Scandinavian Star Ornament

A few years ago, I wanted to have an Ornament Exchange where each person made one ornament, the same one, for the number of people coming to the exchange. So if there were 10 people coming, each person would bring 10 of the same ornament that they made. Then, they would come to the gathering and exchange, leaving with one of their own, and 9 different ornaments from each of the other guests. This Scandinavian Star was the one that I chose to make when I hosted my exchange. This one in particular is made from an old shirt and pair of paints. Although, you can make with just about any fabric from traditional locations (fabirc stores, etc).

• Scissors
• Rotery Cutter
• Cutting Matte
• Straight Edge/ Clear Ruler
• At least two different fabrics, up to four different fabrics
• An Iron

You can look to a variety of places to find your material. In my case, I looked at some clothes that I was going to throw out because they had been worn or torn in some way. I chose a shirt with a lobster pattern and some olive colored pants. But, this decoration can also be done with material bought from a local store as well. All you need to make sure is that you have enough of your recycled material to make at least one strip 3 1/2 inches by 12 inches. You will need up to 4 strips of material - so each one can be different, although I made mine with two strips of each color.

If you iron before cutting, your edges will be a lot smoother. Plus, your material will fold more easily when the time comes. At this point, you may also consider using spray starch to help give your material a little bit of stiffness, since some materials are "softer" or "more flimsy" than others. Using some sort of cotton material is best, but even within cotton materials, some are stiffer than others.

In this step, you are actually just cutting out flat portions of fabiric that you can use to cut the pieces you need later on. At this time, cut out the seems, pockets and other accessories that your clothing might have. In the case of the pants I used, I cut out several internal and external pockets, as well as some exterior decorative buttons and tabs. As for the shirt, I cut out the collar, cuffs and seems that linked the sleeves to the body of the shirt. In both cases, there was plenty of fabric left for multiple stars, like we will make, or enough fabric for another project if you have one in mind.

Once you have pre cut your fabric for the largest pieces you can, iron your fabric one more time. Then using a cutting board, rottery cutter and straight edge (like the clear ruler pictured) measure as many 3 1/2 inch by 12 inch strips as you want from that material. Remember, you can use 4 different colors of material for this project. Altough, I did use two of the blue, and two of the olive for the star shown. If you have the ability, you can cut multiple layers of material with the rotery cutter, so if given the opportunity, that's what I would do to save time. Make sure that all edges are square / straight to help your final pieces be ready for folding in the next step.

To this point, this might be the "most difficult" part only because it takes the most time. Taking each strip of material, you will fold each one up to 4 times. First you will fold it in half lengthwise, or as my middle school kids used to say, like a hotdog. Then iron that fold. Next, unfold that fold to then fold and iron each side in half to the middle, one side at a time. Once each side has been ironed down, leave them folded, and fold then entire piece in half along the first fold you made. Essentially, you are putting the raw edges of the strip of material in the middle of the piece, or hiding the edges, so they don't fray. Do the same process for all 4 pieces of material you have cut to the 3 1/2 by 12 inch strips. Now that you have all 4 strips done - the only thing left to do is fold them in half vertically - so they are half the length ( or about 6 inches long ).

Now is the time to be something of an Origami Ninja - because there's a bit of folding that will happen. The two main tools that will be very helpful will be an iron and some scissors, in addition to your fabric. At this point you should have 4 folded strips of fabric - 4 seperate colors or 2 of each color as I do.

1. Lay the first folded piece with the fold towards you.

2. Take the same color fabric and place the folded end away from you - with the two cut ends facing you.

** As you can see in the first few photos - I started placing mine down one at a time to help you see how I wove them together.

3. Taking the first of your second color fabric - place it perpendicular to the first piece(s) and open the ends of the first to place the second in. If you have laid down both of the first two pieces, make sure the fold of the third piece is at the "open" end (cut end) of the first perpendicular stip, then between the next piece of perpendicular fabric.

4. With the second piece of the second color, as with the first set, place the folded side at the opposite side of the first, and place the first piece of the first color inbetween, then the second piece of the first color on the "outside" of the second piece.

5. At this point you should have a woven square - pull all the pieces together to have a tight piece as in the last two pictures.

6. Fold one piece from each of the 4 open ends back on itself and weave as you just did - so there is one cut end on every side of the star.

** Try to even out the ends before the next step - if they aren't even there may be a shortage of material when folding in the next part.

Looking at each side - you will notice at this step, that you will have a piece that is close to you and one that is far from you on each side. Working with the piece that is closest to you (usually the one on the left side of the straight edge you are looking at) you will:

1. Fold back the strip at a 45 deree angle - leaving the bottom edge flat.

2. Then fold the fabric straight down, creating another 45 degree angle that is opposite the first.

3. Next, fold the two sides together, creating one unified 45 degree fold.

4. Looking at the length of the material that is below the point / angle - make one straight cut just below the cross piece below. (As pictured)

5. Then, bend the point back to fold the end under the other fabric (in the picture I'm folding the olive color under the blue pattern) and tuck the end in with your scissors.

6. Turn over the star and do the opposite side with the same color.

7. Continue doing the same folding with the 3 remaining sides.

Finally - the star can be used in a variety of ways - but I decided to hang mine on my Christmas tree. All you need to do is use some yarn or thread to slide under one of the woven pieces of fabric, knot together the ends and Violia - a hanging star! All told this one star may take about 15 - 20 minutes to make. But once you have the technique down, it will go faster.