Red Ted Art's Blog

Bringing Colour & Art to Children's Hearts

How to… Make a Fabric Bauble (Guest Post)

christmas ornament fabricchristmas ornamentThis week brings you yet more lovely Christmas Ornament Crafts with this How to make a Fabric Bauble from Snaffles Mummy! It really is “decorations” galore here at Red Ted Art, but with Christmas rapidly heading our way, why not? I love ornaments and this is another fabulous idea. Choose fabrics that “fit your colour scheme”. Or my favourite, is to use old baby onesies – another special way to keep hold of those lovely lovely baby clothes (I can you guess yet how sentimental I am) or maybe even use old picture books or magazines?
Snaffles Mummy and I go a long long way back. When I first started out doing crafts and tutorials on Red Ted Art, Snaffles Mummy made my No Sew Bunting. Here is her example. Since then she has submitted to Get Crafties and I always great little crafts and tutorials appear on her site. Fabulous British Crafty Blogger!

We also have a new Christmas Ornament Book. 30 of our favourite ornaments brought together in one place. Sorted by age. Each craft is shared on one page – making the perfect worksheet print outs. Lovely to have them all in one place too!
christmas-ornaments-3d-images-1a

Only $7.99

Get yours today and keep it forever!

Don’t forget – you can use exciting tired baubles and give them a make over – then this REALLY becomes a thrifty project!!

Materials:
  • PVA Glue and a small paintbrush
  • Polystyrene balls
  • Ribbon
  • Fabric
I ordered my polystyrene balls from E-bay but most craft shops will sell them, particularly at this time of year.  For the fabric you will need 5-6 different patterns to get a good patchwork effect. If you have scraps of fabric, great use them. However, if you are buying fabric then 5-6 different fabrics could work out expensive. I bought some mock patchwork effect fabric from Ebay so that I got the different patterns but didn’t have to buy 5-6 different fabrics.
You will need to cut your fabric into small squares. Mine were about an inch square. If you cut them too big you wont be able to get them to lay smoothly against your ball.  I used pinking shears to get the zigzagged edges and to prevent fraying.
STEP 1
Glue 1 square of fabric onto the ball, ensure the square is well smoothed out.
(you will have to excuse the photographs. You need to stand the balls on something to keep them stable so I used a candle holder.)
fabric bauble ornaments
STEP 2
Glue a length of ribbon across the top to form a loop for hanging. I used a clothes peg to hold this in place and allow to dry.
fabric ornaments
Once dry it should look something like this
fabric baubles
STEP 3
Glue 2 pieces of fabric either side of the ribbon to cover it
fabric baubles christmas
STEP 4
Continue to cover the entire bauble with squares of fabric, overlapping and gluing as you go along. Once covered allow to dry.
STEP 5
Once dry then cover the bauble with another layer of glue and allow to dry.
Voila, one home make fabric bauble.
christmas ornament fabric
Thank you Snaffles Mummy for a lovely idea and sharing your personalised  fabric baubles with us!
Looking for more ideas? Take a peak at these awesome Glue Yarn Balls! They would look fabulous as an ornament or strung up as a garland!

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Filed Under: Christmas, How To's, Recycling 22 Comments

Comments

  8. That\’s really cute! I love the fabrics you used! I\’d love for you to link your post up at my Friday Favorites party. This week is a special Holly Bloggy Christmas edition!

    Reply

  10. I think using baby clothes is a wonderful idea! I\’m very sentimental too. By the way, I think I learned a new word, \”baubles\”. I\’m going to use it for the rest of the season!!! 😉

    Reply

    • Any really – but maybe use one that is the same as an average Christmas Bauble – i.e. what fits with your other decorations?

      Reply

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