It's been a long time since I've done a free pattern during the holidays! This year I have been so busy that my Christmas celebrating was started late, but I was eager to do at least one Christmas craft once I had the chance - so I stitched up this design idea just in time for the holidays.
I love vintage ornaments, fabric, and English Paper Piecing appliqué - so I combined all of those with this fun fast potholder that is so easy to adapt and customize.
I'll walk you through the steps for how I made mine.
I started with a rough 10" square of fabric for the top, fabric for the backing, and 2 slightly larger pieces of cotton quilt batting (I didn't think one was thick enough). It's a great way to use up quilt batting leftovers, by the way.
Layer the pieces of fabric on each side of the quilt batting to make a sandwich.
Now it needs quilted. I think it would look fun in diamonds, or you could go super basic and do straight lines. But I decided to do snowflakes on a string, since it's a holiday design.
You could do this with a free motion foot, but if that's not your thing, you can do it with a walking foot too. You can totally measure it and mark where you want each line and each snowflake. I decided to just eyeball it, since I was fine with some differences and irregularities. Not being a perfectionist.
Starting off the edge, stitch a straight line an inch or so into the fabric, then stop.
Turn the fabric a few degrees and reverse your walking foot. Stitch a few stitches (you can count them if you want perfectly uniform snowflakes, or just go with different sizes - kind of like real snowflakes).
Stitch forward over those few stitches and several more on the other side, to make the first arm of an X.
Stitch back into the center so your needle is back on the original line; turn again to make the second arm of the X and repeat the forward and back stitches.
Now turn your fabric and stitch at right angles to the original line, ending in the center.
Rotate the fabric back to the original position and stitch the string again. You can make these snowflakes as far apart or as close as you wish.
When you start the next line, stagger the snowflakes so the ones on this line alternate between the ones of the previous line. I made my lines about 1 inch apart.
Repeat until the fabric is all quilted.
Then trim it down to size. I trimmed mine to 7 1/2 inches.
Now figure out what EPP shapes you want to use for your ornaments, and how to place them. I originally planned to use all round ones, but I realized some of my other papers would also work for ornaments, so I ended up using 2 1" circles, 1 2" orange peel, and 1 1" square. And picked some of my favorite fabrics from my favorite new Christmas line by Riley Blake, Santa Claus Lane.
You can use the traditional card method, if you're familiar with English Paper Piecing. I like to use fusible leave-in papers from Hugs 'n' Kisses (also very beginner friendly), so that's what I'm using here.
To use these, you fuse them to the wrong side of the fabric. I did some careful placement to make sure I had a tree and the Santa centered.
Cut out the shapes, leaving about a 1/4" edge.
Then turn the edge under and glue them. I used just a regular craft washable glue stick.
To do the circles, you want to do a small portion of the edge at a time, and press the edges straight in to avoid puckering.
Once all the shapes are glued, they are ready to appliqué. Arrange them how you want the finished product to be, and secure with a few drops of fabric glue.
You can appliqué by hand or machine. I did mine with the blind hem foot on my machine. You want to make your stitches small, and use thread that matches your background fabric - not the appliqué.
You also want to make sure to catch all the corners and tips with a left swing of the needle.
After all the shapes are appliquéd, embroider the strings. I wanted to use gold metallic embroidery floss and didn't have any, so I ended up using some vintage rayon embroidery floss that had some sheen to it.
I only embroidered through the top layer so the back looks tidier. I also added a few lazy daisy stitches at the top of each ornament - this could easily be omitted if preferred.
Now you can finish the edge with your preferred method. I chose to use regular double fold binding out of my sewing stash. If you choose to do this, unfold it completely and align the raw edges, then stitch in the crease line.
Instead of hand stitching the binding down invisibly, I used green embroidery floss to do big stitch quilting to secure the binding and help tie in the colors.
You could call it done now - I wanted to use mine for display rather than a pot holder, so I added a bow and loop at the top for a decorative hanger.
All finished! A quick Christmas craft that would be a perfect addition to your kitchen, or a gift. It's fun to make, too.
I love the pops of pink and aqua that gives the fabric a more retro feel.
The striped orange peel ornament is hands down my favorite!
(Incidentally let us take a moment to appreciate some of my favorite vintage glass ornaments which inspired this craft!)
The appliqué ornaments would also be fun to decorate before stitching in place - maybe put a strand of tiny rickrack across one of the round ones, or embroider something.
I hope if you try making one you enjoy it, and share the finished project. It's so fun to see all the creative different varieties people come up with!
Now I'm off to hang it in my retro kitchen and cross another Christmas cookie off my baking list!
