This year I haven’t had so much time to make lots of new Christmas decorations but I have made some of these little fabric-scrap Christmas balls for our tree (I also sold some at the Swedish Christmas Market). They are super easy to do and a perfect holiday craft for kids. And they’re beautiful! Mine might not be in the traditional Christmas colours but they do brighten up any tree or room. And what a great way to use up all those fabric scraps you’ve been saving for years (or is that just me who does that?).
First of all you need to get your hands on some Styrofoam balls (of any size). Take a long wooden skewer and gently make a hole that goes all the way through the ball from the top to the bottom. It might take a few stabs to get it through.
Now take a piece of ribbon and gently push it through the hole with the help of the wooden skewer so that it comes out the other end. Tie a knot so that it doesn’t slip back through the hole (I also added some wooden beads on both sides of the ball).
Combine white glue in a bowl with some water (it should be quite liquid-y) and grab a small paintbrush.
Go through your material scraps and pick out a selection of your favorite materials. Cut them into small pieces of different shapes.
Now you just have to glue the tiny fabric scraps on the ball. I brush a bit of the watered down glue directly on the ball then as well on top of the material. You can overlap the scraps so that no white shows from the ball. Be a bit careful not to get too much glue on the ribbon (or else it will turn stiff). Let hang to dry overnight.
We’ve made over a dozen so far and they look really lovely on our tree.
Jillian In Italy 
Reblogged this on The Brain Gym Dublin.
Simply gorgeous! I have so many little scraps of Liberty fabric left over from my craft fair projects I’m going to give these a try.
truly beautiful idea. I have a heap of scraps but we haven’t a tree. still I am enjoying the christmas vibe 🙂 merry merry holidays to you
Merry merry to you too Kat!
These look awesome. My daughter will want to make some of these. Thanks for sharing!
Fiona, these are so bright and cheerful… thank you for the tutorial. What a great project!
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a thumbs up. 🙂
Does it have to be 100% cotton or will this work with heavier woolly kind of fabrics too ?
I think cotton would be the best fabric. With the glue the wool would get too hard. Hope it works out!
These are really cute, but it didn’t work out well for me, unfortunately. The scraps of fabric adhered nicely to the styrofoam ball, but as my fingers became sticky, the scraps already glued on the ball began sticking to my fingers and before long they were all coming off. I ended up starting over and securing the fabric with pins instead of glue. You can see the pinheads but otherwise they look pretty good. Thanks for the idea…. and if you have any suggestions on how to keep them glued down while working on it, let me know!
Hi Terri. Sorry about the sticky hands! I actually didn’t have that problem at all. I used just normal white glue and added water. Maybe you should add a bit more water next time? That would make it much less sticky. And maybe change the brand of glue that you use. Hope it works out next time. Happy holidays. Jillian
Thanks, Jillian. I’ll try the old standby, Elmer’s Glue, next time!
I had the same problem but I think it is because of the type of ball I was trying to use…back to the store I go…flat foam not holey