I love family traditions.
They remind us that connecting with family and friends, that sharing, supporting and being with each other is what really counts.
Christmas is a holiday for all the family and a really lovely way for your family to connect with each other is to create and sew your own Christmas tree ornaments together.
Just the other day, Rowena, a family friend, was telling me how her best memories of Christmas for her were unwrapping all the ornaments she and her family had made in previous years and creating new ones. It was like unwrapping treasures that had been carefully passed down through the years and held the family’s memories and shared experience.
My Star Girl Christmas Ornament
Star Girl also loves family traditions. She comes from a very close family in a very distant galaxy and would just love to hang around your Christmas tree. And I mean that quite literally!
Star Girls hanging from your tree will brighten up the entire house. I don’t know how they do it, but they do! They’re naturally luminous beings. And they’re simple to make with your kids. And fun too!
After all, Star Girl is a zenki, which means: all you’ll need are two pieces of felt, a running stitch around her little torso and in Star Girl’s case, some embroidery thread for her hair.
And if you want to sew some more zenkis, or if you are looking for a special gift this Christmas, my latest book,
The Zenki Way: A Guide to Designing & Enjoying Your Own Creative Softies, shows you everything you’ll need to know to create any softie that you or your kids can dream up.
It also has some helpful tips for sewing with kids and discusses how to sew with groups of kids. At the very least, I hope The Zenki Way, and zenkis like Star Girl, can show you that the most wonderful gifts are the ones you make, not the ones that you buy.
There’s an old saying: what comes from the heart, goes to the heart. I think that’s true. And if you make some Star Girl zenkis with your kids, I think that you will too.
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What you need
Felt
Pins
Some things to remember
I love using Chenille needles. My favourite is chenille 24. It’s the smallest I can get and is perfect for use with sewing thread. I use a slightly bigger chenille needle like number 20 or 22 when I’m using embroidery thread. Although you can use the smaller chenille 24 with embroidery thread with the help of a needle threader.
I’ve use ordinary sewing thread doubled over to sew around star girl zenkis body and embroidery thread for her hair.
If you’re looking for more info on how to teach kids to sew you’ll love my free Sewing with Kids Guide.
And if you’re looking for more Christmas and holiday themed softies and ornaments to sew with your kids… you know I have you covered!
Happy sewing, Trixi