LodeStar Tree Topper pattern is now available!

 

‘Lodestar' means guiding star. This hand sewn, sparkly, heirloom wool felt Christmas star is a lovely way to top your own tree or bless someone with an impressive handmade gift. I was inspired to design it because of my own fruitless search for the perfect star for my tree. If you are like me and do not love the useless cones attached to retail stars, you will love this pattern. The LodeStar lollipop stick is very easy to attach to your tree with pipe cleaners or zip ties, and will stay straight! Yay!

The skills needed for this pattern are not advanced, it just takes patience. If you can sew basic hand stitches (whipstitch and backstitch), cut shapes with precision, and work with seed beads and sequins, then you can make this project and make it well. I've even included dashes on the embroidery lines so you don't have to guess at stitch lengths (but you can certainly set you own lengths if you'd like).

The secret to making this project easily and accurately is Sulky Stick 'n Stitch, which is a wash away printable stabilizer. Just print my pattern in on the stabilizer, peel and stick it to the felt, and stitch right on the lines. So awesome.

The Lodestar Tree Topper pattern includes two secondary ray styles (single-point and fancier triple-point) and options to make pendant, ornaments, mini ornaments, mini tree topper, garland, and an 'easy button' version of the topper. Basically, you can bedeck your world with sparkly Christmas stars.

All samples shown were made with Benzie Design wool blend and wool metallic/glitter felts. (They also have a lovely new selection of 5 mm and 8 mm sequins in really great mixed colors for you to check out. So shiny!)

 
Other materials you need to make a topper are a 12-inch 3/16 dowel, paint, floss, thread, seed beads, sequins, Sulky Stick 'n Stitch, Fabri-Tac glue, and Pellon 70 Peltex. That's not a complete list, but those are the highlights. Check the Etsy listing for more details. 

Happy sewing! :-)

final lodestar sample almost done

Final Lodestar Tree Topper sample is almost done. This time in Benzie Design bronze metallic, gold metallic, and mustard with splashes of bright blue DMC floss. I'm a sucker for that particular color combo (as you can see), but you could very easily substitute gold, olive green, or deep red DMC floss for the blue stitching if that matches your Christmas vibe better. This one would also look next-level luxe if you subbed gold metallic felt in for the mustard felt. Oooh.

You can see in the background there^ some other samples attached to the mini trees I have set up in my studio for testing. It is really easy to attach these toppers, y'all. Just feed the lollipop stick down along the trunk and twist the tip-top branch around the stick just under the star. Then secure the stick to the trunk with a pipe cleaner or zip tie. For a live tree you would just trim the tip-top branch if needed and tuck the remainder between the lower points of the star. No more wrestling with stupid cones! *kermit arms*

After this sample is finished, I'll need to do a final (hopefully) round of changes and edits to the instructions and then start photographing all the samples. Believe me, I cannot WAIT to get this pattern in the shop.