Felt Star Ornaments: Flat, Puffy, Needle Felted, Moravian-Style and a Star Garland

There are five felt star ornaments here, from quickest to slowest: a flat two-layer star cut from sheet felt, a layered Nordic star in white and red, a firm needle felted star packed into a cookie cutter, a puffy stuffed star, and a Moravian-style star built from stuffed cones. The table below compares their size and time, and the last section strings flat stars into a felt star garland, with star and sheet counts for 4, 6 and 9 ft lengths.

The sewn stars share one template, and its proportions decide whether a star looks crisp or lumpy: on a straight-edged star each valley sits at 0.382 of the way from the center to a tip. These are small stars for branches and garlands. The big star on top of the tree, with its sleeve and stiffening, is on felt tree topper, and planning a whole set, with cutting tips and blanket stitch spacing, is in felt Christmas ornaments.

Which felt star should you make?

Star	Size	Materials	Time for one	Good for
Flat two-layer	3⅓ in (8.5 cm) wide	Sheet felt, floss	20–30 minutes	Batches, children from about 6
Puffy stuffed	3⅘ in (9.7 cm) wide	Sheet felt, 2–3 g fiberfill	40 minutes to 1 hour	A soft, rounded look
Cookie cutter, needle felted	3 in (7.5 cm) tall	⅛ oz (3–4 g) wool	30–45 minutes	A firm, solid star; older children, supervised
Moravian-style	4 in (10 cm) across	Sheet felt, a small felt ball, fiberfill	2–3 hours	A centerpiece ornament
Layered or straw-style	3–4 in (7.5–10 cm)	Stiff felt, floss	30–45 minutes	Nordic white-and-red sets

What is the right shape for a five-point star template?

Every five-point star template comes down to two circles on one center: an outer circle through the tips and an inner one through the valleys. The tips are 72° apart, and the valleys sit halfway between them, at 36°. The only real choice is the ratio of the inner radius to the outer one.

Why 0.382?

For the classic star, the edge running from one tip passes through a valley and carries straight on to a tip two places away, so the outline is made of five straight lines. That condition fixes the ratio. The line joining two tips that are two apart lies at a distance of cos 72° from the center, measured in tip radii. The valley lies on that line, 36° off the line's perpendicular, so its distance from the center is cos 72° ÷ cos 36° = 0.309 ÷ 0.809 = 0.382. It is also 1 ÷ 1.618², the square of the golden ratio turned upside down, which is why the same number turns up in pentagons and pentagrams.

Check it on your own drawing. Lay a ruler along any edge of the star. It should run through the next valley and land exactly on the tip beyond it. If it misses inside the tip, your valleys are too deep; if it misses outside, they are too shallow. A protractor gives a second check: the angle at each tip of a 0.382 star is 36°.

The flat ornament template

1. Draw the outer circle with a radius of 1¾ in (4.5 cm).
2. Draw the inner circle on the same center with a radius of 0.67 in (1.7 cm), just under 11⁄16 in. That is 1.75 × 0.382.
3. Mark five tips on the outer circle at 0°, 72°, 144°, 216° and 288°, starting straight up.
4. Mark five valleys on the inner circle at 36°, 108°, 180°, 252° and 324°.
5. Join them tip, valley, tip, all the way around, and do the ruler check above.

The finished star is 3⅓ in (8.5 cm) wide and 3⅙ in (8 cm) tall. It is shorter than it is wide because the two lower tips sit above the bottom of the circle: height is 1.81 times the tip radius and width is 1.90 times. If you only have a compass, the stepping method in felt Christmas ornaments draws the same star without a protractor.

Changing the ratio

Inner ÷ outer radius	Angle at each tip	Looks like	Use it for
0.30	About 26°	Thin, spiky	Single-layer stars in stiff felt only
0.382	36°	The classic straight-line star	Flat two-layer ornaments, garlands
0.45	About 45°	Slightly plump	Lightly stuffed stars, cookie cutter shapes
0.50	About 53°	Chubby	Puffy stars that are stuffed full

How do you make a flat felt star ornament?

1. Cut two stars from wool-blend felt about 1 mm thick. Cut each piece separately rather than stacked, so the layers don't shift.
2. Decorate the front before joining: a smaller star of a second color, a line of running stitch ⅛ in (3 mm) inside the edge, or French knots at the valleys. Felt applique covers the stitches.
3. Add the loop. Fold 6 in (15 cm) of thin cord or jute twine in half and slip the ends ½ in (13 mm) between the layers at the top tip.
4. Edge stitch with two strands of floss, taking one stitch straight through every tip. Leave a 1 in (2.5 cm) gap along one lower edge.
5. Stuff lightly with about 1 g of fiberfill, pushed into the points first with a chopstick, then close the gap. It should still lie almost flat.

A single layer of stiff felt with a hole punched in the top tip is a finished ornament too, since felt doesn't fray.

How do you make a puffy stuffed felt star?

A puffy star needs fatter points, because a 36° tip is too narrow to push stuffing into. Redraw the template with an outer radius of 2 in (5 cm) and an inner radius of 1 in (2.5 cm), the 0.5 ratio. The tip angle opens to about 53°, and the star is 3⅘ in (9.7 cm) wide.

The pillow star

Cut two, blanket stitch them together from the outside with a 2 in (5 cm) gap on a lower edge, and stuff with 2–3 g of polyester fiberfill. Fill each point fully before the middle, in small tufts, or the points stay limp while the center bulges. For a deeper puff, stitch straight through the center of the finished star with strong thread, pull it in by about ¼ in (6 mm), and knot it at the back. The middle dips and the five arms round out.

The star with straight sides

For a star shaped like a thick cookie, add a side strip between the two faces.

• Measure the edge. On this template, each edge from tip to valley is 1⅓ in (3.4 cm), so the outline is ten of those: 13¼ in (33.7 cm).
• Cut the strip ⅝ in (1.5 cm) wide and 13¾ in (35 cm) long, which leaves ½ in to overlap at the join. Mark it every 1⅓ in with a pencil.
• Sew it on with whip stitch on the outside, putting each pencil mark at a tip or a valley. Felt bends sharply at a mark if you fold it there with your thumbnail first.
• Close the second face the same way, leaving one edge open, stuff, and finish.

Five-panel stars with a ridge down each arm are on the tree topper page. At ornament size their seams get crowded, so the pillow or strip version is the better choice below about 4 in.

How do you needle felt a star with a cookie cutter?

A metal cookie cutter holds the outline while you felt, so the star keeps five matching points without a template. Shop cutters are usually plumper than 0.382, closer to 0.45, and that suits wool, because a thin felted point is weak.

1. Set the cutter on a foam pad. A 3 in (7.5 cm) cutter makes a tree-sized star.
2. Pack it. Tear about ⅛ oz (3–4 g) of wool into small tufts and fill the points first, then the middle, until the wool stands about 1 in (2.5 cm) above the rim. Core wool inside with a white or gold top layer saves the good wool.
3. Needle straight down with a 38 gauge needle, working from the middle outward, then into the points. Keep the needle vertical and away from the metal: a needle that strikes the cutter snaps. Push the wool down into the points with the side of a closed pair of scissors.
4. Turn it over. Ease it out, flip it, put it back in the cutter, and needle the other face.
5. Finish outside the cutter. Hold the star by its middle and needle each edge flat with a 40 gauge, pinching each point between finger and thumb as you work it. Stop when it is about ¼ in (6 mm) thick and doesn't dent. For a chunkier star ⅜ in (1 cm) thick, start with about ⅕ oz (5–6 g).

Thread a loop through the top point with a large needle. The method works for any shape, and the full technique is in cookie cutter needle felting. Felting needles are sharp and barbed; is needle felting dangerous covers working safely with children.

How do you make a Moravian-style felt star?

The Moravian star, called the Herrnhuter Stern in German, is usually traced to the Moravian Church's boys' school in Niesky, in Saxony. The earliest record its historians cite describes an illuminated star at the school's fiftieth anniversary in January 1821. Commercial production is credited to a former pupil, Pieter Hendrik Verbeek, though sources place his start anywhere from the 1880s to the 1890s, and some put the 1821 star at Herrnhut rather than Niesky. The familiar paper version has 26 points set on a solid of 18 squares and 8 triangles.

Twenty-six felt points won't fit on an ornament, so this is a simplified version: stuffed felt cones sewn onto a small ball.

1. Make the center. Needle felt a firm 1 in (2.5 cm) ball from 2–3 g of wool, or use a bought felt ball. How to make felt balls covers both wet and needle felting.
2. Draw the cone. Each point is 1½ in (3.8 cm) long with a ¾ in (19 mm) base. A cone unrolls into a circle sector. Its radius is the slant length, √(0.375² + 1.5²) = 1.55 in (3.9 cm). Its angle is 360 × 0.375 ÷ 1.55 = 87°. To check, the arc is 2π × 1.55 × 87 ÷ 360 = 2.36 in, the same as the circumference of a ¾ in circle.
3. Cut six from 1 mm white, cream or red felt and whip stitch each into a cone, butting the straight edges. Stuff each firmly with a chopstick.
4. Sew them on at top, bottom, front, back, left and right, with a ladder stitch around each base, so the star has three pairs of opposite points.
5. For a fuller star, use a 1½ in (3.8 cm) ball and add eight smaller cones in the gaps, at the corners of an imaginary cube. Make each 1¼ in (3.2 cm) long on a ½ in (13 mm) base: a sector of radius 1.27 in (3.2 cm) and 71°.

Sew the hanging loop through the top cone's base, not its tip, so the star hangs centered. The cone math is the same as on felted gnome, at a smaller scale.

How do you make a layered or Nordic straw-style felt star?

Two quick ways to get the white-and-red Nordic look:

• Layered star. Cut a 0.382 star 3½ in (9 cm) wide and a second one ¾ in (2 cm) smaller. Turn the small one 36° so its tips sit over the big star's valleys, and stitch through both at the center with a red cross stitch. That gives ten points. A third, smaller star on top in a contrasting color, turned back to line up with the first, makes it richer. Single layers of stiff felt keep the points flat.
• Straw-style star. This one copies the straw stars hung on Swedish and other Nordic trees. Cut eight strips of cream stiff felt ¼ in (6 mm) wide and 4 in (10 cm) long. Lay them as four crosses, each turned 22½° from the last, so you have sixteen arms spaced evenly. Stitch them together at the center. Pair neighboring arms and tie each pair with red floss ½ in (13 mm) from the end, giving eight points, then snip each end into a V.

White felt stars from this page sit well beside felt snowflake ornaments in the same colors.

How do you make a felt star garland?

Use flat stars with a 1½ in (3.8 cm) tip radius and a 0.57 in (1.45 cm) inner radius, the same 0.382 ratio. They are just under 3 in (7.2 cm) wide and 2¾ in (6.9 cm) tall, so twelve single-layer stars fit on a 9 × 12 in sheet in a 3 × 4 grid.

How many stars do you need?

With stars 5 in (13 cm) apart, center to center, and 6 in (15 cm) of bare cord at each end for tying, the count is (length − 12 in) ÷ 5, plus one.

Garland length	Stars	9 × 12 in sheets, single layer	Sheets, two-layer stars
4 ft (1.2 m)	8	1	2
6 ft (1.8 m)	13	2	3
9 ft (2.7 m)	20	2	4

A garland that swags between two hooks needs more cord than the straight distance between them. Allow 10–20% extra and hang it before you count the last few stars. For balls between the stars, one ¾ in (2 cm) felt ball at the midpoint of each gap works at 5 in spacing, so a 6 ft garland takes twelve.

Stringing it so the stars face forward

• Through the arms. On a two-layer star, run a large needle in at the tip of the left arm, between the layers, and out at the tip of the right arm. On a single layer, catch the cord to the back of each side arm with two small stitches. Either way the cord runs straight across the star and it can't spin.
• On the sewing machine. Feed single-layer stars under the presser foot one after another with a long straight stitch through their centers, sewing 5 in of thread chain between each star. It is the quickest method for a long garland, but it hangs best indoors, away from drafts.
• Lock the spacing. Tie an overhand knot in the cord on each side of each star, or the stars slide to the lowest point of the swag. Felt garland covers knotting and hanging in more detail.

A mantel garland of white stars looks good next to felt candy canes or a row of felt gingerbread men. For older-style designs, see vintage felt ornaments, and for a figure to hang between the stars, a felt elf.

Are felt star ornaments safe to make with children?

Flat stars are a good first sewing project from about age 6, if you pre-cut the stars. Points are hard for small hands to cut cleanly. Younger children can glue a small star onto a larger one. Needle felting suits older children working with an adult, because the needles are sharp. Stars given to babies or toddlers should have no beads, buttons or bells, which are choking hazards under 3, and no wire. A flat two-layer star with a close edge stitch is the safe version, hung where a toddler can't pull the cord. For more projects from the same box of felt, see felt Christmas decorations.