No Sew Quilted Christmas Ornaments

Today I am sharing one of my very favorite traditions growing up…..all starting in the hot July sun my mom would teach my sister and I how to make an ornament…and we would spend all “Christmas in July” making a new kind of ornament for a new tree that my mom would put up. One year it was micro-mini cross stitch ornaments for a small tree in our kitchen, one year it was clothespin reindeer and soldiers for a nutcracker tree, and one year it was these no-sew quilted Christmas ornaments for a whole family tree full of them. I am pretty sure the idea was to give us something to do in July….but it made for such fun memories when we would open all the ornaments we made in July and put them on the tree in December!

So, today I thought I would teach you how to make these No Sew Quilted Christmas Ornaments. Here is what you will need:

3″ styrofoam balls, 3″ fabric circles, and a whole bunch of dressmakers’ pins (pins with no tops on them!)

The one thing I forgot to take a picture of is a piece of 5/8th grosgrain ribbon to form the ornament hangar….but hopefully you have some in your stash!

I used some basic solids and dots from Riley Blake Designs, mixed in with some “When Skies are Grey” fabric line.

Here are the amounts of the 3″ circles you will need:

Fabric #1 (center): 8 circles total (4 per side)

Fabric #2 (second layer): 16 total (8 per side)

Fabric #3 (third layer): 16 total (8 per side)

 

And here’s how you make them:

Step 1: Find the center of the circle (do the fold in 4ths trick 😉 and put a pin in it.

Step 2: With the pin in the center of your 3″ circle, place it anywhere on your ornament, with right side of fabric facing down.

   

Step 3: Fold circle in half to cover the pin, and hold in place with your finger.

Step 4: Fold one side of the quarter circle down and put a pin in the bottom corners. Repeat for the other side.

 

   

Step 5: Repeat to make anther “wedge” across from the one you completed. Then do two more horizontally.

Step 6: Start your second layer down about 1/2″ from the center layer and repeat steps #1-4. This layer will use 8 circles instead of 4 as they will meet each of the vertical lines in the ornament.

   

Step 7: The third layer will be the same as the other two about 1/2″ down from layer two. This completes the first side of the ornament.

Step 8: Repeat steps #1-7 for the second side of the ornament. When you have done that your quilted ornament should look like the one below.

 

   

Step 9: Add your grosgrain ribbon around the ball to cover up all your pins. Leave a loop at the top and pin in place.

   

And you are done and ready to hang them on your tree!  I made 6 different ones to put up on the tree in clusters and hopefully I can add more next year….I need to start the July tradition again!

Also, to go along with the ornaments, I made 3 No-Sew Quilted Christmas Trees to coordinate my family room of “black, white and red” with plaids this year. To see the full tutorial for making these trees, Click HERE to head over to pin that tutorial too!

~Elizabeth