Hi all,
This is a quick roundup of my festive sewing for 2020.
Chain Garlands
Firstly, I was desperate to find a good way of using up the scrap felt from my wardrobe box project earlier this summer. I love chain garlands and was hoping to find a relatively low-fuss way of using the felt to create one of those. Using this Etsy blog post for inspiration, I figured out a good no-sew way of linking the chain. The advantage to this type of tab/notch method is that the chain can be disassembled and stored as flat strips during the rest of the year. Recipients can also pick and choose which colours go where and how big the chain is. I cut as many strips as possible from my remaining pieces and, unlike the Etsy post, cut a small slit at the end of each strip. My felt was 5mm thick and it was helpful to have fewer, less precise cuts to make compared to the Esty Post.
This is what it looks like when it's all linked up:
I ended up with about 270 strips/chain links and divided these across 3 bundles. I think each bundle has enough strips to make just under 5m of chain. I raided my stash for some fabrics to make 3x zip-up storage bags. We kept 1 bundle and gave 2 away.
Felt Diamond Bunting
After cutting all of the strips for the chain garland, there was the question of what to do with the remaining bits of felt which were too small for the chain links. I cut them all into tiny squares and then sorted everything by colour. I measured out some Prym cotton twill tape for 5m + an arm length at each end and then stitched straight along it, adding felt squares every ~10cm in a regular pattern. After reaching the end of a length of twill tape, I cut a new length and started again. This meant that as colours were running out, I could change the pattern of each length of bunting.
I ended up with about 43m of bunting (In 5m batches) and wound it all nicely onto some card. We kept the 3m end length, which was mostly green/yellow leftovers, and offered the rest as gifts.
Stocking Bunting
I had also been eyeing up my scraps bag and thought it would be a good idea to turn some of it into a bunting as well. I cut as many tiny stockings as possible and ended up with approx 60x tiny lined stockings. I split this into 2x 3m lengths of bunting to offer as gifts.
I'll admit, I was dubious that this bunting would work out well. The individual stockings look a little odd because they're not traditionally festive designs or colours - they're obviously scrap sewing. Luckily, the sheer quantity of tiny stockings on the tape is pretty cute and I think the overall effect is quite nice!
Shopping Bags
I saw this tutorial by Sewing Times for a tiny foldable shopping bag and thought it would be a cool use for some of my ripstop nylon. I ended up making 4x of these bags, and a variety of others in different designs to offer as gifts too.
It looks like I forgot to get photos of any of these designs...
Popcorn Pouches
I made a few popcorn pouches using this tutorial and spares of softshell fabric to offer as gifts as well. Honestly, I have no idea if these are useful but I am hoping they are. I used up some of my zipper tape on a roll for this project and had a lot of fun/difficulty in getting the zip pulls onto the tape.
It looks like I also forgot to get photos...
Stickers
You may have understood by now that a lot of these projects are basically compulsive sewing. There's nothing particularly challenging about cutting hundreds of tiny felt squares and sewing a long straight line. This autumn has been all about finding pick-me-ups wherever they can be found and I ended up gifting myself a little pick-me-up in the form of stickers (!) that could go on each of the wrapped gifts.
I bought these from Sticky Things Ltd and used a basic template in their online designer. They are so cute and I have plenty left over for future projects too.
I even stuck them on the boxes of baked gifts that were sent out. It jazzed up the Tupperware a little and meant I had somewhere two write what was inside.
They make me so happy!
K x
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