Christmas Star Tutorial

By popular demand, here it is! The Hideous (aka Fluffy) Christmas Star tutorial. (Thank you all for your sweet comments!)


Supplies:

1/3 yard extra stiff interfacing (stiffest you can find!)
wire hanger
1/3 yard muslin
1 yard white nylon chiffon (tulle would probably work, too)
white lights (50 count)
1 toilet paper cardboard roll
ruler
wire cutters


#1- Making your star.


You could just print one off the internet, I suppose, but somehow I didn't think of that at the time, and decided to put my mathematical knowledge to use. So, here is the mathematical way to create a star.


I wanted a 12 inch star, so I started with a 12 inch line across my paper (actually, I just drew it on my interfacing with pencil, cause I am lazy like that!). Then mark the exact middle of your line, and make a line perpendicular to your original line exactly in the middle.


Then mark 1.5" on each side of your middle line.

Using your ruler, lay the 4.5" mark on one of your side markings (at 1.5"). Move it until the top of your ruler exactly matches your perpendicular middle line. Then draw from the top of your ruler to 12". Do the same on the other side. Now you can just match up your end marks, making all your lines 12".

#2- Cutting.

Okay, time to cut. Cut out the interfacing star. Now we are going to use that star for our pattern to cut out our muslin star, only this time, you want 1/2 seam allowances around the entire star.

Also, we are going to cut our wire hanger. We want two straight pieces measuring 10" and 8" in length. If you can't get a straight piece out, just bend the wire a little to get it as straight as possible.

Cut your chiffon into 3" squares. I used exactly 183 squares for my star. These don't need to be exact, just stack and whack. I would think with tulle you might not need as much, but that is just my guess. If anyone makes it with tulle, please share any insights. . .

#3- Sewing

First we are going to sew the wire onto our interfacing star. We are going to make a "t" shape with our wire to give your star added strength. Place the 10" piece on the widest part across your star. Then, I zigzagged over the wire with my stitch width set at the widest it would go. Now, do this SLOWLY so as not to break any needles. Go all the way across the 10" piece and then place the 8" piece perpendicular, crossing over the 10" piece. Again, zigzag over the top of the wire until you get close to the cross section. Just skip that section and start again about an inch farther down the wire. It should look like this when you are done:

Now we are going to sew the chiffon to the muslin.

Take each piece of chiffon and fold it in half and then in half again, like so:

Now, sew the inner folded corner of your folded square (marked with red arrow in picture above) and sew it onto the muslin star. I started in the middle and worked my way out to the points of the star. You want the chiffon close together, so that it stands up, but not too thick. Most of mine were about 1/4-1/2 inch apart. Don't go all the way to the edges, as you need a place to sew. Keep about 1/2 inch away from all the edges.

Once you get them ALL sewn on (it doesn't take THAT long. . .), we are going to sew your two stars together. Start about 2.5" from your bottom middle corner (we are going to leave that space open in order to get our lights in). Sew all the way around your star, gently pressing the chiffon out of the way as you sew. You are going to need to take a few gathers, as the muslin star is larger than the interfacing one. It really won't be seen, so just tuck as needed to match up the points.

Sew all the way around, again leaving 2.5" on the other side of your middle bottom corner.

#4- Finishing

Almost done! Now, we are going to stuff the lights in. I just used regular lights, but after getting it all finished, I realized it probably would have been smarter if I would have used LED lights so it wouldn't create so much heat inside the star. This is up to you, but I can not be held responsible . . . blah, blah, blah. ;0) Just be careful!

Stuff the lights in, easing them into the points of the star. I didn't get all 50 lights in, probably around 30 or 35. You need to save room for the cardboard tube as well. The tube is obviously for the top of the tree to fit into. Wiggle it in until the entire tube is covered inside the star. Make sure it is against the back of your star, so that you can't see it and also so that you can secure it with staples or glue.

And voila! You are finished! Hope your husbands like it better than mine! ;0)

PS I didn't do anything to the back of it-- I'm not that picky! But, if you are ambitious, you could easily hand sew a whole bunch on the back as well.