We love sewing for Christmas as much as anyone, so we held a staff challenge to make a selection of original Christmas tree ornaments, and ended up with a wide variety of shapes and styles. Everyone who participated come through with interesting designs that really speak to the designers’ strengths and personalities. Each ornament’s fabric requirements, cutting list and instructions are listed separately, under the designer’s name. The participating staff members are Anissa, Erin, Gigi, Lori and Tricia.

Anissa’s ornament is a quiltmaker’s delight to make and to display. Six mini sawtooth star blocks form a dimensional cube and bring a huge helping of quilty Christmas cheer to the tree.

Erin does marvelous needle turn applique, but she tried something different with her ornament—a pretty red bird in raw edge applique with felted wool. The hand-embroidered details on this piece really make it special.

Gigi used basic sewing and quilting techniques to make a dimensional ornament that’s anything but basic. It uses not only fabric and batting, but incorporates negative space as well.

Lori’s son, who makes his own hacky sacks, gave her some tips to make a decorative Christmas ornament using the same pattern and principles. She added decorative stitching in metallic thread and a store-bought glittery bow to really make it sparkle.

Tricia’s multi-tier ornament will be the belle of the Christmas tree! It’s got a foundation-pieced tree, a quilt block, plus ribbons, bells and beads! Whether you make all or part of it, it will bring quilty festivity to your holiday celebrations.

Grab your copy of McCall’s Quilting Magazine!