Oh no, it's that time of year again. Have you seen places are already counting down to Christmas, the shelves are starting to fill with all of our festive favorites and if you are organised, you might already have started some of the shopping. But as a crafter or sewist, do you feel even more pressure to come up with ideas for gifts and seasonal decorations too?
If you get organised soon enough, time need not be the major pressure, but I find that coming up with ideas can be. Especially for the smaller, quicker projects. So to get me in the holiday spirit and give me some much needed Christmas inspiration when its still sunny outside, I signed up for the Fab Felt Holiday Crafts class. It's so much fun! An oldie but goodie.
As usual, I asked Craftsy to give the So Sew Easy readers a nice discount on this class in return for my review, so you can enjoy this one for 33% off – just $9.99.
Discount exclusive to So Sew Easy readers. If you like the sound of this class and want to find out more, please use this link to claim your 33% off the class price - just $9.99.
Here's my over view of the class.
Fab Felt Holiday Crafts with Betz White
Here are the projects covered in the class:
- Felt tree ornaments – 4 different types of origami inspired ornaments
- Penguin wine sleeve
- Poinsettia brooch or gift topper
- Felt gingerbread houses
- Mini Christmas trees
- Multi-colored festive garland
- Felted wool slippers
A word about materials. Betz teaches us how we can make our own high quality felt from thrifted sweaters and she uses this felt in some of her projects, namely the wool slippers and the mini Christmas trees. I've been here in Cayman over 7 years now and can't think I have ever seen anyone once wear a sweater, so my visit to the thrift store turned up not a single one. But the rest of the projects are made in regular felt you would find at the fabric or craft store.
Lesson 2 – fab felt ornaments
Lesson 3 – character wine sleeve
I am loving this penguin idea for a wine sleeve. My suggestion would be to add a bottom to the sleeve, because I'm worried the bottle might fall out the bottom but its a really nice way to add a bottle to a gift basket or to give to your host for dinner, or to add some festive cheer to your drinks at home.
The course materials also include the pattern and instructions on how to make this Santa bottle cover too.
Lesson 4 – Poinsettia Brooch
This might be one of my favorites in the class. This poinsettia could be used in lots of ways; table decorations, tree decorations, a big brooch on a thick winter coat, embellishment for a bag, gift topper etc. You can make it just in felt or create some of the petals double sided by bonding the felt to a festive fabric. Very nice idea.
Lesson 5 – Felted Wool Slippers
Created using old sweaters turned into felt, if you live somewhere cold, or where wearing silly Christmas sweaters is a tradition in your family, then you'll probably love these wool slippers to make. There's a pattern included for the plain ones, as well as this cute reindeer slipper idea for kids (or big kids).
Lesson 6 – fab felt gingerbread house
This house is absolutely adorable! So much beautiful detail really set this far, far above other examples I've seen. Again, the full pattern is included and Betz shows us step by step how to make it. It is a bit more involved and would take more time than some of the other quick projects, but this is something you could get out year after year. Why not make a whole matching village, each slightly different?
Lesson 7 – Felty Fir Trees
My absolute favorites from the class. A basic cone shape is constructed (there are 2 sizes) and then felted sweater ribbing is snipped and wound around before decorating with felt balls or jingle bells. I love this look SO much. Shame I can't get any sweaters, but it might also be worth giving this a try with regular craft felt. A light spray of glitter over the top makes it sparkle for your mantle display.
Lesson 8 – Scrappy Garland
So now you've made all the other projects, what do you do with all the small pieces of felt left over? Time to make a scrappy garland! Made with little bells, purchased felt balls, simple small squares and easy felt pom poms, it's another fab felt holiday decoration for your home or your tree. I was sorely tempted to make this one, but then I looked at the price of felt balls – wow, they're pretty expensive, especially in the larger sizes. But if you want something special, something handmade and that can stay in the family for years, then its worth it. Who do I know who can smuggle me a suitcase of felt balls to the Cayman Islands?
I think I'll make the felt ornaments from the earlier lesson and string those together for a garland with my scrappy pieces.
In summary
This class is lots of fun and can give you lots of creative ideas for the holiday season. Plenty of the projects are suitable for doing with the children, and all of them will create finished projects that can be cherished for years to come and used over and over again. Except maybe the felted slippers, I don't expect they'll last for years!
The projects use a combination of sewing and gluing and none of them are difficult. The felt gingerbread house will probably be the one that takes the most time to make because of cutting the shapes but the tip she gives for using freezer paper even makes that quick and easy too.
With the exclusive discount making this class just $9.99 – its a bargain!
Discount exclusive to So Sew Easy readers. If you like the sound of this class and want to find out more, please use this link to claim your 33% off the class price - just $9.99.