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All of the below are courtesy (and copyright of) Woo (Hardangerwoo)

Making "little stuffed pillows" ornaments
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Trim all 4 sides of orny to 1" (or whatever desired size) beyond the design area. Cut backing fabric (any light to medium weight NON-STRETCH fabric) to same size as the orny.

Apply a light-medium weight fusible or temporary fusible interfacing, as per the manufacturer's directions, or a sew-in interfacing can be used and basted to the orny piece, to the WRONG side of the stitched piece. If your backing fabric is very light weight (thin cotton, etc) also apply interfacing to the backing WRONG side.

By machine or by hand baste a guideline in a thread colour that is easily visible around all 4 sides of the orny, 1/2" away from the design area. You will follow this guide when stitching your orny to your backing and will ensure perfectly straight edges.

Place the orny piece and the backing piece together so the RIGHT SIDES are together. (the wrong sides will be visible).

If your fabrics are slippery, or if your backing is velvet, which tends to crawl around badly during sewing, hand-baste the 2 pieces together just OUTSIDE of your basting guide. Stitch by machine (2.5mm length) or by hand (backstitch) the 2 pieces together just inside your guide lines, leaving an opening of apx 2.5" for turning and stuffing along one side. Leave the opening along the centre of an edge...it's best to stitch all 4 corners, and leave a straight edge only for the opening. Edges are easier to stitch closed after stuffing than a corner is! For smaller items, such as fobs, you'll have to leave less than 2.5" opening,; just do 2-3 stitches on the corners and leave the rest of that edge open.

TIP: When stitching the corner areas, take 2 diagonal stitches across from one side to the next, instead of stitching 90o angles. This will produce softly-rounded corners when turned right side out.

After the seams are stitched, press the seams, on both sides, to meld the stitches into the fabric. Trim the corner seam allowances diagonally so they're 1/4".

Turn the orny right side out and with a corner point tool or rubber end of a pencil or a blunt knitting needle etc "pook out" the corners until you have the seam lines showing and softly rounded corners. Gently roll the seam area along each of the 4 sides with thumb and 1st finger so the seams are at the edges and the orny is in its proper shape (square/rectangular, diamond, etc)

Stuff the orny thru the opening in the one side. Use a corner point tool, chopstick, blunt knitting needle or etc to get the stuffing into each corner, then fill in the centre area. Knead the orny lightly and check for fullness of your orny; add more stuffing as desired.

When orny is stuffed, check that all 4 corners have enough stuffing in them, and pook more stuffing into them if needed. Fold in the two "lips" of the opening and finger-press the folds. This helps keep the lips closed over in their proper position while you stitch them closed. Slip-stitch or overhand stitch them together using very tiny stitches and 1 strand of DMC (cording will cover this area, so no need to be perfect.)

Gently knead the orny to distribute the stuffing evenly.

Cording: Starting at the top left of the orny, we'll work down the left side and back up, in a counter-clockwise direction.

Leaving 2" of cording free at the top, and 1 strand of DMC to match the cording, attach the cording from the front of the orny. Take a wee bite of the orny fabric, with the needle going into the fabric 1 or 2 threads to the inside of the seam line and coming back up at the seamline. Your stitches, done properly, will be totally invisible, so don't worry about using white/light floss on a dark coloured fabric and vice versa. Match the floss to the cording!!!

Take the needle and go through the cording...you do NOT want to pierce the cording at all!!! You want to go under and then come back over the middle cording strand. When you pull the thread taut (don't pull too tightly!) the floss will slide down into the diagonal twist of the cording and be totally invisible from either side.

TIP: To find the strand to wrap around and to prevent accidentally piercing the cording, slightly untwist the cording so the 3 strands of cording are easily seen. It's the outer strand in the middle that you want to wrap around, as it's the strand that will be visible when laying against your orny edge. Just take your needle UNDER and back OVER that middle strand of cording.

Next, moving down apx 1/4" to the next diagonal of the cording, again take a wee nip of orny fabric, then wrap around the cording, etc. Do this all down the left top, left lower, right lower and right top sides. When you reach the top right side, just before turning the corner, stop attaching the cording and tie off the thread.


TIP: If you have a tassle to attach and it has a loop hanger, slip the loop over the cording when you come to the bottom corner, then carry on attaching your cording. Later you can go back and attach the loop hanger to secure it.


TIP: For smooth cording around the corners, make sure you keep taking your stitches at every 1/4", ie every cord diagonal. This will allow the cording to fall naturally and softly around the corners. The tendancy on corners is to put in more stitches, which will only make your cording bulge and bump and zigzag on you.

You can adjust sewing faults with your cording...attach the cording further into the orny fabric if needed to create more perfect corners if your sewing wasn't so perfect in these areas. Regardless of the seam line, attach your cording to how it looks best seen from the front (ie you can "fake" perfect corners)


Now at the top you will have 2" loose cording on the left, and you will need at least 3-4" on your right end piece. 5-6" is better.

Move back onto your left loose cording, and attach it to the orny right up to the very tip of the orny top. Stop at the top and take a couple stitches to secure the cording. You'll still have loose cording left; we'll finish this off in a bit.

Now place the right cording piece over top your left cording, at the top of the orny, and attach. Then take a few stitches through BOTH the left AND the right cordings, and bring the right end up and around and back down into your hanger loop, making the loop your preferred size. Once your loop if the size you want, take a few stitches through the cordings at the base of the loop so your loop is secured.

Clip your left cord end to 1/4" from the secured base. The frizzy end will be pointing upwards towards your loop; ie away from the orny itself.

The right cord ending clip to 1". Double the right cord end up, so the frizzy end is pointing upwards, which should be the same direction as your left end. Take several stitches thru all the cordings at the base to secure them. Trim both ends of the cordings close to the secured stitches.

Next you'll wrap around the base of the loop, covering up the 2 cord endings.

You can use 3-4 strands of DMC floss (or you can use 1 or 2 strands of Kreinik braid, etc) and use a loop-start to secure the floss around the base of your loop hanger. Wrap tightly and evenly around and around the base of your hanger until both cord ends are fully covered and invisible. Keep the loop hanger in it's proper upright position as you wrap the base so you don't end up with a crooked or bent-over loop!

Secure the floss when done by weaving it 2-3 times through the floss at the back of your wrapping. Pull the floss taut and snip the ends. By pulling the floss taut, they'll snap back down into the wrapping when cut and be invisible. You should now have no visible stop and start cording ends.

You can now add a tassle if desired, if you didn't add it while attaching the cording. To secure a tassel that has a cord I take tiny stitches thru the tassle cord and the orny cording at the back, and tie off the thread. Then I trim the tassle cord to 1" and unwrap the cording to the 3 strands. I strand I thread into a needle and bury it into the tassle at the back area and trim short. One strand I attach along the left side back of the cording, the other along the right side back of the cording.


If your tassle has very fine narrow cording you can attach to the orny cording at the back, and then you may be able to simply thread the cord into a needle and bury it in the tassle and trim off.


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