Saturday, November 20, 2010

Feelings on Felt and a simple Christmas Craft

It just feels good to work with felt, embroidery floss and a little stuffing (preferably cotton). I've always felt that way.

One of the first first holiday sewing projects I did (that my mom still occasionally drags out) was a Christmas wall hanging of iconic (sort of) Christmas images cut from felt, sewn onto a burlap rectangle and stuffed oddly with cotton (balls, I believe).

I often say that have the "itch to stitch," an expression that never ceases to crack my husband up for some reason, and love to do so with felt much of the time. There's something so freeing about edges that don't unravel and childlike in the use of it to create things.

My biggest problem is, like with so many crafts I love, settling in on one idea and just sitting down and making. Or, as Alison Lee of Craftcast might put it...my biggest problem is getting my butt in the chair.

The nice thing about the holidays is that they offer you inspiration with a lot of traditional themes, images and ideas to get you started. I love traditional Christmas icons and classic (vintage or vintage-inspired retro designs, graphics, etc.). AND, since it's traditional, it's okay if you don't end up with a fantastically original masterpiece every time you take needle and thread (or paint brush and paint or yarn and hook...) in hand.

Rather than fret about what to make, I just sat my butt down in the chair. Then, using a basic template, I cut out a felt gingerbread man that I embellished in a simple, straight-forward way. It was just about hand-making something and enjoying the process. Viola! My boring, cute hand-sewn gingerbread dude.

Gingerbread man (6887)

Maybe it'll be enough to get my creative juices flowing or maybe he'll just inspire me to bake some gingerbread. Either way, it's a start at something.

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