As I mentioned in my last post, Goodbye to Simple Living Toowoomba for 2015, one of the three demonstrations held during the morning was about how to make a really easy felt Christmas decoration which would look really good on a Christmas tree. As I haven't put up our Christmas tree as yet, I took a photo of my felt star on the pecan nut tree instead :-) This would be an easy project for children to do I would imagine.
Firstly you need a couple of different coloured pieces of felt...I just used scraps left over from the Quiet Book I made for my granddaughters. You also need some ribbon to hang up the decoration, a template, a needle, thread and scissors or pinking shears.
You can find plenty of Christmas templates on this Pinterest page Christmas Templates. Choose your template and then cut it out on paper or card. I like to use card and then trace around it as I am straight line challenged. Firstly cut your template out on one piece of felt.
Then pin this shape onto the other sheet of felt.
You will want to sew in your hanging ribbon so I pinned that as well. I didn't make this at the meeting on Saturday but I am presuming the ladies pinned theirs. I always have to pin when I am sewing. :-)
Then start sewing your felt star, or whatever template you are using, onto the felt underneath. Now I just sewed this roughly for the purpose of this demo but if you want to sew yours really neatly then read the tutorial called How to backstitch in small designs that Jenny of Elefantz very kindly shares on her blog. Hopefully she never looks at my blog and sees my sewing otherwise she would have a few sleepless nights I think. LOL!
Once you have sewn right around your decoration then cut around the star leaving 1/4 inch or so as a contrasting trim. I used my new rounded pinking shears that I bought from Spotlight with gift cards I received for my birthday.
I didn't even know they existed until I was looking in the scissor department for pinking shears.
So there you have it...a quick and easy to make Christmas decoration.
At our break-up on Saturday Margaret showed me a fantastic YouTube video of dancers from yesteryear like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and others in which excerpts of their dance routines had been set to a modern day song which I have never heard before to be honest and I have no idea what they are singing anyway as I can't understand the words but it is a lot of fun to watch. If you are of a 'certain age' you will love this video.
I hope my readers from SE Qld didn't sustain any damage in the recent storms as I saw on the news tonight that roofs were torn off houses not far from Toowoomba last night. We had rain, thunder, lightning and some small hail but none the size of tennis balls like Stanthorpe.
Stay safe everyone!
Hi Chel, hope you have watched the dance video again, it is so much fun and very clever.
ReplyDeleteA friend and I were out at Goombungee this morning and on the way we saw the damage at Charlton and Gowrie mountain, a big road sign was twisted back on itself and there were heaps of big limbs ripped off gum trees and some old trees were just ripped out of the ground, I think it would have been soooo terrifying to witness that storm go through.
Thanks for the demo on the felt decorations, I'm sure there will be plenty who would like to give them a try as they are so quick and easy.
I saw that on the news, Margaret. Not all that far from here either.
DeleteCute decoration! I too always pin when I sew, my grandmother could just hold it all together but I learned early on that I was not gifted in the same way! ;)
ReplyDeleteYes Kathy, I too must pin as I sew. I am not sure how people sew without pinning :-)
DeleteCool and easy ornament.
ReplyDeleteI like quick and simple ornaments and this one just fits the bill.
DeleteI'm hoping to do your lace bunting from a previous post this Xmas......getting organised.
ReplyDeletePhil, it is so easy to do and the result is so impressive.
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