Pillow Ornaments for a Kid-Friendly Christmas Tree
Create colorful and playful pillow ornaments for a kid-friendly Christmas tree. Use a fabric panel with square designs for an easy sewing project! These ornaments were created with the I-Spy panel by Ann Kelle.
Today is day 12! The last day of my 12 Days of Holiday Crafts series! I’ve had so much fun sharing Christmas-themed crafts with you. Today I’m sharing the cutest pillow ornaments I made from the I-Spy panel of fabric by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman. When I first saw the panels, I absolutely loved them. I was super excited to use the Burmuda I-Spy panel to create these ornaments. They are colorful, playful and easy to make!
The I-Spy panel comes with 60 little squares with the cutest designs. Some of the designs are from previous fabrics by Ann Kelle, including a lot of fun Urban Zoology characters. I’ve used these cute little animals in some previous projects, including my Easter basket liners and Little Black Cat Dress.
Below is the tutorial for creating these fun pillow ornaments. You can find the same I-Spy panel I used or find another fun panel that features little square designs. Look for a panel with squares about 2-3″ wide.
You can also make these ornaments without a panel of square designs and create them using fun and colorful prints. The square design definitely helped these ornaments come together quickly, so I recommend using a fabric with the squares already printed if you can.
DIY Pillow Ornaments
Supplies Needed
- Fabric panel featuring square designs
- I used I-Spy Panel by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman
- I-Spy Panel Burmuda on Etsy
- I-Spy Panel Spring on Etsy (the Spring color wave is more pastel)
- You could also cut fabric scraps that measure 4″ x 4″.
- I used I-Spy Panel by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman
- Colorful yarn
- Poly-Fil for stuffing the pillows
- Thread
- Sewing notions: fabric scissors, needle and a point turner is useful too
- I used this small 48″ artificial Christmas tree which was perfect!
Choosing the Fabric
For these pillows I used an adorable I-Spy fabric panel by Ann Kelle. I fell in love with the cute illustrations when I saw it and thought the little squares would make the perfect pillow ornaments for my then toddler. The panel is still sold on Etsy and online and one panel will create 30 ornaments! Enough to cover a small tree!
There are other fabric panels that can be used to create similar pillow ornaments. This panel, Picture Perfect, could work as the squares look to be a similar size as the I-Spy panel. Advent calendar panels, like this Merry Menagerie, could also work. The square may not be the exact size, but they would make adorable Christmas-themed ornaments.
Finally, one more option is to use fabric scraps from your stash! You will need two pieces of fabric that measure 4″ x 4″ for the front and back of each ornament. Use a 1/4″ seam allowance when sewing.
Assembly Instructions
Step One: Cut the panel of fabric to make as many ornaments as possible. I cut my fabric keeping two squares together, one for the front and one for the back of each ornament. The I-spy panel is laid out so that each of my ornaments has a design on a white background and a colored background. I was able to make 30 ornaments total with one panel.
Cut pieces of colored yarn to use for hanging the ornaments. I cut my yarn about 7 ” long.
Step Two: For each ornament, fold the squares in half with right sides together. Pin around the edges. Each square of the I-Spy panel has a 1/4″ border. I used this line to stitch my ornaments as it was visible through the square with the white background. Stitch slightly inside the line so it isn’t visible on the finished ornament.
Mark an opening on the top of the ornament that is 1″ from either side – this is where you will start and stop your stitching. Pin the yarn into place 1/2″ from either end. I added markings 1″ down from the top edge. When I pinned my yarn into place, I lined up the ends of the yarn with these 1″ markings. Now all of my ornaments would have the same length yarn hanger.
Stitch around the edges of each pillow following the 1/4″ border. Make sure to leave the opening at the top so you can stuff the pillow and be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching.
Step Three: Clip your corners and turn each pillow inside out through the opening you left. You can use a corner turner to help turn out the corners. Pull the yarn hanger out of the opening. Stuff the pillows with Poly-Fil and then hand-sew the openings closed using white thread.
Here are my finished ornaments waiting to be hung on our tree! They turned out so cute!! I love all the colors and how each ornament has a different design on the front and back.
I found this awesome vintage tinsel 48″ artificial Christmas tree on Amazon and bought it because of how open the branches are. It seems to have gone up in price since I purchased mine but it is a fun little tree. The open branches make it easy for little ones to hang their own ornaments. We added a colorful paper chain, and I painted the wooden base of the tree. It came with a dark green base, which was fine, but I love the addition of more color!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! These ornaments came together quickly and are so fun and playful. These are a great option not only for creating your own mini tree that is kid-friendly but also as ornaments your kids will have fun adding to the family Christmas tree.
This post concludes my 12 Days of a Crafty Christmas Series! Yay!! As always, this was so much fun and I hope you found a couple ideas you’d like to try out this year. I love doing this series because it gives me deadlines so I can share my ideas before it gets too close to the holiday. This time of year has a tendency to fly by! I’ll still be sharing a few more Christmas crafts and DIY gift ideas between now and the holiday, so if you love Christmas crafting as much as I do, be sure to stop by again :)
You can check out the entire 12 Days of a Holiday Crafts series! If you love making handmade ornaments, I have lots of fun tutorials!
