Posted by Mary Corbet
https://www.needlenthread.com/2025/12/twinkle-twinkle-part-6-assembling-the-ornament.html
https://www.needlenthread.com/?p=65001
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Welcome to Part 6 of our current stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread, Twinkle, Twinkle: A Christmas Star Ornament! Today, we’re going to construct the project into an ornament. If you’re not used to finish work, it might seem daunting, but I promise you, it’s pretty easy and it’s not going to take too long.
If you’re just joining in, you’ll find all the previous installments of this stitch-along available here, in the Twinkle, Twinkle Project Index.
For members of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you’ve already received the PDF that covers all this information.
If you are interested in video instruction for this entire project but not interested in the monthly membership (it’s $5 for “Avid Stitcher” level), you can purchase access to the individual videos that you’d like to view. You’ll find the videos listed under the Twinkle, Twinkle Collection on my membership page, including the videos for finishing the project.
Nitty-gritty announcements are over – let the fun commence!
Before you begin the finishing process, it’s a good idea to gather together all your supplies that you’ll need into one clean workspace. You’ll need good lighting, too, so be sure to have a task light or a sunny window at hand!
Be sure to read through the whole process before you begin working.
For the construction of the ornament, you’ll need:
- The embroidered project
- Thermolam (mentioned in the original materials list)
- Felt for the back of the ornament
- A cut board 3 7/8″ round (4-ply mat or Bristol board work)
- PVA glue (I use SOBO)
- A paintbrush
- A glue plate or tray to squeeze glue into
- Sewing pins (larger heads are easier!)
- Clips (like Clover Wonder Clips – I usually use the mini, but the regular size work, too
- Fabric scissors
- A pencil
- A ruler
- All-purpose white sewing thread
- #8 crewel needle
- Tweezers
Set aside about an hour to work on the finishing of the ornament. It may not take that long, but it’s easier to work straight through this part of the project, than to break it up in installments.
Cut the thermolam and the felt out, using the cut board as a guide.
For the felt, I trace around the board with a pencil and cut on the line. If any pencil shows, I make sure that the pencil-line side is the side turned to the inside of the ornament when I assemble it.
For the thermolam, I usually just hold the board and thermolam together and carefully cut out the thermolam.
For your embroidered piece, mark about 5/8″ away from the edge of the embroidery, all around the design area. Use the marks as a guide to cut the extra fabric off around the embroidery. You want about a 5/8″ edge all around, for turning.
Sandwich the thermolam between the board and the embroidery – the order is shown above.
Now it’s time to carefully pin the embroidery in place around the board, so that it is centered and aligned on the board.
Start at one tip of the star, and pin into the linen and into just the very edge of the board with the very tip of a pin, enough to hold the linen in place.
Then, work a tip on the opposite side of the star.
Do this all around at the star, spacing the pins out a bit, just to get the fabric situated and in place on the board.
You may have to occasionally remove a pin and re-pin, adjusting the fabric as you go.
You can slightly stretch the fabric over the thermolam and board, but you don’t want to be stretching super-tight here. You don’t want the embroidery fabric to pull into the thermolam and make a dent or pucker. You want the surface to be smooth and equal all around.
Then, work your way back around the star, from side to side, pinning between the pins.
It may seem like overkill, but pinning abundantly around the star will help ensure a nice, smooth edge.
Now, you’re going to flip the ornament over carefully and start the glueing process.
Work in small segments at a time, starting with one segment about the width of your finger or thumb, and add a thin coating of glue to the board, where you’ll be turning the fabric down onto the glue on the board. You don’t need to snip any fabric yet with the first bit that you glue down.
When you glue, do not glue near the edge of the board! Glue about 1/8″ in from the edge. This will make the sewing up of the ornament and the working of the beaded edge much, much, much easier.
Brush a thin layer of glue on, turn the fabric over onto the layer of glue, then push the fabric towards the center of the board with your finger. You might get a little glue on your fingers here – that’s ok. You can just roll it off when it dries.
After you get the first bit glued on, you can snip into the fabric. Snip either a straight line or a small inverted “V” as shown above. Snip towards the edge of the board, but not to the edge. Leave at least 1/8″ of fabric un-snipped, that wraps around the board. You don’t want the snips showing on the edge of the ornament.
The snips will help the fabric lie smoothly around the edge.
After you take a snip or two, apply a little more glue to the next segment of board and turn the fabric onto it the same way.
Use the clips, then, to clip where you’ve glued, as shown above.
Make sure that the other side of the clips are not interfering with the front of the embroidery (especially the beads). With the Wonder Clips, we always make sure the flat side is on the front of the embroidery.
In the past, I always pre-snipped my fabric all around, before turning and glueing. Now, I snip as I go. Sometimes, I use an inverted “V,” but sometimes, I just snip a straight line into the fabric. The idea is just to allow the fabric to lie smoothly as glue around the ornament.
Work all the way around the edge, always pushing the fabric towards the center of the board as you turn it over the edge and apply it to the glued area.
Take your time with this process! It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it’s worth doing it carefully!
Once it’s glued all around, leave it to dry well. I usually leave it for about 15 minutes or so.
Now you’ll sew the felt onto the back of the ornament.
There are two ways you can do this. You can use a “blind” ladder stitch or you can whip stitch the edge.
You won’t see the blind ladder stitch, but you have to be careful with the tension on it, because it can cause some visible ripples. It’s also a little trickier to work into the felt edge, because you’re not going all the way through the felt.
The whip stitch is easy and quick, but it has the disadvantage of being visible.
To do the blind ladder stitch, use one strand of thread (not doubled) in the needle, knot the end, bring the thread into the fabric on the back of the ornament where it will be covered with felt (so the knot isn’t visible) and take the needle out at the ornament edge in the linen, just under the lip of the edge, facing the felt.
You’ll make a small straight stitch in the linen, then jump over the felt and make a small straight stitch on the inside side of the felt (the side facing the back of the ornament), picking up just a tiny bit of the felt and not going all the way through it.
Then jump back over to the back of the linen on the edge of the ornament, then back to the felt, and so forth – following the pattern noted by the red line in the photo above.
When you end your thread, end it as invisibly as possible between the felt and back of the ornament, and using a knot.
For whip stitch, the principles of starting and ending the thread are the same. The stitch is simply whipped around the edge of the felt and into the linen, all around the ornament. Your stitches should be about 1/8″ into the felt. You can slant these stitches, or you can make them straight, perpendicular to the edge of the ornament.
I prefer the blind ladder stitch.
Applying the Crystals
You can apply the flatback crystals now, or you can wait until you do the beaded edge.
On different samples, I applies the crystals at different times. On some, I applied them right after beading the background, but I found that, during the pinning and glueing process, the crystals got in the way – and I did pin so that it popped right after the fabric.
So I suggest applying either now or after beading the edge. On the rest of my samples, I applied them now. I didn’t wait until after beading the edge.
To apply the crystal, I used the round head of a pin to pick up some glue, and, while holding the crystal with tweezers, I applied the glue to the back of the crystal.
Then, I gently set the crystal in place where I wanted it on the fabric. Don’t press it in place right away. Just gently place it, then use tweezers to make sure it’s right where you want it.
I used the tail end of my tweezers to gently push and hold the crystal in place while the glue dried.
After a minute or so, I switched to using my finger, and just pressed gently on the crystal with my finger for a good three or more minutes, holding it in place and being certain that the glue dried and adhered.
Of course, I forgot to take a photo without the beaded edge on, so this rendition above will give you a general idea of what things should look like, if your constructed ornament is lying on your work surface in front of you.
And that’s that!
Coming Up!
We will work the decorative beaded edge together on Friday! Wooohooo!! See you then!
https://www.needlenthread.com/2025/12/twinkle-twinkle-part-6-assembling-the-ornament.html
https://www.needlenthread.com/?p=65001