Felt Christmas Ornaments

Disclaimer: I know Christmas is over. However, I intentionally did not post this before Christmas because several of the recipients read this blog (and to my brother and sister-in-law whom I still have not sent presents to, surprise!)

Christmas this year was tough.  People tend to show their appreciation and friendship for others through presents, but presents cost money.  Money is tighter than I've ever experienced and while I finally got a part time job mid-way through December, my first paycheck was after Christmas. Not having money to afford things didn't stop the feeling that we needed to buy things for friends and family.  However, I did have time, energy, and pocket change so I tried to find something I could make that wouldn't look cheap and like I had made it. 

I think I mentioned before that I joined pinterest a few months ago.  I am not nearly as into it as it seems everyone else is, but I find it a great place to stash a picture and link of something I want to make and come back to it later when I have time.  Around Christmas, I found some amazing felt ornaments on pinterest linked from etsy and various other places around the web.  I pinned all the ones I found interesting and decided to make ornaments for friends and family for three reasons: first, felt is crazy cheap, second, embroidery thread is super cheap, and third, I wanted to learn more about needlework and embroidery.

tools needed:
- felt
- embroidery thread (or button&craft/heavy/upholstery thread if you have it on hand)
- needles (I don't own embroidery ones; experiment with what you have on hand)
- scissors

tools I found helpful
- disappearing fabric marker - I did half of them without it and broke down and bought one.  love it.
- scrap paper to draw your own patterns
- fiber fill for making plush ornaments
- cookie cutters - I don't own any, but I heard you can trace the interior and exterior to make patterns)
- needle threader for threading several strands of embroidery floss onto tiny needles not made for embroidery


Step one: make a pattern for the shape you want.  For me, this meant drawing it several times until I got the shape I want or printing out a line drawing I made in Illustrator.  Then I cut it out in felt and traced any design I wanted in the disappearing ink.  I used pencil at first, but it doesn't rub out of felt very easily. 

Paper pattern star and felt cutout with disappearing ink

Step Two: Embroider away!  If you're like me and haven't really done it before, I found Sublime Stitching to be helpful in telling me how to do basic stitches.  By the way, I'm fairly certain I do it incorrectly (I knot the ends of the thread together to form a sturdy anchor knot) but I don't particularly care due to my medium of felt.  OH, another thing: it took me several ornaments to develop the sort of skill allowing me to do straight lines and even(ish) stitches, so make sure you start with practice pieces you plan on keeping instead of giving away.     

stitching right along my disappearing lines

Step three: After completing the decorative stitches, I stitched the white felt star onto a slightly larger blue felt star.

Step four: If it's going to be an ornament, add the ribbon to hang it now (I forgot several times)! Also, I suggest stitching your initials and year onto the back piece of felt so both you and everyone else can remember who made it and when.

Step five: I stitched two blue stars together using a blanket stitch (google it).  When I got about 1-2" to closing it up, I stuffed some fiber fill in there to make it poofy and then finished blanket stitching it up. 

poof!

Step six: All done!  Stick it in a bag and it's ready to go. By the way, these also make great pin cushions. (I may or may have no used one of my early I-don't-know-how-to-embroider ornaments as a pin cushion for the rest of the project.)

All done!

I ended up making at least six designs just playing around with it (the candy cane has already been given away) and fell in love with the tree in the back.  I made a little forest of them, but since I forgot to add a ribbon, this is the only one I have left.  The two circular ornaments were some of the first ones (the absolute first one never even got stuffed, it was that bad!).  

felt Christmas ornaments

Christmas Stockings

I am still alive and working (yay! I got a part time job!) and making and baking things, but lately it's all been Christmas presents.  I would love to post those, but some of the people receiving them read this blog... so that's out til after Christmas. 

I did make my husband and I stockings. This project has been in the works for a long time- I got the faux fur from my mom's stash specifically to make these in June! Nearly a yard of red linen blend was found in remnants in September after the local college's sororities had used most of the bolt in the name of school spirit.

Yes, this is instagramed.  I have horrible lighting in my house.

It just took me til last week to do anything with the materials.

First up, I had to have a pattern for the stocking shape. If you own a stocking, you can just trace it and add about 1/4-1/2" all around for your seam allowance.  Since this is our first Christmas, we have very few decorations and the stockings we grew up with have stayed with our parents: hence the need for me to make some. A quick google image search turned several shapes you can download, trace, enlarge, whatever. The stocking won't fit anyone anyway, so as long as you're happy with it, it's fine. If it doesn't include the size of fur strip you'll need, then you'll need to make your own pattern piece. First, how thick of a cuff do you want?  Copy/trace that amount of inches from the top of the stocking onto another piece of paper, marking which end is the toe and heel end.  Fold the fur in half and place the toe end of your pattern piece against the fold, then cut (you'll get one long strip instead of two pieces. You could also do it with two pieces, but I did it with one).

The red stocking part is incredibly simple.  I serged my pieces because the fabric would fray like crazy otherwise.  The cuff was the hard part.  

Faux fur is incredibly weird to work with. It sheds more than my dog and that's saying something. Most tips I found suggested small cuts using scissors or craft knifes on the wrong side of the fur and not to cut through the fur itself. But how does one finish off a cut end? I couldn't find a tutorial, so I modified a technique I found to make a vintage faux fur collar. She has great pictures that explain each step.  

I cut one faux fur strip and one same sized lining (I suggest white cotton, but I'm not entirely sure a liner is even needed for a stocking.  However, the faux fur collar used one, so I did too). Tack the lining to the faux fur using an uneven, shallow basting stitch that just catches the fur backing (I basted on one and didn't on the other.  I highly suggest basting). Sew twill/hem tape to the edge of the right side of the fur using a zig zag stitch.  I had silver hem tape in my stash and didn't feel like purchasing white.  Festive!  And cheap!  Cut off any excess cuz this is going to get thick.

machine zig zag stitch to the edges of the fur.

Fold the binding tape over on one side so that the faux fur edge is contained and use a running stitch to tack it to the lining. The other end will be attached to the stocking proper.

Pin the right side of the fur to the WRONG side of the stocking (i.e. turn the stocking inside out) with the tape folded towards the top of the stocking. The zig zag stitch on the right side of the fur should be hidden by the tape folding over itself.  This is hard to see in the pictures, but the second one below this paragraph shows it slightly better than the first one.  After I pinned it together, I stitched the  fur together for that back seam in the first photo (taking care not to get any red stocking in the seam).  I feel like there was probably a better point/time to do that step, but I'm not really sure what it is since I knew that my paper pattern wasn't very exact. I straight stitched the fur to the stocking using the bottom of the zig zag as a guide.

RIGHT side of fur pinned to inside-out stocking with fur seamed

Hard to see, but I stitched a straight stitch using the bottom of the zig zag as my guide

Then I turned the stocking right side out and folded the faux fur cuff over. You can make a simple tube out of the red material about 1.5" wide and 6" long and stitch it to the stocking so you can hang it. My tube is still inside out because I found the fabric too thick to turn right side out without a super cool tool made for turning tubes right side out. 

Yay, all done!

There. All done. Now we have our very own stockings.

Weekend Hand Warmers

I'm not very good about finishing big knitting projects.  I've been working on a cranberry colored market tote made up of mitered squares for about three years.  Some projects are just hard for me to stick with, so I was super proud of myself for making these hand warmers. 

They're a tiny bit fuzzy cuz I've been wearing them for a year

Especially since to get the shaping right, I ended making a total of FOUR hand warmers.  Yup, I have two sitting with my yarn waiting to be frogged (rrrrrrriiiiiip it out).

Want some tips if you want to make your own?  (or just to see more pretty pictures??)

Pot Scrubbies and Plarn

After I switched to using Alternasponges, I needed something scratchy.  I'm a big fan of alternative materials like plarn.  Plarn is "yarn" made out of plastic grocery bags and you can make some cool baskets and purses with them like this.  I've played around with making crocheted bags and purses out of plarn, but due to how chunky plarn is and the size of hook that needs to be used, I haven't made much else.

I had just finished a bag of clementines, so I decided to see what I could make out of the nylon stretchy bag. I ended up making a great little scrubby that has served me well for months now.  Have you ever tried to clean up dough with the scratchy side of a sponge?  It doesn't come out.  This scrubby rinsed out after using it a few more times.  We primarily use cast iron and generally one doesn't use soap or sponges that might have soap in them because it breaks down the oil that seasons it.  This scrubby doesn't hold soap like cotton or sponges and is great with cast iron. 

the original scrubby

So I decided to make another one. 

This one didn't turn out so well.   Why?  Well...