.

* pinking shears (I can't find mine online to link to, but these would be similar)

Making the Ornaments

Layer your fabric and batting just as you would if you were basting a quilt. Use the hera marker to trace the outline of the circle onto the fabric.

My camera really struggled to take pictures of all this white!

Cut your ribbon to size and place it between the top fabric and the batting, with the ends extending at least 1/4" inside the drawn circle. Pin in place.

Pin in a couple of places to hold all the layers together. Because I'm using yardage, I have my fabric cut into strips and circles drawn along the length of the strip.

Now quilt along the drawn line to outline the ornament. Try to keep the outline neat, but don't stress about little wobbles in the line. They will be much less noticeable when the whole ornament is filled in.

Yes, using the red thread on white fabric is scary, especially when there's only a bit of stitching done. Wobbles seem especially glaring when there's so much contrast! Once the whole ornament is finished, the red feels much less stark.

Then start quilting! I used flow quilting for this ornament, but you could do anything you want. What motifs are you comfortable with? Pebbles? Swirls? Whatever it is, you could fill your ornament with beautiful free motion quilting. Plus, since the ornaments are small, you could use them for practice.

When your ornament is filled in, sit back and enjoy it for a moment :)

Now it's time to trim it using the pinking shears. Leave a few threads to the outside of the stitched line. When you come to the ribbon, you'll need to separate the layers so that you don't cut the ribbon. Start by pulling the top fabric away from the ribbon and trim that.

Then pull the ribbon to the front and trim the batting and backing. Once you are past the ribbon, continue trimming all three layers together the rest of the way around the circle.

 And that's it! Simple, isn't it?

So far I've made 6 and I'm having a lot of fun playing with different quilting motifs. I plan to make about a dozen more, if possible.

The light green ones were made using my first ever spool of Aurifil thread (colour 1231) and I have to say, I really like the thread 😊 (Hey, look, Blogger has emojis all of a sudden!)

If you make ornaments using this tutorial, I'd love to see them! Leave me a link to a blog post in the comments or email a link or a picture to devotedquilter at gmail dot com. Or you can tag me (@devotedquilter) on Instagram.

Happy stitching!

Edited to add, I used this same method again for other ornaments, which you can see in this post.