Learn how to make natural straw star ornaments from scratch! Old-fashioned straw ornaments are an eco-friendly, cheap and easy natural Christmas decoration.

Straw star ornaments are easy to make at home. All you need for these natural Christmas ornaments is straw and a piece of thread. DIY straw ornaments look pretty as Christmas decorations.

Related: 20 DIY Natural Christmas Ornaments

Since straw star ornaments are so easy to make, they’re a great Christmas craft to make with your kids. And by the way, straw star ornaments can be made completely free! More about it below.

Related: The Victorian Christmas Tree

Homemade straw ornaments have a long history as natural Christmas tree decorations. Because straw was cheap and readily available:

‘There are straw ornaments for Christmas decorations’ (American Motherhood, 1911).

Where To Buy Straw

Straw is the stalks of wheat – don’t confuse straw with hay. Straw is usually cheap because it’s a by-product of the wheat harvest. However, craft straw is usually more expensive than regular straw (straw bales). Because only long and perfect stalks are sold as craft straw, while less perfect stalks are discarded.

Related: How To Make Hay With A Scythe

You can buy craft straw from amazon or most craft supply stores. I always look for natural, untreated craft straw because craft straw is often bleached or treated with other chemicals. And if you can’t find craft store, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use straw from straw bales for your DIY straw Christmas ornaments!

How To Make Straw Ornaments Without Spending Money

Old-fashioned straw ornaments can be made completely free. So if you don’t want to spend any money to make natural straw ornaments, just collect straw after the wheat harvest in July or August like the Victorians did: Have a look at the 1850s painting The Gleaners by Millet. Gleaning means collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after the harvest. Even if farmers use modern machines for the harvest today, there’s always some straw left on the fields. However, you should check with your local government agency if gleaning is allowed were you live.

What Thread Should I Use For Tying?

Use strong thread to tie the straws together, such as linen sewing thread (linen twine). Cotton thread is usually not strong enough and breaks. Red and gold are the traditional thread colors of German straw ornaments. I used red linen sewing thread for my straw star ornaments. However, you can use other colors as well, such as green or natural linen thread.

How To Make Natural Straw Star Ornaments

Soak Straw

Soak straw in cold water for a few hours or overnight. If you try to make straw star ornaments with dry straw, the straw would break.

It depends on the straw how long you have to soak it. But you can check the straw from time to time: If you can bend the straw without it breaking, you can use it to make DIY straw stars. And if you soak the straw in boiling water you can use the straw sooner to make straw star Christmas ornaments. By the way, straw is more yellow while wet.

‘Soak straw in warm water for a few hours or overnight before working with it. To prevent it floating, weight it with a heavy plate.’ (The Joyful Christmas Craft Book, 1963)

Make Straw Star Ornaments

1. For a six-pointed straw star ornament tie together nine straws in the middle as in the picture above. If you want to make an eight-pointed straw star instead tie together twelve straws. By the way, you can make the natural straw ornaments as big or as small as you want. For this star I used 4″ (10cm) long straws.

Tie the ‘straws tightly together with red or gold thread […] It is important to tie the thread tight enough to score the straw, as straw shrinks slightly as it dries and loosely-tied threads may slip off. […] The secrets of good workmanship are equal spacing and tight, neat tying.’ (The Joyful Christmas Craft Book, 1963)

2. Now tie two straws together, 1/2″ (1cm) from middle. Skip one straw. Then tie the next two straws together.

3. Continue to tie the straws together.

4. For the points of the star, tie together three straws: the skipped straw is in the middle.

5. Continue until all six points of the star are tied.

6. Then trim the ends of the straws with scissors. And add a loop of thread to the top of the natural straw Christmas ornaments to hang.

If you enjoyed making natural straw star decorations, you can make other natural Christmas ornaments with straw as well.