Make a Needlepoint Dreidel

Inspired by a Carol Duvall Workshop audience member, this needlepoint dreidel can provide hours of fun for children and adults, both in making it and playing with it.

The dreidel was stitched on five-count plastic canvas using acrylic needlepoint yarn and metallic cord. It was stitched as a single unit, then folded and sewn together. The plastic canvas makes this dreidel functional, but the performance could be improved by stitching each panel separately then sewing all the components together without using the folding technique. Here's how to make them.

Materials and Tools:

dreidel pattern
needlepoint canvas
needlepoint thread
needlepoint needle

Steps:

1. Purchase a pre-printed pattern or print the provided pattern on graph paper.

2. Color the printed pattern with colored pencils, crayons or markers to determine the design. Make solid colored panels, blocks of color, stripes; it's limited only by your imagination.

3. Stitch as designed using your favorite needlepoint stitches. This design features a simple counted cross-stitch technique, working on one row at a time until the design was filled in on the canvas as indicated by the pattern.

4. Cut around the perimeter of the stitched design, being careful not to cut the needlepoint and then thread a loop of decorative braid, cord or ribbon into the center of the indicated square (the one without a letter design) to fashion a handle for the dreidel.

5. Fold the needlepoint cutout into dreidel shape and stitch the sides together using a blanket stitch to secure. If you stitched separate panels, line them up and place the bottom square with the loop handle in the center, then position the one of other four squares on each side of it. Secure with blanket stitching. Stitch the four triangles together to form the top of the dreidel, and then connect the squares and triangles together.