free tutorial crochet star ornament
free tutorial crochet star ornament
free tutorial crochet star ornament
Pinterest image Free Tutorial Crochet Star Ornament
Pinterest image Free Tutorial Crochet Star Ornament

Last Christmas I made some star ornaments for my Etsy shop. I’d been wanting to crochet some star decorations for a while, and after browsing Pinterest for some inspiration, and a bit of experimenting, decided on this method for a simple star-shaped ornament.

You can hang them on your Christmas tree or from a mantlepiece, string some together to make a garland, or even make it the focus of a handmade wreath. I also like the idea of using them as a finishing touch when gift wrapping, or perhaps placing a handmade star on each place setting for Christmas dinner to add a personal touch.

 

I experimented with a few different yarns, colours, and finishing touches and these are the results:

First I used this 8ply neutral coloured acrylic yarn, made with a 3.5mm hook, and teamed with a red grosgrain ribbon and natural coloured wood button. I like the natural rustic kind of look and think these would be perfect for a simple neutral colour themed décor.

crochet Christmas star ornament in neutral colour with red ribbon & wood button

I also had some thinner cotton yarn in a slightly off-white colour so worked that up with a smaller 2.5mm hook and added a thinner green ribbon with gold edging, tied straight into the top of the star rather than sewing it on with a button.

white cotton crochet Christmas star ornament with green & gold ribbon

I quite like the way this lighter yarn turns out and think it would work well too as simple decor for a beautiful neutral theme.

In fact I received a custom order to make a couple of garlands of these for someone last Christmas who planned to use them to decorate their daughter’s room.

white cotton crochet star garland

Then I found some gorgeous wool in a striking seasonal red colour to try. It’s 100% pure Australian wool and feels sooo nice to the touch. Loooovely and soft!

It was 8ply so I used the 3.5mm hook on these as well. I found some ribbon in an understated green and white stripe and paired it with a darker wood button.

I like the natural materials used in this version to create a higher quality item that looks festive without being garish.

red wool crochet star ornament with green and white striped ribbon and black wooden hanging on a Christmas tree

 

All these are available in my etsy shop by the way. I made some individual stars available as well as sets of 5. Think I’ll probably add some garlands next season too as the custom orders turned out great.

But if you’d like to make some yourself, here’s the way I made them…

(Apologies for the badly lit photos in the tutorial below, by the way. It has been impossible to get decent pics the past few months during this long dark winter!)

 

 

 

 

Materials

You will need:

  • 8ply yarn & 3.5mm* crochet hook (for 7cm diameter star) or 4ply & 2.5mm hook (for 5cm diameter star)
  • 15cm ribbon
  • 15mm Button (I also used 13mm buttons but found the 15mm easier to sew on)
  • Yarn needle

*You could use a larger hook if you want, like a 4mm for the 8ply. I just used my 3.5mm hook because that’s what I’m used to for making my amigurumi dolls.

 

Stitches / Terminology

I use US crochet terminology but if you use UK crochet just think ‘treble’ wherever you read ‘double’ here and insert ‘double crochet’ where you see ‘single crochet’.

ch = chain

sc = single crochet (UK double crochet)

dc = double crochet (UK treble)

 

Instructions

First make a magic circle and single crochet 5 into it. (If you’re not comfortable with the magic circle just ch3 and ss into the 1st ch to make a small ring then sc 5 into the middle of that ring.)

sc5 into magic circle

 

Pull the circle to close it, but not too tight. Depending on your taste and style you might want to leave it a bit loose with a small gap in the middle of the circle if you want the star to have a slight lace look about the design. If you prefer not to have a hole in the middle for decoration you can pull it tight to close the gap.

Slip stitch into the first single crochet stitch to join the ends nicely. We’ll call that the first round.

ss to close magic ring

 

Now we start Round 2 by chaining 3.

crochet star tutorial step 3_ch3

 

Then double crochet into the same stitch.

crochet star tutorial step 4_dc

 

This double crochet and the chain 3 will act as the first two stitches in a set of three, but we won’t add the third stitch until the end of this round. I don’t know why but it looks better this way when finished. I tried doing all three in the set together to start but it never looked quite right when finished no matter which way I joined it to end the round. So we do two now and add the third later.

Anyway, now we’re going to chain 3 again, to create the first space between the first set of three posts and the next set of three posts.

Then work 3 double crochet into the next stitch, and chain 3.

crochet star tutorial steps 5 to 7_ch3 3dc ch3

 

Repeat that three more times, working 3 double crochet into each of the remaining single crochet stitches from round 1, with a chain of 3 between each set.

crochet star tutorial steps 8 to 13

 

Now, remember how I said at the start of this round that we were going to make only two of the posts in the first group of three then, and do the third one later? Well here is where we create that third and final double crochet stitch to complete that first group of posts.

When you get back around to your first two double crochet stitches – the first of which was actually the very first chain 3 to start this round – work one final double crochet stitch into the last single crochet base stitch to create the third post in that set of three.

crochet star tutorial step 14_dc1

 

Slip stitch into the space between your first ch3 and the first dc stitch to join them together and complete the round.

You should now have 5 groups of 3dc with a space between each cluster.

crochet star tutorial step 15_ss to end R2

 

The next round also uses sets of 3 double crochet with a chain of 3 between two sets to create the five points of the star, but we work them into the chain spaces that we’ve just created in the second round.

So, to start Round 3, work 3 double crochet into the first chain space (the gap between the two sets of three posts), chain 3, then work another 3 double crochet into the same chain space.

crochet star tutorial steps 16 to 18_3dc, ch3, 3dc, to start round 3 & create the 1st point of the star

 

Skip 1 stitch (the top of the first post in the next set of three dc from the previous round) and slip stitch into the next stitch (the top of the second or middle post in the set of three). That completes the first point of our star.

crochet star tutorial step 19_sk1, ss, sk1

 

We then skip the next stitch (the third and final post in the set of three), before starting the next point in our star.

To create the other four points of the star, we just repeat four more times working 3 double crochet, chain 3, then another 3 double crochet into each chain space from the previous round. Remember to skip 1, slip stich 1, and skip 1 to anchor each point before starting the next one.

 

crochet star tutorial steps 20 to 22

 

When you’ve done the 5th point of your star, finish with a slip stitch the same as at the end of each 3dc-ch3-3dc sequence.

Tie off leaving a tail of about 10cm.

crochet star tutorial step 23_5th and final point

 

Tidy the starting tail by using a blunt needle to hide the yarn end. I like to sew it under stitches on the back side of the ornament, travelling up to the edge of the star to meet the other yarn tail so I can knot them together to finish.

Keeping your yarn on the needle, fold your ribbon over so the two cut ends meet to form a loop and hold in place with the button on the front of the ornament, then sew them in place.

I find one stitch through each hole in the button is enough. With your yarn now at the back of the ornament, tie the two ends together in a tight knot then hide the ends in the back and cut off any excess length.

Et voila, one crochet star shaped ornament ready to hang on your Christmas tree!

 

completed red crochet Christmas star with ribbon and button

 

If you want a more pointy star you could block it (pin it to a foam block with a sewing pin in each star point and leave for a while) and/or spray with fabric stiffener to make it hold a firmer shape.

I kind of like the softer look and feel of the unblocked star though, even if some of my more relaxed ones do sometimes appear more like a flower than a star.

 

Will you have a go at creating your own crochet ornaments? What colours would you use? How will you use them – as traditional tree decorations, gift tags, in your table place setting, or another form of décor? Let me know in the comments below!

If you do make some I’d love to see them – be sure to post a photo in the comments. Thanks!