Festive Forest Christmas Ornament - a mini tutorial

This foundation paper pieced tree ornament is a super quick gift idea, or last minute addition to your christmas tree.

After making a few full-size Festive Forest blocks, both for the table runner and for drawstring bags, I decided I wanted to see what it would be like as a mini (and I mean mini!) version.

I shrunk the templates for the 6" x 9" block to 33% of its original size on my printer, and picked through my cut up scraps for some red and white mini charms I could use.

Want to know how to shrink or enlarge FPP templates? Check out this blog post!

In the end, I used two mini charms (2 1/2" squares) of the red on white print, and one each of three mainly red fabrics. A 4" square and a small strip of white background fabric finished the top, and a 5" square was plenty for the backing. So if you have any lonely charm squares and mini charms floating around, this is the perfect project for them.

The block ended up at 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" before finishing the ornament, and at 2" x 3" completely finished. There was just enough fabric between the side points of the tree and the edge of the block to allow for a 1/4" seam, so if you do this yourself, I would not make it any smaller.

It came together really quickly, and because the pattern is very straightforward and doesn't have any small pieces to start with, it's not nearly as fiddly as some miniature FPP patterns can end up being. I would say this is still somewhat beginner-friendly, although you may want to start with a larger version before attempting the mini.

So you want to make your own? Here's how I did it:

Print the templates for the 6" x 9" Festive Forest block at 33% instead of "actual size" or 100%

Find some small scraps of fabric, and about a 5" length of ribbon.

Piece the block as you would normally. Warning, this goes surprisingly quickly and you may be tempted to make multiple mini blocks at once. I would suggest giving in to this temptation and making a whole bunch to give as gifts to others, and to put on your own tree.

Once you have the block finished, press the joining seams between the template sections open to have as little bulk as possible.

Quilt it to a small scrap of batting. I just quilted around the outside of the tree, to stabilize it and make sure nothing shifted. But you could just as easily use some fusible fleece, or even regular batting without the quilting.

Fold the ribbon in half and place it on top of the block with the raw edges of the ribbon and the block aligned. Meaning the loop formed by the ribbon points down towards the tree trunk.

Cut your backing fabric to the same size as the block (I decided to leave the batting larger for the moment, and trim later) and place the backing on top of the block, right sides together. So you'll have your batting (quilted to your block or loose), then the block right side up, the ribbon on top of that, and then the backing right side down.

Sew around the edge of the block/backing with a 1/4" seam, leaving an opening to turn it all right side out. Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end so it doesn't unravel.

Trim the extra batting off, and trim the corners, then turn it right side out through the opening you left. Gently push out the corners. Fold the fabric in at the opening, then give the whole thing a good press with the iron.

Hand stitch the opening closed with an invisible stitch and hang it on your tree (or on the door swag if, like me, you don't have the tree yet) to admire your work.