Memorial Ornaments Tutorial {A Cricut Fabric Craft}

Earlier this year my cousin(by marriage)’s grandmother passed away. She asked if I could make some memorial ornaments similar to the bird memory ornaments that I made from my Papa’s clothing. The clothing she brought was a few Hawaiian shirts with wooden buttons, a red sweater, and a floral nightgown. I asked about them, and apparently she just really loved to wear bright colors and patterns. I love that! We decided on some simple fabric hearts as the design. Since I had to make so many, I turned it into a Cricut fabric craft, but you can do it with or without a Cricut.

And of course I had to dress up each of the ornaments with hand stitching and buttons. The buttons and lace that I added were from the shirts and nightgown. I love how they all turned out, and I hope my cousin’s family does too.

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Supplies Needed:

• fabric from clothing (non-stretchy fabric is easiest to work with)
• buttons from clothing (optional)
• Heat n’ Bond Lite
• fabric scissors
• Cricut Maker and rotary blade (optional)
• ribbon
• embroidery floss
• fiberfill
• sewing machine and thread
• iron (or heat press) and ironing board

Memorial Ornaments Tutorial

Step 1: Cut a piece of Heat n’ Bond slightly smaller than your piece of fabric. Iron it, shiny side down, onto the back of your fabric. I’m using my Cricut heat press here, but you can use a regular iron. Do this whether you are using your Cricut or not. The Heat n’ Bond makes it so the raw edges of your fabric don’t fray.

Step 2: Peel off the paper backing.

Step 3: Use your Cricut or some scissors to cut out the heart shapes. Sorry, I don’t have a pattern for this, but any heart shape you like will do. You’ll need a piece for the back and a piece for the front. If you want to make your memorial ornaments the same as mine, cut a smaller heart out of the middle of the front piece.

Step 4: Place the front heart on top of the fabric you want to use for the middle, iron it on, and cut around the outside. I might have been able to do this with my Cricut by layering all of the fabric beforehand, but I was working with limited a limited amount of fabric that I didn’t want to mess up.

Step 5: Embroider a running stitch around the heart opening. I used 6 strands of embroidery floss for this because I really wanted it to stand out.

Step 6: Cut a 5 inch piece of ribbon, fold it in half, and sew it to the back piece of the ornament on the non-print side. Go back and forth a couple times to make sure it’s secure.

Step 7: Put the front and back of the ornament together and sew a 1/4 inch seam around the edge. Leave an opening about a couple inches long on one of the flat sides.

Step 8: Stuff the heart with fiberfill through the opening then sew it shut. You want it full, but make sure you can still close it. You’ll need to push the fiberfill aside a little, sew it, and then fluff it back up.

That’s it! I hope this memorial ornaments tutorial was helpful, and condolences to you for whomever you have lost that you’re making them for. Such a special gift to give after a loved-one has passed away.