Tristan was still three last Christmas, but he has impeccable fine motor skills so I thought I’d see how he would do at sewing a felt tree Christmas ornament.
If he wasn’t able to do it he would glue the edges of the fabric together, or just use the felt as it was. But he surprised us both when he discovered he was quite good with a needle and thread.
First two triangles were cut out of some felt. Then I started Tristan off half way across the bottom so we could see how he went. I showed him how to do a simple straight stitch using embroidery floss.
Tristan continued along on his own and only needed very little help now again when he looped his needle over the tree instead of through the tree.
He continued up and then down the triangle and when he moved around to the bottom I helped sew in a piece of brown felt for the trunk. Then Tristan stuffed the tree with some polyester batting that I have a ton of left over from a craft almost 4 years ago…I’m sure I’ll be finding uses for this for a while to come even though the purchase was made of the smallest amount. An excuse to craft to use up things already around the house? Sounds like a challenge to me!
After the thread was knotted and trimmed Tristan began the more creative aspect of the project and chose some colourful sequins to adorn his tree. He used glue to secure these to the felt.
I used a little embroidery floss to create a hanging loop at the top of the tree and Tristan hung his felt tree on our Christmas tree with pride!
Sewing is a very useful skill to have at any age; we will do more work with it over the coming years. I remember my Mom and Grandma teaching me to sew; first by hand and later with a machine. We don’t have room for a machine, unfortunately, but that doesn’t stop the holes that need fixing in socks, trousers, etc….now, where is Tristan to help with darning that pile of socks?
If you’re looking for more inspiration, click over to see our pages on felt crafts, and Christmas ideas.
