A Cinderella Ornament

The holidays are just around the corner, but it's certainly not too soon to start stitching treasures for your tree. (Okay, it's not too late!) We thought it might be fun to share a few fairy tale ornaments we've designed. Over the next month, we will choose a fairy tale each week with an ornament to stitch. We've chosen to make them with wool, but use your creative choice of fabrics. Enjoy!

Once upon a time, there was a lovely young girl. She lost her parents, and her step mothers and sisters were wickedly mean, yet she remained hopeful and kind. Because of her loving fairy godmother, the young woman, who became known as Cinderella, was able to attend a ball at the palace. After stealing the prince's heart, she fled from the ball at the stroke of midnight, leaving behind her glass slipper—the only clue the prince had as to her identity. After traveling throughout the land in search of his true love, he at last found the foot that fit the slipper. They wed and lived happily ever after.

This ornament will go together quickly with just a few supplies.

I transferred the design to freezer paper, cut it out, and then attached it to a 3.5" circle with a whip stitch using matching thread.

Now here is the part where I got so into the stitching of the background swirls that I forgot to take pictures! I transferred the swirls and leaves using white transfer paper, but the design is simple enough to freehand it onto your circle. Here is the ornament with the embroidery all stitched. I then auditioned whether I should use ribbon for the bow or just crystals.

I settled on a combination of the two, because I loved the bow but really wanted a little bling. There are a lot of sources for Swaroski crystals out there, but I usually get most of mine from Dreamtime Creations.

Once the front was complete, I cut out another 3.5" circle and ironed a piece of Decor-bond onto it for stability. I used a glue stick on the back circle to attach small piece of ribbon for the hanger loop and a little more glue just to hold the two circles together.

To complete the ornament, I used a knotted blanket stitch (see a tutorial here) and added an glass bead after each knot.

We hope you will enjoy stitching this ornament. Come back next week for another fairy tale ornament to stitch. This set will make a lovely addition to any tree! For your free pattern, click here: Cinderella's Slipper.

UPDATE: Thank you for stopping by here! A detailed pattern will be available at a future date at www.needleseyestories.com