How to Finish Farmhouse Christmas Cross Stitch Ornaments

Published August 2026

Learn how to finish the Farmhouse Christmas Cross Ornaments in this step-by-step tutorial with Jen at Shabby Fabrics. This video is for cross-stitchers looking to transform their stitched pieces into beautiful, display-ready ornaments, perfect for your Christmas tree or thoughtful gift-giving. Jen shares her best tips for pressing, trimming, sewing, stuffing, and adding a hanger and bow to create a polished final product.

Check the links for everything you need.

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Join Jen to turn your finished cross stitch into a beautiful ornament, ready for the tree or for gift giving. This tutorial walks through pressing and trimming your stitched piece, sewing and turning the ornament, stuffing it just right, adding a jute hanger, and finishing with a bow.

In this video, you'll learn:

• Two ways to trim your cross stitch accurately and consistently.
• How to sew, clip, and turn the ornament for crisp square corners.
• How much stuffing to use so your stitching stays visible.
• How to attach a jute hanger so the ornament hangs balanced.
• How to tie and attach the bow, and bury your thread tail invisibly.

Check the links for everything you need.

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Introduction

You have finished the stitching, and now comes the part that turns it into something you can hang on the tree or wrap up for someone you love. This is the finishing process for the Farmhouse Christmas Cross Stitch Ornaments, and it works the same way for all four designs in the collection.

Most of this is hand sewing, which means you are already well equipped for it.

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What You'll Need

From your kit

• Your finished cross stitch on Aida cloth
• Backing fabric
• Jute for the hangers
• Ribbon for the bows, about half a yard per ornament
• Pattern with trimming instructions

From your sewing room

• Creative Grids 6" square ruler. This is our preferred way to trim these up, since it takes you straight to the right size in one step.
• Rotary cutter and a small cutting mat
• Spinning mat. Not required, though it makes trimming all four sides much easier.
• Clover point turner
• Clover Wonder Clips
• Friction pen for marking
• Richard Hemming size 4 embroidery needle
• Coordinating thread. A 50 weight in a shade close to your Aida cloth blends beautifully.
• Polyester stuffing
• Small sharp scissors
• Iron and pressing surface
• Sewing machine, optional. See the note at the end if you would rather stitch this entirely by hand.

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Step 1: Press Your Cross Stitch

Lay a clean cloth on your pressing surface, place your cross stitch face down on it, and press with a nice hot iron until everything is flat.

If you worked in a hoop, this is where you press out any hoop marks.

Take your hoop out at the end of each stitching day. It is tempting to leave it in, but the longer a hoop stays on the fabric, the more of a memory it leaves behind and the harder those marks are to press out later. Popping it off each evening keeps your Aida cloth ready to finish.

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Step 2: Trim to Size

You are trimming both your cross stitch and your backing fabric to 6" x 6". The pattern gives you two ways to get there, so use whichever suits your piece.

Option 1: Measure from the midpoint

Every cross stitch pattern marks its midpoint with a vertical and a horizontal line, so you always know where the center is. On a symmetrical design you can also find it by folding the piece in half. Once you have your midpoint, measure over 3" in each direction and trim.

Option 2: Measure from the outermost stitches

Measure .75" out from the outermost stitches on all four sides. Line your ruler up so it tracks just outside that last row of stitching, then make your cut. Work around all four sides the same way.

Whichever option you choose, use the same measurement on every ornament so the set stays consistent.

A 6" square ruler makes this a one step job. After all the careful stitching you have already done, a ruler cut to the exact size you need is the most precise way to trim, and it takes the guesswork out entirely. Pair it with a spinning mat and you can work around all four sides without ever lifting the piece.

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Step 3: Mark Your Opening and Sew

You will sew all the way around the ornament, leaving an opening to turn it through. That opening goes at the top, where the bow will cover it later.

1. Measure in about 1.5" from each outside edge along the top and mark with a friction pen. Those two marks are your start and stop points.
2. Place your cross stitch and backing right sides together and pin so nothing shifts.
3. Sew around the ornament with a .25" seam allowance in a coordinating thread, using a shorter stitch length than usual.
4. Backstitch at both marks to lock everything in.

The short stitch length is doing a specific job here. When you turn the ornament and push the corners out with a point turner, a densely stitched seam gives you something solid to push against.

You are always welcome to sew straight off the edge rather than pivoting, if that feels more comfortable than judging where the quarter inch falls.

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Step 4: Clip the Corners and Turn

1. Clip each corner on the diagonal with scissors or a rotary cutter. This lets the corners form neatly instead of bunching.
2. Turn the ornament right side out through your opening.
3. Open the corners with your fingers first, then use the pointed end of a Clover point turner to square them up.
4. Press the .25" seam allowance at the opening to the inside now, while the ornament is still empty.

Pressing that seam allowance before stuffing is much easier than trying to do it once the ornament is full, and it sets the edges up to close cleanly at the end.

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Step 5: Stuff the Ornament

Add polyester stuffing a little at a time, using your point turner to work it into the corners where fingers will not reach.

Less stuffing is more here. An overstuffed ornament turns rounded, and a rounded surface hides the stitching you worked so hard on. You want people to be able to see all that lovely detail, so aim for gently filled rather than plump. It is easy to add a little more, and just as easy to pull some back out before you close it up.

To check your work before committing, close the opening temporarily with Wonder Clips and take a look. That quick audition tells you whether the shape is where you want it, and it lets you compare against any ornaments you have already finished.

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Step 6: Make the Jute Hanger

1. Cut your jute to the length given in the pattern, or to any length you like. The one thing worth doing is keeping it consistent across the set.
2. Fold the jute in half, take the two ends, loop them around, and pull them through. That is the whole knot.

Set it aside for now. It goes in when your stitching reaches the midpoint of the opening.

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Step 7: Close the Opening and Secure the Hanger

Thread a Richard Hemming size 4 embroidery needle with a coordinating thread. A single strand works well, and if you want more strength you can run one long strand, bring both ends down together, and knot them for a doubled thread.

1. Start at one end of the opening and work a small stitch over the top of the folded edges, traveling along as you go. Keep the stitches as consistent as you can.
2. When you reach the midpoint, position the jute hanger inside with its knot sitting just below the top edge, right above the peak of the design, so the ornament hangs balanced.
3. Stitch straight through the jute exactly as though it were fabric, going back over it a couple of times so it is thoroughly secure.
4. Continue stitching to the far end of the opening.

Tying off

1. Make a loop, pass the needle through it, and repeat for a second knot.
2. Bring the needle back through toward the center and come out at the front of the ornament, right where the bow will sit.

That single move secures your thread and leaves you in exactly the right position to attach the bow, with a nice long tail still to work with.

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Step 8: Tie and Attach the Bow

Your kit includes about half a yard of ribbon per ornament, which is more than you need. That extra length makes the bow far easier to tie, and you trim the tails afterward.

1. Find the center of your ribbon and hold it there.
2. Make a loop and pinch it, take the ribbon around, and push it through the opening.
3. Trim the tails to the length you like, cutting a small V into each end.
4. Bring your needle up from the back, position the bow so its knot sits centered right over the hanger, and stitch back and forth a couple of times to hold it.

If the bow sits a little lopsided, it is easily evened out when you trim the tails.

Burying the tail

1. Make a loop at the back and pass through it, then make another loop and pass through once more.
2. Take the needle straight through the middle of the ornament and out any side.
3. Give it a gentle pull and cut. The tail disappears inside.

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No Sewing Machine? No Problem

Plenty of cross stitchers do not own a sewing machine, and this project does not require one.

The only machine step is sewing the two layers together in Step 3. In its place, work a small running stitch or a back stitch by hand all the way around the perimeter, leaving the same opening at the top. Everything after that is hand sewing anyway.

If you are stitching well enough to finish a cross stitch, you are more than equipped for this.

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That is all there is to finishing these ornaments. An ornament a month builds into a collection with a cohesiveness that is really timeless, and a set like this is lovely on your own tree or given away.

We would love to know what inspires you. Are these for your family, for a wedding, for gift giving, or for your own tree? Tell us in the comments.

Head to the Shabby Fabrics website to reserve your spot in the cross stitch ornament club, and pick up any notions you need while you are there.