It’s time to revisit this flat ornament tutorial! A while ago I put together a step-by-step featuring a round flat ornament. Though the assembly concepts are the same, a lot of you reached out asking about making square ones, or even other shapes. Plus it’s been nearly FOUR YEARS since I wrote that one, so let’s re-write it and update you with anything I’ve learned since then. As well as show you some examples of ornaments I’ve made in the last few years.

There are a ton of flat ornament tutorials out there, but a lot of them feature glue. So today I’ll be discussing how to make one without slathering your carefully stitched piece in adhesive. If you’d prefer a No-Sew method, I’d recommend The Twisted Stitcher.

As usual, please use the Table of Contents to skip ahead to the section you’re most interested in.

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What is a Flat Ornament

What is a flat ornament, anyway? Well it’s in the name. It’s an ornament, but it’s flat. They’re relatively common in the more traditional side of cross stitch. But I don’t see them nearly as often as I’d like over in the modern / nerdy designs.

These are not to be confused with a Flat Fold, which is a finish where the design stands up on its own. Though I have a tutorial for that as well.
Instead, flat ornaments are typically hanging ornaments that can be used on your Christmas tree or simply hung up on your wall. They’re typically small designs with some ribbon, cording, or other embellishments added to complement your cross stitched design.

For example, this free summer Christmas pattern you can find on my Ko-Fi.

It doesn’t have to be cross stitch specific, of course. You could use this same technique to finish a small Hardanger, Applique design, or other styles of Embroidery. Or any other similar craft.

Pattern Sizing

You could technically make your ornament any size you want. Your larger designs could be turned into a stiff wall board instead of stretched as a canvas, turned into a wall hanging, or even framing them.

But for the sake of an ornament you would put on a Christmas tree or similar, these tend to be more within the 3-5″ (8-13cm) range.

The size of your finished cross stitch piece will also depend on your fabric count, so if you’ve got a particular fabric in mind you may want to start there. Fabric count basically just translates to number of stitches per inch (even in countries that don’t often use inches). If you know you want an ornament around 4″ large, simply multiply the fabric count by 4.

For example, if you use 16 count fabric, for a 4″ ornament you’d want your pattern to be under 64 x 64 stitches. If that pattern you were considering is instead 70 stitches, you might switch to 18 count fabric instead. Or stick with the 16 and your ornament will simply be closer to 4.5″. Whichever you prefer.

Just remember to leave 2″ or so around your finished stitch for finishing. I’ll sometimes only do an inch and a half if I’m being stingy on fabric or am using a scrap, but I try to aim for 2″ or more if I can.

Materials

Alright, you’ve got your finished cross stitch piece. Now what? I always recommend working with what you have on hand when possible, so let’s break down what you need and give you some options.

A second piece of fabric or cross stitch

Fabric the same size as your cross stitch. If you want your ornament to be double-sided, you can stitch up another cross stitch piece to match. Otherwise some quilting cotton, an old t-shirt, felt, or any other fabric you have will do. I got a variety pack of quilting fabric squares years ago and they’ve been perfect for these kinds of small projects.

Some form of flat board

Something that is at least semi stiff. I use comic book board, as it’s acid free and archival safe. You could use cardstock, mat board from an old frame, a piece of cereal box, etc. You’ll need to cut two squares of the size you want your ornament to be. Or rectangles, diamonds, etc. Whatever shape your finished ornament is going to be.

Some form of padding

This is completely optional if you don’t mind the fabric being right up on the board. But padding will help hide any knots or lumpy bits if your backs are messy. I use cotton batting, like you would for a quilt. But you could use some felt sheets, fleece fabric, or just carefully arrange some stuffing flat on the board. It’ll get held in place by the fabric once you start piecing it together. You’ll need to cut two squares of the size you want your ornament to be.

Something to put along the edges of your flat ornament

I’ve been slowly working through all the colors of candy-cane braided cord I got at Michael’s ages ago, so you’ll see that featured in most of my flat ornaments. But this could be any manner of cording or trim, you could make your own i-cord, braid some embroidery thread together, etc. This just needs to be thick enough to bridge the gap between the two flat pieces we’ll be making.

Something to hang your flat ornament from

I typically make a loop of ribbon at the top, but you could use more of the same cord you use for the edging. You could also use any string, yarn, or even wire.

Sewing needle and thread

You absolutely can use the same tapestry needle and embroidery thread you used to cross stitch your design. I’ve done it. However, your ornament will be stronger and sturdier if you use actual sewing thread. And it’ll be easier to assemble if your needle is sharp. Trust me.

Something to hold your fabric/cord in place while you stitch

I tend to use quilting clips for this, and that’s what you’ll see in my photos. But you could use anything from clothespins, binder clips, alligator clips, etc. Whatever you’ve got to hold the fabric in place as you sew.

Mounting Your Fabric

Alright, it’s time to make a fabric sandwich. Start with the fabric you’ll be using on the back if you want to get familiar with the process and are afraid to ruin your cross stitch. But honestly it’s pretty straightforward.

Start by laying your fabric on your work surface wrong side up. Place your padding on top, roughly centering it on your design. Then place the board on top of that. Fold over two sides of the fabric and clip it in place.

I then recommend flipping it over and looking at it from the front. Do any shifting you need to do to make sure it’s centered, especially on the sides you have clipped down. Cross stitch fabric makes this easy as you can count the holes from either edge to confirm you’re centered. With your backing fabric you may not even need to worry if it’s a solid or repeating pattern that doesn’t need centering.

The up and down centering doesn’t matter overly much at this stage, as you’ll still be able to adjust it a little later, but getting it close to centered now will make your life easier.

Lacing Your Fabric

Once you’ve got it as centered as you can and clipped into place, flip it back over. We’ll now be stitching a criss-cross lacing stitch across the back. I used a contrasting thread here so you can hopefully see it better. But as it’s going to be on the inside of your ornament, no one will see it anyway.

Work your way up (or down) your fabric, making sure to grab the fabric a decent way in so the thread doesn’t rip through the weave when you pull it tight. Try to keep it pretty taught as you go, as if pulling a corset together. But not so tight that your thread will snap.

You only need to get the areas where your board is, but you can also keep going all the way to the edges if you want to make it easier for you when you go to do the other ends.

Before you do the other sides though, flip it back over and check again that it hasn’t gotten off center. You can still do some (careful) shifting around at this stage to get it back in line. Then fold over your two unstitched ends and clip them in place.

As before, lace the two ends together. This time making sure to pierce through both layers of fabric where it’s been folded over.

Once you’ve gotten one done, take a break or go on and do the same with the other piece of fabric.

Ribbon Loop

Now it’s time to stitch the two together. I like to do this at the same time as I’m adding my edging. But before we do that, make sure you add your hanging loop as well!

Here, I taped the ribbon loop and the starting end of my cording to the center of my backing piece. That way I could place the stitched square in front of it and get an idea of what it’ll look like assembled. You can try a few different hanging ribbons or cords until you figure out which one you like best.

You can also use quilt clips and pins to hold these instead of tape, but I wanted to be able to see what it would look like in the end.

After I’d made my decisions, I stitched the ribbon and the beginning of my cord into place so it doesn’t come loose on hanging, then got rid of the tape. Then I loosely wrapped the cord around the ornament and trimmed it . I still want it to be longer than necessary just in case. But I don’t want to deal with a lot of excess cording still on the spool.

Attaching Cording

With the start of my cord stitched in place in the middle, I sandwiched the two squares together and clipped them in place so they wouldn’t wiggle around while I stitched. You can also wrap the cord around the whole perimeter at this time so it’s out of your way while you work.

Get yourself a nice sharp needle to make this easier, and choose thread that blends in with your cording. Once you’re ready, start carefully stitching the edging cord between the two boards. Make sure it is piercing both fabrics. Then, pulling your thread tight, try to line up the thread with the grooves of the braid so they sink down into it and are hidden. If your cord isn’t twisted like mine, follow the pattern of yours.

Angle the needle in the direction of your cording, so the thread lines up with the twist when you bring the thread over and go through the fabric on the next bit of cord.

Put on a podcast or something and keep slowly working your way around your ornament, removing the clips as you get close to them.

As you approach the top again, tuck the other end of your cording in-between the two squares, where your hanging loop is. Then continue stitching up to that center spot. You might have a small gap between the two ends of cording as they fold into the center. If you look real close you can see a tiny bit of the thread peeking out at the edges, that’s fine!.

You can hide that gap with some cleverly placed embellishments, as we’ll discuss next.

Embellishing Your Flat Ornament

Now that you know the general idea, let’s discuss some ways to spruce this up!

The easiest embellishment is just adding bows. Whether at the top or bottom. That can be as simple as tying a standard bow and stitching it on like I did here. I even clipped the ends of the bow to make little Vs.

Or you can get a little fancy and do a more elaborate bow, like this triple loop bow.

Here I used TWO cords around the edge, and angled the twist in each of them in opposite directions. I also used a silly bat button I had to hide the awkward spot where I turned the top cord in a loop. The black/white stripe almost distracts you from the fact I got terrible coverage on that white aida and should’ve gone up to 3 strands while stitching. Ah well.

Rather than a twisted braid, try finding other types of trim to use, such as a pom pom trim like in this critmas ornament.

I’ve also seen tassels attached at the bottom, beaded edgings, and other such embellishments. Take a look at your stash and see what creative uses for your materials you can come up with!

Flat Ornament in Other Shapes

As I mentioned at the beginning, I originally made this tutorial featuring a circular design. And you can still find my Round Flat Ornament Tutorial here. The only thing that’s different is how I went about lacing the fabric around the card. The same techniques there could be used for ovals. But there are plenty of other shapes out there for you to play with! Get creative!

You could even combine the square and round techniques for more complex shapes. For example, the rounded rectangle like these Flamingo designs by Hands On Design. Or perhaps even a heart shape!

While I went over today how to make a perfect square, you could also use this technique for rectangles of any height and width. Maybe even sharper shapes, like these diamond ornaments by Teresa Kogut. And perhaps even a star.

Or, go out there and make something truly unique like these sweater-shaped ornaments from Lila’s Studio! The sky’s the limit. I’d love to see what you come up with.