Twine & Fabric Rag Ball Ornaments featuring Kierste from Brown Paper Packages {Handmade Holidays Project No.2}

Welcome to the Handmade Holiday Series featuring STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam. The next five days will be filled with a total of twenty five inspiring projects to create for the upcoming holiday season.

I’m delighted to welcome our second guest,
Kierste from {brown paper packages}

Way back when, rag balls served a very functional purpose as they were hand rolled to organize scrap fabrics – later to be used for braided rag rugs and other various home projects. Although authentic vintage rag balls are few and far between – Kierste’s Twine & Rag Ball Ornaments are an inexpensive alternative, still capturing the old-fashioned charm.

Hello friends! I’m Kierste, the girl behind {brown paper packages}, and I’m absolutely delighted to be here! Stephanie Lynn has long been one of my favorite bloggers, so this is a special treat for me.

You’ve probably seen darling twine and rag ball ornaments around, and probably even fallen in love with them like I have. I’m an old-fashioned girl, and I adore the way they look, and think they will be perfect on my tree! If you love them too, today is your lucky day, because I’m going to show you how to make your own–and save a bundle in the process. They are simple, adorable, and make really fun gifts.

The foundation for these ornaments is 3 inch balls of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam, which work really well for this project. They are light, but sturdy, and will allow for several different ways of adhering items to them.

So let’s get to it!
ITEMS YOU NEED

3 or 4 inch balls of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam–as many as you like!

twine

hot glue gun

cotton fabric (I used red ticking

silver pins

DIRECTIONS

{RAG BALL ORNAMENTS}

1. Cut a piece of twine for the loop of your ornament–as long as you would like it. Hot glue it onto your ball of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam.

2. Tear your fabric into strips, approximately an inch wide. You don’t want them too thick, or they won’t lay flat. Just make a scissor cut every inch on your fabric, then tear–it will be perfect, every time! Make sure you are using a cotton fabric though.

3. Grab your silver pins and your first strip of fabric, and lay it across the glued ends of your twine.

Wrap it around the ball of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam, making sure to follow its contours so it will lay flat. Use a couple of silver pins to secure the fabric.

Continue with your next strip, making sure to start where you ended, and cover the two pins you just put in place, then wrapping it around the area near it and securing as above. Repeat the process until there is no STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam showing.

I’m totally in love with red ticking, so of course I had to use it–aren’t the darling?!

I also made some with a plain muslin, using the ticking as the loop instead of twine, and then used a foam stamp and some craft paint to monogram them.

{LOVE} it. Wouldn’t those make the most darling gifts? What about a hostess or teacher gift? Neighbors, friends, family…anyone!

DIRECTIONS
{TWINE BALLS}

1. For the loop, you can choose to use a piece of twine, or a piece of coordinating fabric, which I chose to do with the red ticking. If you use twine, you can follow the same directions as above. If you use fabric, cut a piece about 1 inch wide, and as long as you want the loop to be. Fold it in half, then use the silver pins to secure it to the top of the ball of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam.

2. Start wrapping your twine, making sure to constantly alternate direction to avoid too much buildup in one area (and lack of coverage in other areas). If you mess up, just unravel, then begin again. It only takes a few minutes, to you don’t lose a lot of time if you have to start over. Keep wrapping until the whole thing is covered, and you can’t see any of the ball of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam.

3. When you’re finished, tie the end piece of twine onto the bottom of the ornament–on to a piece that’s going the opposite direction. Trim the ends.

Secure the loop again with pins once you’re finished, like above.

And you’re done! You can also tie on an additional piece of fabric around the loop for extra decoration if you like–I did!

These are just so fun, and you can make them your own by using different fabrics to match your own Christmas decor. I love them so much, I can even continue to display them in this rod iron basket in my kitchen…where they are right now, in fact!

Thank you so much for having me, Stephanie Lynn! I hope you will all stop by {brown paper packages} and say hello…I’d love to have you!

♦ For more inspiring projects and crafts, visit {brown paper packages} ♦
♦ You can also connect with Kierste on Facebook ♦

Thanks so much Kierste for sharing these sweet ornaments. They are not only perfect for the tree but make super cute bowl fillers too.
Another next guest will be coming up shortly
sharing more handmade holiday inspiration ~ Enjoy.

The Handmade Holidays series is brought to you by
STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam made exclusively by The Dow Chemical Company.
More crafting ideas utilizing STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam can be found on their
blog Crafts ‘n Coffee as well as their Facebook page.
{This post is in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. Please see full disclosure below.}

Comments

Good Time Charlie :

November 14, 2011 at 5:48 pm

Adding these to my handmade ornaments this year! These are so cute. Thanks for sharing.

Sherri :

November 14, 2011 at 8:15 pm

Love this idea!

Lisa Mala6 :

November 14, 2011 at 10:22 pm

What a fun and simply great ornament. Thanks. I’ll add this to my must make list.

Lisa

Tonia @ TheGunnySack.com :

November 14, 2011 at 11:36 pm

How fun! I love the vintage feel of these ornaments!

craftsncoffee :

November 15, 2011 at 2:18 am

Wonderful textures! I love the red & white ticking especially. You’re right, these will make great fits this year. Thank you! Sharon

Angela :

November 15, 2011 at 1:54 pm

I shared these beauties on my blog this morning

http://angelassewingforsanity.blogspot.com/

thanks!!!!

Vivienne @ the V Spot :

November 17, 2011 at 4:55 am

These are wonderful!

Rogers Family :

December 4, 2012 at 7:27 am

While reading rhe directions i was thinking of trying the same concept with glue and a balloon. This way you can see threw the ornaments and make them solid.

Heidi :

December 4, 2012 at 3:32 pm

Thanks you! I made a quickie one just using scrunched up paper and blue painters tape (instead of firing up the glue gun, plus I didn’t have a syrofoam ball), and it worked great. I’m going to teach this craft to our Ladies group party in a couple weeks, so all I have to do is buy the Syrofoam balls and ask the ladies to bring scrap fabrics! Merry Christmas! ~HEidi