Sew It All Up For Christmas At Home

Introduction

It’s sometimes difficult to believe that Christmas is once again upon us. For those of us who love to sew, it’s always a treat to make Christmas gifts and holiday decorations for the house.

Even the time is short it’s not too late to make some of the most adorable and functional Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s decorations and home accents to spruce up the house.

Christmas

For many, Christmas is the most festive holiday of all. Christmas decorations are everywhere you look… inside and outside the home. Stores, street corners and yards are all aglitter with lights and symbols of the season… some religious… some not… some whimsical and some traditional.

It doesn’t matter whether you prefer the traditional, religious or playful you still have time to make lots of memorable Christmas decorations for your home.

Stockings

It’s very easy to go out and buy Christmas stockings for the entire family, but wouldn’t it be nice to hang stockings that truly reflect the personalities of the people in your house? By making your own Christmas stockings, you can customize each one.

Who said Christmas stockings absolutely must be red velvet with white borders at the top. Perhaps you could make a stocking for your pre-teen using the blankey that was their favorite when they were just a toddler; or use a sweatshirt or sweater that they have outgrown.

Why not use that old flannel shirt with the worn out elbows and frayed collar to make a stocking for the man of the house? Maybe you have a favorite old chenille bathrobe that has seen better days.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could save it from the trash heap and give it a new lease on life by refashioning it into a Christmas stocking?

You can make your own Christmas stocking pattern, purchase a pattern at your favorite fabric store or download a customizable pattern from one of the many online sources.

Embellish your stockings by embroidering each person’s name on it, add appliqués, buttons, decorative stones, shells or anything else that has special meaning to the person for whom you are making each Christmas stocking.

The really good thing about Christmas stockings is that you can make them almost any size you want.

Tableware

Placemats, napkins, table runners and tablecloths are so easy to make decorating the dining room could be a project for the little ones.

Placemats

Take the children to the fabric store and allow them to select the fabric for their own Christmas placemats.

The final result may not be what you had in mind, but it’s a great way to involve the children in decorating the house for the holiday. If you want to keep things within a certain color scheme, narrow the children’s choices to your color palate.

After they’ve made their placemat selections, pick complementary fabrics for your table runner and napkins. You can even make your own napkin rings if you are so inclined.

Placemats can be any shape you want… square… rectangle… even round. If you are really adventurous, you can let the children decide what shape they want their placements to be.

Depending upon how many children you have, this could really turn into a really eclectic looking Christmas table. Of course, if you allowed them pick their placemat fabric, you could take the reigns and decide upon the shape yourself.

When it comes to size, the only rule of thumb is that your placemat be large enough to accommodate a plate and preferably silverware. My personal preference is that my placemats are large enough to hold a glass or cup and saucer as well.

To make a placemat, simply cut two pieces of your placemat fabric and one piece of quilt batting the desired shape and size plus.

Sew one piece of the fabric to the quilt batting and topstitch, freehand quilt or use your favorite quilting stitch to embellish the top of your placemat.

Sew the remaining piece of fabric to the back of the placemat and add bias tape to all four sides. If you do not want to make your own bias strips or use packaged bias tape, you can finish your placemats by serging the edges or using an extra wide satin stitch on all four sides.

Table runners

Table runners are possibly the easiest of all to make. Measure the length of your dining room table and add 18 to 24 inches.

Cut your fabric according to the length measurement and no more than 24 inches wide. Hem the lengthwise edges and add decorative trim of your choice to the ends.

Voila. Your table runner is finished. This is an excellent project for the little one who is learning to sew.

You also have the option of making a more substantial table runner by using the same technique described for making placemats above.

By adding quilt batting, an extra layer of fabric on the underside and freehand or quilting stitches, your plain, ordinary table runner takes on a whole new personality.

Napkins

If the table runner isn’t easy enough, your napkins certainly must be. Cut squares between 14 and 18 inches on each side. Hem the edges on your sewing machine or serger. Your napkins are all done.

Tablecloths

Most fabric stores carry an assortment of Christmas fabric this time of year. The challenge is to find Christmas fabric that is wide enough to make a tablecloth without finding yourself putting a seam somewhere on top of your dining room table.

A tablecloth with a seam on top of your table is unsightly, even if you cover it with ribbon, lace or some other accent piece. Seamed tablecloths are not functional if the seam is not properly placed.

Several years ago, I found some adorable fabric with holly, red bows and gold horns that I wanted to use for a tablecloth.

The fabric, however, was only 45 inches wide and my table was about the same width. That fabric barely covered the top of my table, but I was determined to use it as a tablecloth, not a runner with matching placemats.

What I decided to do was to give my dining room the illusion of being a huge Christmas present. I purchased some white fabric, cut it in half lengthwise, sewed it to each side of my holly fabric, added some bright red fabric accents, and loosely gathered the white fabric in two places on each side.

The end result… a tablecloth that not only resembles a Christmas gift, after many years, it continues to grab my guests’ attention and gets me lots and lots of compliments.

To top it off, I have several different Christmas themed centerpieces and alternate between an angel pillar candle, a ceramic cookie jar fashioned to look like Santa’s toy sack, and a combination of sparkly red and golden candles, set in a nest of silk poinsettias and holly. Each Christmas, I use the same tablecloth with a different centerpiece.

Pillows and cushions

Using Christmas themed fabric to make customized pillow covers and cushions is a great way to add some holiday pizzazz to your home without going a lot of extra work.

Christmas themed covers for the throw pillows on your upholstered furniture … such as sofas, loveseats and chairs are a wonderful way to ‘Christmas up the place’ without moving furniture around and giving yourself a lot of unnecessary headaches of rearranging your rooms and trying to figure out where to put everything.

Embellish your pillow covers with gold thread, bows, and any Christmas or New Year’s accents that tickle your fancy.

Ornaments

Handmade Christmas tree ornaments are always a big hit with the family. Making a tree ornament can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.

All it takes is a little bit of fabric, some ribbon or metallic cord, some quilt batting or fiber fill and your vivid imagination. You can also embellish your handmade ornaments with rhinestones, crystals or buttons.

Miscellaneous accents for the home

There is an almost infinite number of ideas for home décor accents that say Merry Christmas. If you don’t have time to go to your local fabric store and peruse through the mountain of pattern catalogs, the internet is a great source for Christmas home décor sewing and free patterns.

Some of my favorite sources are:

• All Free Sewing

This site has tons of great sewing projects all year round. All of their patterns are downloadable and as the name suggests… free of charge.

• All Crafts

This All Crafts site not only offers Christmas sewing projects for the home, you can also find ideas for gifts and Christmas craft projects for children of all ages.

• Fave Crafts

There are lots and lots of Christmas home décor ideas on this site. This Christmas, I need to replace my tree skirt and have been toying with the notion of making one that is like everyone else’s Christmas tree skirt… round with a lace border and a slit to fit around the tree.

However, I particularly like the idea for the tree skirts here. I am not a big machine quilting fan. Nor do I think I’ll be making my tree skirt with Santa’s face on it, I do, however, think I’ll make my new tree skirt using this shape rather than round as I has originally planned.

Practically every tree skirt I’ve ever seen – and definitely every tree skirt I’ve ever had – has been round. It’s time for a change, don’t you think?

I am a big fan of first checking the fabric stash for seldom used items before heading out to the fabric store. I have some bright green fleece that would be great under my tree.

I even found some poinsettia lace left over from a Christmas dress I made for my granddaughter when she was a baby.

I don’t think it’s enough to go around the circumference of the skirt, but I can certainly use it to accent my skirt. Whether I ultimately decide to make my tree skirt round or square, I’m sure it will be beautiful.

Holidays at My House

I admit that since my sewing passion is fashion and accessories with only a few home décor accents thrown in, my holiday sewing for the house is minimal.

Most of my Christmas decorations are outdoors. Since I live in a warm climate, putting lights all around the house is fun, not the chore that it can be in places that experience cold weather during the Christmas season.

When it comes to the inside, I use a lot of craft store finds, a purchased nativity scene and lots and lots of candles. The exception, however, is my dining room.

If you are anything like me, you will find yourself changing your dining room holiday décor at least once during the Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s season.

I actually change mine a minimum of two times and sometimes even three or four times between the day I put up my Christmas decorations and New Year’s Day.

For Christmas day, I use the Christmas tablecloth described above. After a full day of steady use from breakfast through dinner and desserts, it is definitely ready for the laundry. So it gets washed, dried and put away for another year.

December 26th is the first day of Kwanzaa. I observe the tradition by adorning my dining room table with a piece of African tie dyed fabric and matching napkins held in hand carved wooden elephant napkin rings, and use with a basket filled with fruit as a centerpiece.

The African fabric isn’t even wide enough to cover the table top. I considered doing the same thing with this fabric that I did with the Christmas tablecloth fabric, but instead opted for a different approach.

I simply hemmed the ends and put a purchased Egyptian cotton tablecloth underneath, giving my dining room table greater dimension.

Conclusion

Whether you only use a few home décor accents to commemorate the Christmas holidays or go all out, the pleasure of knowing that your Christmas home accents are designed specifically for your home makes all the difference in the world.

As busy as we are with Christmas preparations, it’s sometimes a challenge to find time to actually sit down and make your own Christmas home décor items.

The great thing about sewing your own Christmas home décor is you don’t have to worry about making a new set every single year.

If you want to add a lot of handmade Christmas items to your home, you can start with one room and gradually add other Christmas accents each year until you have a house full of customized one of a kind Christmas home décor.