For Summer Solstice this year, one of my presents for the kids was a Star Wand. In my experience, young kids like to get wands for any occasion though, so don’t limit yourself! These are super-easy to make if you have some basic hand-sewing skills under our belt.
Star Wand Materials
- Star Template
- Felt in three different colours
- A button
- Ribbons
- A stick: make sure it doesn’t have any sharp parts, and you’ll want to kinda clean it up if there are any parts sticking off it. I used ones about the circumference of my thumb for this project, but it will depend on how big you want your wand to be.
- Needle and thread to match or contrast
- Glue gun (optional)
Star Wand Instructions
First, download the a star template (or make your own!). I used one template, then reduced it on my printer steadily to create what I think is an even amount of shrinkage per star.
Next, use your templates to cut out your three stars. One each of the small ones, and two of the largest if you plan to stuff your star and make it puffy.
Then, sew on your button.
Then, sew your little star onto the next biggest star.I used thread to match the bigger one, but do what you think looks good!
Next, sew your medium star onto your bigger star.
Then, sew your two big stars together along the outside, leaving a hole big enough to stuff (if you are stuffing it) and definitely big enough to get your stick through..
Time to stuff your star, if you are doing so. I stuffed mine with actual toy stuffing because I happen to have a ton of the stuff lying around. However, you could use newspaper, yarn or fabric scraps, etc. You could also infuse it with some dried flowers like lavender or something for an added touch.
Now it can get a little tricky, but don’t worry, it’s really not that hard. It’s time to sew the stick into the star. Take your stick and put it between the layers of felt. Push it gently in, but be careful not to rip your fabric! If you’ve stuffed it, you may want to kinda plump up the stuffing around the stick (do this by just poking and prodding a bit around the outside of the star around the stick until it looks and feels like you want it to).
Then, starting on one side, start to sew the two sides of the star together again. If you can sew the sides together close to the stick, kind of wrapping around the stick a little bit, it will keep the stick in the star fairly secure. Make sure to go around and sew the single parts of the felt around the stick too, so the felt doesn’t come apart there.
If you weren’t able to secure your stick with sewing and you have a glue gun, don’t panic! If you don’t have a glue gun, you could try with whatever glue you have. Or, pick your needle and thread back up and try again. I’m not sure I’ve explained it clearly, so if more clarification is needed, please let me know in the comments and I will figure out a way to explain it better.
So, the picture below shows a wand that has been glue-gunned onto the stick. You see it puckers a bit, which is Ok because later you can get the ribbons to cover that up.
Now you can start to add your ribbons!
To make the criss-cross, start by attaching the ribbon to the back of the wand with the glue gun like this.
Now bring both pieces around to the front and cross it. Then to the back and cross. Front, back, front, back all the way down. You don’t have to glue the crosses down, it will stay put when you glue the last part.
Below you can see where it is crossed all the way down and then you kinda wrap the last bits around evenly and those you glue down to the stick.
Then start attaching your ribbons. I glue gun them to the back of the stick and then wrap them around and tie them. I glue gun the ties too. You don’t have to glue them, obviously, I just find it stays better when I do.
Tada! Star Wand!!
The last step is to find a kid who will love it! Hint: This is basically any little kid.
Bonus points if they know how to turn their star wand into magical light! 🙂
hedgecraft 
