How To Make A Personalized Embroidered Map Ornament

This embroidered map Christmas ornament is so quick and easy to make, and it can be personalized by using maps special to you. It would make a lovely gift or keepsake.

There are lots of wonderful vintage maps to choose from, I’m sure you can find one of a country that is special to you.

Every Christmas, I love to make handmade ornaments for my Christmas tree, using my favorite vintage images. I made some wonderful dictionary paper baubles with printed flowers and cacti last year.

So far this year, I upcycled tuna cans into lovely ornaments. I used some of the beautiful butterfly images on the site. I’ve now added to this collection with these embroidered map ornaments.

This is a simple embroidery craft as no specialized sewing skills are required. All you need is to be able to sew is a simple running stitch.

We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

How To Print A Map Onto Fabric

Before I made the embroidered map ornament, I printed the map I wanted to use onto fabric.

One of the easiest ways to print onto fabric at home is to use printable fabric sheets, which you can buy online. But an even cheaper way is to make your own printable fabric sheets.

This is done with thin cotton fabric, such as an old sheet and waxed freezer paper. There is an easy tutorial on how to make fabric sheets on Pillarboxblue.

The fabric sheets are then just fed into your home inkjet printer, like normal printer paper.

What You Need To Make An Embroidered Map Ornament

• Printable fabric sheets or thin cotton and freezer paper to make your own.
• Small embroidery hoop 3″ (8cm)
• Printable maps of your choice
• Red embroidery thread and needle
• Glitter washi tape

How To Make The Map Baubles

1.. First, decide on what map you would like to use. There are many to choose from on the site. You could use a map of a particular, country or city, or even the whole world.

I made two embroidered map bauble ornaments, one using a map of Norway and the other a map of London.

Once you have decided on the map you are going to use, resize it in a software program such as Photoshop or Canva. I did this when making personalized map pillows.

I used Canva.com to create 2 round frames that were slightly larger than my embroidery hoops at 4″. The resized maps were placed into these frames. You can fit 2 frames on one sheet of paper.

If you are not familiar with Canva it is an online graphic design tool that offers a free trial option.

2. Next, print your resized maps onto the fabric paper. Make sure that in your printer menu settings you choose the best quality print.

3. Then, once the maps have been printed, peel away the paper backing from the printer sheet.

4. Next, prepare the embroidery hoop. To give my embroidered map ornament a more festive look, I decorated the outside of the embroidery hoop. I did this by covering the outside hoop in glitter washi tape.

5. Next, cut out the map circle from the printed fabric and place it inside the embroidery hoop.

6. Make sure the map fabric is pulled tight in the embroidery hoop. Then, cut off any excess fabric from the back to the hoop.

7. Next, with a fine pen draw a small heart onto the spot on the map that is particularly special to you.

8. Finally, using red embroidery thread, stitch around the heart. Then add a ribbon for hanging.

This embroidered map ornament was so quick and easy to make I made two at the same time. The other one was with a map of London, my favorite city.

These map ornaments would make a wonderful gift, especially for those with wanderlust. They would also make a wonderful gift for a couple by using a map of where they first met.

If you are looking for more personalized map gift ideas, then check out the map seashells and this personalized map corkboard.

You’ll find more cool Christmas crafts for adults here.

For more craft ideas visit favecrafts.