You and Your Children Can Make This Together
It’s time to start thinking Christmas crafts! Have you noticed craft and fabric store have their read and green fabrics out with the adorable designs? Here’s a quick and easy craft that is as versatile as your vocabulary!
This is a fun and easy Christmas decoration to make, and it’s one for the kids too! They can help cut, stitch and stuff with a little help from Mom. The words make a great gift for relatives, hostess gifts, teachers, anyone! The big letters can be sewn to hang up and down or across.
Spell out any festive word you like. Noel, Peace, Joy, Merry, or Happy come to mind. Can you think of others? Sometimes I’ll make one letter red, then the next white. Or make them reversible with a different color on either side. The original directions I found called for felt which works great since it’s edges. If you prefer you can use one of the cheerful Christmas fabrics. In that case, you would stitch right sides together, then turn right side out, press, and stuff. Both turn out really cute, and will last for many Christmases.
Get another color fabric and make two of them. You’ll have plenty of filling for two.
And of course, Christmas isn’t the only occasion you might want a craft like this. How about LOVE for Valentine’s day, with some red hearts stitched to go with it? Or for Easter you could spell He’s Risen, or Happy Easter. Joy is one that suits most any holiday. Halloween BOO’s and Trick or Treat would look adorable on your front door as kids come calling. And with children, they would enjoy seeing their own names hanging in their rooms, in bright and varying colors.
There is no limit with your imagination. Have fun!
Time required: 2 to 3 hours Difficulty: easy
What You Will Need
Cost: $5 to $8
Materials:
- 1/2 yard felt, green, red, or white
- Thread to match if using sewing machine
- Embroidery thread if by hand
- 1 bag of pillow stuffing
Tools:
- scissors
Instructions
1. Cut a paper pattern for the letters
On plain paper draw out the letters of the word you wish to make. You can shape them as round or straight as you like and make them any size. Mine were 12 inches high, with rounded sides.
Once you have the drawing as you like it, cut the pattern out. (If it is a symmetrical letter, such as H, O, M, etc., fold the paper in half to cut. That way both halves will be the same).
2. Double Them
Fold the felt so it is doubled. Pin the pattern to doubled fabric, then cut the letters out. Using double letters will assure the pieces sew together evenly. For HoHoHo, you would need 6 H’s and 6 O’s. If you are doing a word such as NOEL, you would need 2 of each letter.
You can do BOO! for Halloween or LOVE for Valentine’s Day. Names are cute too.
3. Stitch and Stuff
Now it’s time to stitch the letters together. You can machine stitch them as I did here, but if you have children who would like to help, or if you want a more old fashioned look, hand stitch the two pieces together using embroidery thread, in 1/4 to 1/2 long stitches.
Leave a three inch opening unstitched so you can stuff each letter to the desired thickness. Then stitch the letter closed.
4. Stitch Letters Together
Hand stitch to attach one letter to the other. You can attach them horizontally or vertically as pictured here.
I like to hang them different ways each year, so I will stitch them together lightly.
That way I can remove the stitching if I want to hang them sideways next time. On the very top letter, stitch two loops for hanging.
5. Or Side by Side
As you can see, the options for hanging them are many. If you like you can even do one H and one O together to hang three sets separated. It’s a quick craft that you can have fun with, using several colors and even sizes if you want. Enjoy!
Be sure to try BOO for Halloween and LOVE for Valentine’s Day. They are large and pouffy, and can fit every occasion.
Shopping List
Springs Creative Felt Red Cut Fabric, 2-Yard
If you don’t have a fabric store, you can get it here online in varying sizes. Either felt in 12 inch squares or by the yard will work. And of course you can get any color you would like. The red felt here is 72 inches wide. With two yards you will have a 72″x 72″ square.
Emerald Green Acrylic Craft Felt – 72″ x 1 yd x 1/16″
Green Felt is handy for more than this project. It’s available in different shades too, if you prefer a deeper green. I used some to cover a thin board I use for jigsaw puzzles too.
Mountain Mist Fiberloft Polyester Stuffing, 3 Pounds
This bag will make several projects since you don’t stuff the letters full. Easy to pull apart and work with.
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