How to sew your own Christmas decorations?

How about a little more homemade Christmas cheer this year? There’s no need to rush to the stores to replenish your stock of tinsel and plastic decorations: just grab a few fabric coupons and get sewing!

Here are a few ideas for do-it-yourself ornaments to get Christmas off to a flying start.

Garlands for the tree or to hang in bedrooms and living rooms

Garlands are the ultimate festive decoration! They can be hung on the Christmas tree, but they can also be attached throughout the house or apartment. And garlands don’t have to be bought in a store – you can easily sew them yourself!

The first step is to choose a support for the garland: bias tape, ribbon or a long, thin rectangle of fabric, which you cut with serrated scissors.

Then it’s time to figure out what you want to hang. The simplest option is to cut shapes that recall the festive season: stars, fir trees, snowmen… Cut two similar shapes each time (with serrated scissors for a cleaner result), pin them back to back and then join them at 0.5 cm.

For extra hold, add iron-on batting to the inside of one side. Then simply sew them to your base.

If you need some inspiration, follow this Sew Dainty tutorial, complete with photos.

To sew a garland, you can use Christmas fabrics, which are very easy to find in stores right now, or use your fabric scraps. If you have some, you can also cut up old Christmas tablecloths that are no longer in use. It’s a great opportunity to give them new life!

You can also choose neutral fabrics, such as white sheets, and embroider a few small flakes with metallic embroidery thread to add a little sparkle. Felt can also be used to make decorations: beware, however, that fine felt is rather fragile, so you need to handle it with care.

Christmas lights to hang on the tree

To go with the garlands, it’s also very easy to sew a few decorations for the tree, to hang on the branches. This project can also be a great way to keep the kids busy on rainy weekends: they draw shapes and you bring them to life by cutting them out of fabric.

Christmas decorations can be made using the same technique as for the garland ornaments. Cut out two identical shapes with serrated scissors and sew them together inside out, after gluing an iron-on fleece to one side.

To make this decoration easy to hang, we wedge a tie (bias, cord, thread…) between the two layers of fabric at the top of the chosen shape.

3D decorations to hang around the house

You can also create 3D decorations using stuffing (such as wadding) or scraps of fabric or wool. Once again, simply cut two shapes of your choice (a bell, a star, a reindeer, red and white socks…) and assemble them.

This time, join them right sides together, leaving an opening and adding a thread for hanging. Give it a satisfying shape with stuffing, taking care to open the seams all over. Then close the opening with an invisible seam. And that’s it!

You can add small details depending on the project you’ve chosen: for example, a gold bias if you’re making a bell, a little red pompom to make your reindeer’s nose…

If you like the Swedish Christmas style, you can also sew felt decorations, playing with colors and textures. You can take inspiration from the free stork workshop pattern to make pretty Christmas horses.

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What about you? Do you usually sew Christmas decorations? Do you have any 100% handmade ornaments in your tree?