Christmas decorations hand sewn or machine Idea's

[squidipa]

I am looking for some not to complex home made patterns for decorations for the tree. To be made via hand sewn preferably sewing/embroidery machine style thing? any idea's what have you made or are going to make? and stuff for kids to make too?

thanks

EDIT and things that are cheap to make

[luna moth]

When I was 9, I cut out some Christmas colourd fabric into a bell shape, and sewed around the curved top, right sides together, turned it inside out. Stuffed with cellophane, then hung a little sleigh bell on some ribbon from the bottom, and stitched it up.

I thought I was the fricken bees knees when I'd done it, so I did more, adn gave them to all my relatives. My mum still has about 5 of them, and put them on her tree.

I have some pretty green fabric, if you wanted to do this with your kids - I'll post it up for you. Will lower costs

[Phteven]

Along the same lines as Snuggly's suggestion -
cut out pine tree shapes and stuff them (if you fold the fabric before cutting they are a perfect match)
gingerbread men - you can use brown fabric and embroider their eyes etc on

[squidipa]

oh some great ides's thank you

snugglybean ill pm you

[{sarah}]

Something that is fun for bigger kids (not sure how old yours are) is to make beaded baubles. You buy foam balls in various shapes & stick in pearl headed pins threaded with one or two beads or sequins. You then make a loop of ribbon & attach it on to hang from the tree. You can also spray paint or put glitter on the foam balls to for a different effect. We also made a Christmas tree one with a foam cone.

Then there's the good old pine cones sprayed with gold or silver paint.

We make lolly wreaths as well. You undo a wire coathanger & make it into a circle shape then thread on wrapped lollies, close up the coathanger the tie a ribbon near the hanging part. Depending on what theme you want to do, we have done minties (tradiditonal red, green & white), columbines (pink & blue) or fantales (but they tend to melt!). It usually takes around 1.5 - 2 packets to completely cover the coathanger.

One craft we used to love at school was pin pr.ick pictures. Get some basic images of the net, print them out & then get the kids to make pin pr.icks around the outline. You then hang them on the window & the sun shines through the holes. The best images are basic angels & Christmas trees.

Cut out shapes with cardboard & stick foil & glitter on them. Or cut out shapes with contact & put coloured celepane on it to make stained glass windows.

I have lots more if you want! Mine are mostly child friendly

[squidipa]

thanks sweet, dd is 11 and ds is 8 then the younger boys are 4 and 1 dd does do a bit of sewing so was hoping on some cheap felt projects? do you have any sarah h? lol

[{sarah}]

Do you all have Christmas stockings? She could make them out of felt & sew little cut out pictures on the front....

Another thing she can do, not decorations, but with the sewing machine, it to make Christmas cards. Lots of scrapbook pages use sewing onto the cardstock, so you can use that principle for Christmas cards. Maybe sew a border around the outside & then glue things on the front. Or even do a minature felt gingerbread man on the sewing machine & stick that on.

And this one for a door hanger -
Cut 10x5 rectangle out of heavy weight cardstock. Cut a 3 inch circle in the top.Do the same thing with felt but make allowance for sewing by adding a fraction. Cover your cardstock with the felt and stitch around the edges. Alternatively you could glue this felt on and cover the glued edges with ribbon, glitter paints or cord. Once your door hanger is covered you can embellish with ribbons and ornaments.

[squidipa]

thats cool sarah thanks for that sewing cardboard cool idea too

[melbel]

your older ones might like the paint/gel stuff you get that you can make peelable picture things to go on glass...they could do holly leaves etc on the window...you can then peel it off and store them for next year.....all your crafty stuff you can get at spot light...I love the sequin tree deco idea...i have some a friend made me 10 yrs ago that take pride of place on my tree every year...they are still going strong despite losing a few sequins over the years.

[Floweryfields]

You can make cute rustic angels with large wooden beads for the head and fabric dresses/wings add some curly hair and draw on faces.
I also used to make a few new cross stitch kit decorations each year, you can pick them up at craft stores for about $5ea.
I've also got some nice paper ones I made - intricately folded christmas wrapping paper - kinda oragami - can't remember where I learned to do them, or even how to now!

[squidipa]

i have started my felt decoration making bought some for felt today only 69 cents each. gave kids 2 dollars each. me and my 4 year old made a ginger bread man and lady and sewed them back to back would be happy to email ya a pic if interested

[Cherie]

I'm going to make some stuffed felt decorations ... tree, bell, star shaped. Just cut out 2 shapes blanket stitch around 3/4 of it with embroidery floss, stuff it, then embroider the last 1/4 to hold everything together. If I feel like getting really fancy, I might sew on some sequins or ribbons to jazz things up.

Oh, and not for the Christmas tree, but I'm going to make some bunting out of Christmas fabric .. .you know, those hanging decorations made up of triangles sewn onto a ribbon or piece of bias binding along the top.

[squidipa]

ohh cool cherie Ours turned out good they did