Festival of small projects – Day 14

1. Start with 3 strips that you cut (see above) and join them together, LENGTHWISE, with 1/4″ seam. Be sure to have a proper order of colors: RED-BEIGE/ROSY-WHITE (see photo). Press both seams towards the rosy (thin) strip – this will raise the strip a bit and look more like Santa’s face.
2. Fold the strip set back so that the seam between red and rosy fabric is on the bottom (see photo on the right) – now you have it ready for cutting!

1. First find the line on your ruler that has a 60 label on it. Pencil is pointing on the line on my ruler and close-up photo is showing it better.

3. To mark the line on the other side – without moving the ruler much from the previous position – find the OTHER 60 degree line – pencil is pointing to where it is on my ruler (photo1). Align that line with the TOP edge of your strip set (pencil pointing on photo 2), and bring the left edge of the ruler so that it is where your first marked line ended (photo 3). Mark the line along the left edge of the ruler (photo 4) and VOILA! Your 60 degree triangle is labeled!

1. Take the leftovers and open them up (photo 1 and 2). Tug a little and those few stitches will come apart – to separate two triangles (photo 3). Place the RED triangle on the bottom of the white one as shown on Photo 4. Join those two (on the wide side), with 1/4″ seam and you will have another little Santa (photo 5)! Well, this one will have a piece of the “face” fabric on the bottom, but it will be on the back of the ornament, so good enough! 🙂 White part of it is perfect if you want to write a message on it!

Now to finish the ornament or make a gift card holder:

       – Cut a strip of white batting (it could be white fleece or white felt), about 5″ wide and place your Santa on it as shown (photo A). All you need to do is cut the piece of batting about 1/4″ bigger (on all sides) than the ornament! To do this, I placed my ruler so that first 1/4″ line is along the edge of the Santa and cut the batting with my pinking blade (photos B and C).

      – First put the Santa BACK  piece (one you made above from leftovers) on one side of the batting and stitch it in place (I used just a plain straight stitch, close to the edges, since it will be covered with decorative stitch later. Alternatively, you can just baste (or glue) it in place and wait for the stitching from the front.

      – Place Santa to the front of the batting and stitch it in place – I used some nice decorative stitch on my machine – fun!
      – Draw two little eyes and some eye-brows with permanent marker, stitch a little strip of same white batting for the mustache and stitch a piece of ribbon for hanging together with a pompom or decorative button and VOILA – your little Santa ornament is done!

If you are making a gift card holder:

– First, for this you will need TWO pieces of batting cut the same way as above (if you are cutting with pinking blade, it is the best to cut them BOTH in the same time (two layers of batting), since then wavy lines will match!)
– Place each Santa piece (front and back one) on their own piece of batting and stitch them (use decorative stitching, it is so much fun!)
– Decorate your Santa’s face same as above
– Place front and back together (so that two battings are next to each other) and stitch them together but ONLY from the point shown by RED arrow, along the “beard” part to the BLUE arrow. I used straight stitch that was going right along the side of my decorative stitching and it looks great (you can also use invisible thread). Make sure not to catch the mustache in stitching (ouch! poor Santa… 🙂  )
– Once two pieces are together, stitch a ribbon on the top by stitching one end to the front and one end to the back piece and – TA-DAH!! Your Santa gift card holder is done!!

Of course you can decorate your Santa in many different ways and have lots of fun! It is big enough that you can tuck in some candy or other small goodies, besides the gift card, or just fill it up with candy for a sweet little gift! The white part on the back of the Santa is great for writing a message to go with your gift – I am sure anyone getting a gift card or candy or … whatever, in such a cute holder will be twice as delighted!

Have a wonderful Wednesday,

Marija