How to Make Beautiful DIY
Bead Embroidered Holiday Ornaments
Everyone loves a handmade ornament and these easy-to-stitch Ornament Kits by Abris Art are a fun project for crafters of any age. Quick enough to complete in a day, these kits include all the materials you will need to stitch your very own bead embroidered ornament this holiday season!
If you are new to bead embroidery, be sure to check out our Bead Embroidery 101 tutorial, where we cover all the techniques you will need for stitching, choosing your materials and more...along with lots of tips and tricks to make sure you enjoy your beading every step of the way!
What We'll Cover:
> Getting Started: Filling Your Bead Organizer
> Stitching the Ornament Motifs
> Assembly & Stitching the Beaded Border
> Attaching the Hanging Ribbon
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What Comes in a Kit
For this tutorial, we will be using the Christmas Lights Ornament Kit. On the front of your kit you will find project details, including the number of beads and colors used for the design. The kit we are using for today’s tutorial uses 10 colors, with a total of 519 beads.
To begin, choose your favorite bead organizer. We will use the Daffodil bead organizer, which has a capacity of up to 13 colors – perfect for this kit, with 3 extra spaces to spare.
Take a quick look at what’s included in your ornament kit:
1) The high quality canvas background will include two motifs (one for each side of the ornament), as well as the color key for stitching.
Depending on your kit, the ornament will either be square or circular, but the process will be the same for both.
2) The glass beads will be divided, by color, into numbered bags which correspond to their respective numbers on the color key.
3) Ornament kits will include a length of hanging ribbon for finishing the ornament which we will set aside until the end of our project.
4) Another bag holds stitching thread and a fine-tip beading needle.
All kits come with extra beads and thread, so you never have to worry about running out mid-project!
5) A sturdy cardboard insert to stiffen the center & give additional strength and shape to the finished piece.
The kit also includes a short instruction page with notes on how to bead and assemble your project.
Always keep the cover page and instructions with your project until you’ve finished, for reference or to glance at the cover photo.
Look at your canvas to find several guides which help during the stitching and assembly process.
Note the shape of the bead placement symbols on the fabric in the close-up below (in the lower left).
The bead symbols are oval, showing us exactly what direction to orient each bead for stitching. When stitching, you will bring your needle up at the center of one long side of the oval, pick up your bead, then bring the needle back down at the center of the opposite long side of the oval.
Along the outside of each motif there are scissor symbols (circled in red in our tutorial below), where you cut out the two fabric pieces after the beading is finished.
Tiny dots around the circumference of each motif (denoted by the blue arrow) show you where to attach the border beads at the end of the project.
All of these guides take the guess work out of beading & ensure that your finished ornament will match the pictures perfectly.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
Getting Started: Filling Your Bead Organizer
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Take care to not empty the last bead from any of the bags. By leaving a couple beads in each bag, you will have a reference to go back to if you get your color numbers confused during the project. For example, this project features two very similar shades of red. One is silver-lined and slightly darker than the second. Should we loose track of which one is color #8 and which is color #9, we can pull out our bags and compare the beads to confirm that we haven’t mixed up our colors.
When filling your bead organizer, place your beads in any sequence you like. But remember that once the beads are in the organizer, they are no longer marked with their numbers. So make a mental note of where you started and then proceed in a logical order, placing the colors sequentially.
For example, in our layout below, we began with our #1 gold beads in the center circle. Then, went up to place the #2 white beads in the top petal.
From there, we proceeded clockwise around all the petals. Then, clockwise again around the outer compartments, until we ran out of colors.
This makes it easy at any time to count clockwise around the tray and find the color we’re looking for.
Stitching the Ornament Motifs
Because of the small size of the canvas, ornaments are usually stitched handheld, rather than mounted on a frame. Although it is possible to mount the fabric on a very small frame, if you choose.
When working handheld, it is very important to be sure your hands are clean and dry before working on your project.
The canvas is very sturdy, making it easy to hold by hand. Hold the fabric using the balls or sides of your fingers, rather than pressing with your nails, to help preserve the image and ensure there are no scratches on the finished ornament.
To begin stitching, choose which side of the ornament you want to bead first.
Stitch your beads in place, until all the bead symbols are covered.
As with all bead embroidery, you will double stitch the first and last bead on every length of thread.
After you complete the first side, tie off and cut your thread. DO NOT RUN YOUR THREAD FROM ONE SIDE TO THE NEXT. This is very important, since you will cut the two sides out of the canvas later on. So, any thread that runs between the two sides will be cut in the process and your beads will fall off the work.
In the image below, we have completed our moose motif side and are ready to join a new length of thread to begin the star motif side:
When you’ve finished beading your second motif side, tie off the thread tail.
Now it’s time to move on to assembly!
Assembly & Stitching the Beaded Border
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Begin by cutting out your two motifs using a sharp pair of scissors.
Remember, you are cutting along the outer edge (marked by the scissor symbols on the fabric) not along the dotted lines.
Take a moment to note the red dot on each piece (circled in red below). These are your centering dots, which show you the top center of each motif for assembly.
Crafter’s Tip: Want to make something different? At this point, you have two beautifully beaded patches that could be used as accents on any number of projects. Consider using your beaded motifs as embellishments to sew onto bags, clothing, pillows, hats, or even as a decorative touch for a holiday card for someone special!
Choose which side of the ornament will be the dominant side (the side where the ribbon's bow will be tied).
For our project, we wanted our moose motif to be the front, with the star motif as our reverse side.
Thread a doubled length of thread onto your needle and tie the two ends together into a thick knot.
Working with doubled thread will ensure the border beads are well secured, so your ornament can live up to years of love!
Working with your dominant piece, bring the needle through the canvas from back to front, piercing through the red centering dot:
​Pull your needle through until the thread knot nests in place on the backside of the fabric.
Next, insert the needle through the other motif, from top to bottom, piercing through the red centering dot, as shown:
Pull your needle through. The two canvas pieces are now connected at their centering dots, which will ensure the two sides are perfectly aligned on your finished ornament.
Fold the two canvas pieces together with wrong sides touching and pull the thread taut.
You can either place your cardboard insert between the canvas layers now <or> you can wait until you have finished stitching part way around the ornament. The cardboard piece is smaller than the canvas pieces, so you will not be stitching through it. It should be centered in the middle of the ornament to provide stability, but the needle should never pass through the cardboard during stitching.
You will be beading clockwise around the border of the ornament using the bead color indicated in our pattern instructions.
For this kit, the instructions call for using the color #1 gold beads. If you have enough leftover beads in another color, or wish to mix and match your leftover beads, you can do that as well--for your own personal touch.
Use your needle to pick up a bead, then insert the needle into the front piece at the dot directly to the right of the red centering dot.
Bring the needle through the corresponding dot on the second piece of canvas.
(Note that each one of the dots around the perimeters of the canvases are needle placement dots, to help you perfectly space the border beads).
Pull the thread taut, but not tight.
Throughout the border, you want to pull your thread snug on each stitch, but never tightly.
This creates a sturdy, but flexible, chain of beads around the border of your ornament.
After pulling your thread, the bead will be canted in a right-leaning direction, as shown.
Re-insert the needle from the bottom right to the top left, through the bead.
​...and pull the needle through:
Continue this process to attach the beads, all the way around the ornament.
To recap:
A) Pick up a bead, then insert your needle through the next dot to the right of the last stitch, being sure to pierce both layers of fabric through their corresponding dots.
B) Pull the thread taut.
C) Re-insert the needle from bottom to top through the bead.
D) Pull the needle through.
Once you’ve stitched all the dots, your piece should look like this, with a small gap remaining between your first and last beads:
To place your final bead in the gap:
A) Pick up a bead and insert your needle through the red centering dot & pull the needle through.
B) Re-insert your needle through the bead you just placed.
C) Pull the thread taut.
D) Insert the needle from the top, down through the bead to the right (the very first bead you placed).
E) Pull the thread taut, then knot your thread (the blue dot in image E denotes the position of your knot, at the base of your thread).
F) Insert the needle between the two beads & in between the two layers of canvas.
G) Push the needle through as far as you can, then bring it back up through the canvas at a farther location.
H) Pull the thread taut, so the knot will disappear inside the ornament.
Trim the thread and set aside your beads. Your ornament is almost finished!
Attaching the Hanging Ribbon
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​Your final step is to attach the ribbon for hanging by using the method we demonstrate below or any method of your choice.
You may also opt to use yarn, thread, wire, or a ribbon of your own.
A larger, long-eyed sewing needle can be used for this process to make the ribbon easier to thread.
However, the small beading needle included in the kit can get the job done with just a little bit of persistence, as shown.
Thread the tip of the ribbon onto your needle. If using the kit needle, you will not be able to get the entire width of the ribbon into the eye of the needle, which is OK. Just pull enough through so the ribbon is secured into the eye.
Insert the needle into the back side of your ornament, just to the RIGHT of the red dot stitch (the top center of the ornament).
Pull the needle through.
Because the ribbon is much thicker than regular sewing thread, you may have to wiggle the needle back and forth a few times before the ribbon pops through. Don’t worry if the end of your ribbon gets a little frayed during this process. You will have lots of length left over to trim.
Thread the other end of the ribbon onto your needle and repeat the process to bring the other end of the ribbon through, just to the LEFT of the red dot stitch.
Turn your ornament over to the front side and pull the loop up until it’s the desired length for hanging.
Tie a cute bow with the ribbon ends and trim the tails to the desired length.
If you are making a square ornament, the finishing process will be exactly the same, just with the ribbon placed at the top corner of the ornament, such as in the case of the Winter Calf ornament on the right, below.
​...and with that, you have a finished bead embroidered ornament!
Fun and easy to make, this is a great project to do with kids or when getting together with friends before the holidays.
Make the home sparkle a little extra this year with a touch of handmade beauty!
​Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found helpful information for your next beading project.
If you have questions, comments or ideas for tutorials you’d like to see, please leave us a comment below.
