Felt Snowflake Ornaments: A Six-Point Template, Clean Cuts and a Garland

Count the arms on a felt snowflake before you copy it: a surprising number of patterns have eight. Real snow crystals grow with six arms, because the water molecules lock into a hexagonal lattice, and an eight-point felt flake reads as a star or a compass rose to anyone who looks closely. The fix is one different fold at the start.

The steps run from that six-fold paper template to the felt that holds thin spokes, clean cutting, sizes and times, two-layer flakes with embroidery and beads, and spacing on a garland or in a window.

How do you make a six-point snowflake template?

Fold paper into twelfths. Felt is too thick to fold and cut like a paper snowflake, so the paper becomes the template.

1. Cut a paper circle the size of the finished snowflake. Use freezer paper if you have it, matte side out, because you can iron the finished template straight onto the felt.
2. Fold it in half. You have a semicircle.
3. Fold the semicircle into thirds. Bring one corner over past the middle and the other corner over it, adjusting until the edges line up exactly. Each section is now 60°. Thirds, not halves, is the step that makes it six-sided.
4. Fold the wedge in half once more, to a 30° wedge of twelve layers.
5. Draw half of one arm on the wedge, with the arm's center line on the folded edge, and cut. Keep the cuts simple: two or three side branches, and a notch or two along the open edge.
6. Unfold and press flat with a cool iron.

The eight-point trap is folding in half, in half, and in half again, which gives a 45° wedge. If your unfolded paper has eight arms, start over with the thirds fold.

If folding twelve layers is too thick to cut cleanly, draw a 3 in (7.5 cm) circle, step the compass around its edge at the same radius to get six evenly spaced points, and draw one arm. Trace it six times by rotating the paper. That is the same compass trick used for flat shapes in felt Christmas ornaments.

Design rules that suit felt

Paper can carry lace; felt can't. Before cutting the felt, check the template against three limits:

• Spokes at least 3/16 in (5 mm) wide in 3 mm felt, and ¼ in (6 mm) in 1 mm felt. Thinner ones twist and tear when the ornament is handled.
• Holes no smaller than 1/16 in (2 mm), and round ones punched rather than cut.
• The center solid for at least ¾ in (2 cm) across, which leaves room to stitch on a bead or a hanging loop.

Which felt cuts cleanly for snowflakes?

Thick wool felt. At 2–3 mm, 100% wool felt cuts with a crisp edge, holds a thin spoke straight, and doesn't need stiffening. A 1 mm acrylic craft sheet is fine for a child's chunky flake but stretches as you cut, leaving spokes that droop. Wool felt fabric explains why the fibers matter.

1. Iron the freezer paper on. Shiny side down, dry iron, wool setting for wool felt and the lowest setting for acrylic. It holds the felt still while you cut.
2. Cut the inside holes first, with a sharp craft knife on a self-healing cutting mat, or punch them. Doing the holes while the outline is still solid gives you something to hold.
3. Cut the outline with small, sharp embroidery scissors. Cut into each inner corner from both sides rather than turning the scissors in it, and move the felt, not the blades.
4. Peel off the paper. A freezer paper template lifts off and can be used five or six more times.

For a dozen or more identical flakes, a die cutter or a desktop cutting machine with a rotary blade saves an evening; a laser cuts the most detail but leaves a faint brown, singed edge on white wool. Felt cutting machines compares them.

What size should felt snowflakes be?

It depends on where they hang. Times are for one flake, with the freezer paper template already made.

Diameter	Felt thickness	Use	Time to cut	Time with embroidery or beads
2 in (5 cm)	1–2 mm	Garland, gift tags, card fronts	8–10 minutes	20 minutes
3 in (7.5 cm)	2–3 mm	Tree ornament, garland	15 minutes	30–40 minutes
4 in (10 cm)	3 mm	Tree ornament, coaster top	20–25 minutes	45–60 minutes
6 in (15 cm)	3 mm	Window, tree topper, mobile	30–40 minutes	1–1½ hours
8–10 in (20–25 cm)	3–5 mm	Wall, door, table centerpiece	45–60 minutes	2 hours

A 9 × 12 in (23 × 30 cm) sheet gives twelve 3 in flakes or six 4 in ones. The arms nest if you stagger the rows.

How do you make a two-layer snowflake?

Stack a smaller snowflake on a larger one in a contrasting color: white on pale blue, silver gray on white, or white on red. The bottom layer is the full template; the top is the same template reduced to about 75 percent, or a simpler flake with the same six arms, turned 30° so its arms fall between the arms below. That gives twelve points in two colors from two cuts.

• Join them with a small stitch through the center and one running stitch line down each top arm, about 1/16 in (2 mm) apart. Stitching around every edge of a snowflake takes over an hour and adds little; felt doesn't fray, so the edges can stay bare.
• Embroider with two strands of white or silver floss: a running stitch down each spoke, a lazy daisy at each tip, and a ring of French knots around the center.
• Bead a silver seed bead at each tip and a larger crystal bead in the middle. Bring the thread up from the back, take it through the bead and back down beside it, and knot behind each one so one loose bead doesn't release the rest. How to sew beads on felt has the stitch.

Cover the back with a felt circle about 1 in (2.5 cm) across, glued or stitched, to hide the knots and hold the hanging loop.

Do felt snowflakes need stiffening?

Thin ones do. Brush fabric stiffener onto both faces, or dip the flake in white glue thinned half and half with water, squeeze it gently in a towel, and pin it flat on a board covered in plastic wrap. Push a pin through the center and one near each tip so the arms dry straight. Leave it overnight. Do the stiffening before beading, because the glue dulls beads.

Spray starch gives a softer finish and is enough for 1–2 mm felt with chunky arms. Wool felt of 2–3 mm usually needs nothing.

How do you make a felt snowflake garland?

Use 2–3 in (5–7.5 cm) flakes in a single layer, so they look the same from both sides, and space them about 6 in (15 cm) apart center to center. That puts six on every 3 ft (90 cm), or twelve along a 6 ft (1.8 m) mantel.

• Through two tips: thread twine or baker's twine through the ends of two neighboring arms with a large needle, so the flake sits flat against the line.
• Across the back: lay a long cord across the backs and stitch each flake on at the center, or glue a small felt patch over the cord.
• On a sewing machine: sew straight across each flake's center, keep sewing through the air for 3 in, and feed in the next one. The thread chain becomes the garland. Felt garland describes this and other ways to join shapes.

Mix in white or pale blue felt balls between flakes for weight, so the line drapes instead of twisting.

How else can you use felt snowflakes?

• Windows: hang 6 in flakes on clear monofilament at staggered heights, 3–8 in apart vertically, from a tension rod or a suction hook. Felt doesn't cling to glass, so it needs a thread or a removable mounting tab.
• A mobile: four to six 3 in flakes hung from a hoop, balanced as described in felt mobile.
• The table: scatter 2 in flakes down a runner or tuck one under each napkin ring. For felt coasters, stitch a snowflake onto a solid 4 in (10 cm) circle of 5 mm felt; open cut-outs on their own let drips through and wobble a glass.
• Gift tags: a 2 in flake with a name in fine marker on the center, tied onto the ribbon.
• The top of the tree: a 6 in two-layer flake with a sleeve fixed behind it; felt tree topper has the sleeve sizes.

A white snowflake set suits a white, silver and pale blue tree, and it mixes with the rest of the felt in felt Christmas decorations. Keep beaded flakes off any tree a child under 3 can reach: seed beads are a choking hazard, and an unbeaded, embroidered flake is the safe version.

How do you store felt snowflakes?

Flat, between sheets of tissue paper, in a box rather than a bag, so the arms don't bend. Lay a sheet of card on top of the stack to hold them flat. Clothes moths eat wool felt, so add a cedar block or lavender sachet and check them each fall before they go back up. A bent spoke can be pressed straight with a warm iron through a damp cloth.