Craft your way to a handmade Christmas with our ultimate collection of festive makes. Inside you'll find easy-to-follow tutorials showing you how to crochet, papercut, knit, bake and sew over 50 decorations, homewares and gifts.
There are few things in life that rival the feeling of joy you experience giving and receiving handmade gifts – and that’s because it’s not just about the end result. You can take great pleasure in making something by hand, enjoying the process as you go along. So take a seat and let me inspire you with this emporium of seasonal makes. There’s over 50 projects to craft (and a few treats to bake along the way!) to help you create your perfect handmade Christmas.…
HOW TO MAKE… A PARTRIDGE AND PEAR WREATH YOU WILL NEED Polystyrene wreath base, 17cm (6¾”) White felt, approx. four 23 x 23cm (9 x 9”) squares Green felt, approx. 15 x 15cm (6 x 6”) Pale green felt, approx. 6 x 9cm (2½ x 3½”) Pale brown felt, approx. 13 x 19cm (5 x 7½”) Small piece of brown felt Matching sewing threads Silver, gold, black, light brown and dark brown embroidery threads White nylon thread (or other thin, strong thread) Silver sequins (6mm wide) Mini silver sequins (3mm wide) Mini gold sequins (4mm wide) 1m (1yrd) white ribbon, 5-10mm wide Polyester stuffing Glue gun and glue Sewing needle and pins Embroidery scissors Sewing scissors Air erasable fabric marker (optional) We all know the house isn’t properly prepped for…
HOW TO MAKE… FELT MISTLETOE YOU WILL NEED Sheet of green felt Permanent marker or fabric pencil Pearl embellishments Hot glue or fabric glue Ribbon of your choice Iron-on fabric stabiliser (optional) How much would we love to have a house packed full of beautiful evergreens come Christmas time? We’d have halls decked with holly and ivy – and a bunch of mistletoe in every doorway, of course. But for now we’re happy to settle for this adorable felt version – it won’t wilt on us, and can be reused year after year. Pucker up, folks! 01 If you’d like your felt to be more structured, you can use iron-on fabric stabiliser on the wrong side of the felt. This will stiffen the fabric and prevent the finished decoration from…
HOW TO MAKE… A REINDEER DECORATION YOU WILL NEED Felt (in beige, light brown, dark brown, pink and blue) Embroidery thread ((in black, brown, turquoise, pink and gold) Small orange pom pom trim Turquoise yarn Toy stuffing Fabric glue Pins 01 Cut out the deer shapes using the templates on page 146. 02 Pin the head gusset to one body piece, matching the marked ends. Sew using whipstitch, starting at the nose, then repeat to add the second body piece to the other side of the head gusset. 03 Mark the leg darts on the underside. Fold one leg under, along the marked line, then sew along the leg dart, through the two layers to make the leg ‘stand’. Repeat for each deer leg. 04 Pin the underside to the…
HOW TO MAKE… CROCHET CHRISTMAS TREES YOU WILL NEED Anchor Pearl Cotton 5 thread, 100% cotton, 5g/21m per skein, one skein in 310 (Yarn D) For the pink tree: one skein each in 23 (Yarn A), 27 (Yarn B), 77 (Yarn C) For the coral tree: one skein each in 926 (Yarn A), 301 (Yarn B), 303 (Yarn C) For the yellow tree: one skein each in 2 (Yarn A), 8 (Yarn B), 11 (Yarn C) 1.25mm (US steel 10) crochet hook Soft toy filling Embellishments (we used star buttons, micro-mini buttons and seed beads) Stitch markers Tapestry needle TENSION Tension isn’t too important, but make sure your stitches are fairly tight to prevent any stuffing showing through ABBREVIATIONS (UK) st(s) stitch(es) ch chain dc double crochet RS right side…
HOW TO MAKE… A POM POM WREATH YOU WILL NEED Stylecraft Special DK yarn, 100% acrylic, 100g/295m per ball, one ball each in White (1001), Aspen (1422), Shrimp (1132), Lipstick (1246), Fiesta (1257), Sherbet (1034) and Sunshine (1114) Polystyrene wreath, 17cm (6¾”) Glue gun Pom pom makers in 3.5cm (1⅜”), 5.5cm (2¼”) and 7.5cm (3”) One sheet of A6 card Fork (for making small poms) Small Christmas ornaments Ribbons Up the kitsch factor this season with a set of festive decs that’ll have Santa simultaneously reaching for his sunglasses and praising your outstanding pom pom skills. If you’re usually fairly restrained when it comes to your décor choices, Christmas-time is a great excuse to indulge your extravagant side, and this straightforward project makes it easy to add an injection of…
