BERNINA Corporate Blog -Dear community,
in this blog post you can find easy instructions for sewing and crafting Christmas pendants out of fabric remnants.
Welcome to the 8th window of this year’s advent calendar! Today we will be sewing and crafting Christmas pendants out of fabric remnants. I have something for both jersey and woven materials.
Since the BERNINA advent calendar is characterized by sustainability, it is not my goal to create the most magnificent, perfect decoration. I am taking a nice break from the pre-Christmas rat race today! Instead, I would like to show you which crafting materials and remnants from your sewing room you can use for Christmas decorations. For me, ideas only start coming when I’m in the middle of working, which is why today there is neither a list of materials nor an exact pattern.
A peek inside my box of odds and ends
- Fabric remnants, some batting
- Beads
- Thread
You can absolutely work with that!
The Plan
- Christmas tree decorations made out of jersey noodles
- Pendants and gift tags in the shape of stars (also cute in the shape of a Christmas tree, heart, or gingerbread man)
Making the Star Pendant
First up: the woven fabric remnants. Since they are sometimes ironed with batting (volume fleece), they are perfect for providing the pendant with a little volume. Instead of sewing both fabric remnants on each other right side to right side, I lay the left sides on top of one another and sew them together with a straight stitch. I have simply used a wooden star as a model.
Maybe you have a large cookie cutter at home? Or maybe you are able to draw your dream design on the material by hand? As a last resort, you can open up the cupboard and grab a coffee cup. Trace around it one time, add a small corner, and your pendant already looks like a decorative glass ball. If the shape gets lost somewhere along the way, no worries! You just have a head start on your pendant for Easter… 😉
I find this type of pendant particularly cute because of its shabby look. So they do not need to be too accurate. It may be best to go around the shape several times and then test which one you like better: do you prefer cut it out with pinking shears or along the edge with normal shears?
I found a pair of individual buttons and will decorate my star with them. I think they are adorable when they are simply placed on the decorated Christmas table. If you sew in a small string, you will have made a small Christmas tree ornament – this is what I had actually planned. I can very well picture this little star adorning a gift wrapped in newspaper. Simply wrap the gift and the star with gift ribbon or woven band and then knot it. You do not need an extra pendant because the star will still hang very nicely because of the serrated form.
Making the Jersey Noodle Tree Pendant
I have made these tree pendants plenty of times, so I save every piece of jersey fabric remnants I have throughout the year. Three centimeters is a perfect width, but I am flexible when it comes to the length. Simply fold the jersey strips beforehand and see how wide it can be underneath so that there is enough material on top for folding.
If you do not have any wooden beads in your supplies, you can borrow a few white iron-on beads from your kids to use as spacers. Or how about acorns with holes? Peanuts out of the shell would work well too! Because it is tedious to get the thick but decorative baker’s twine through the jersey fabric, I take normal thread for threading and sew the closures out of thick thread at the beginning and end. In the past, I have worked completely with baker’s twine, so that would also work.
And now, how does it look? Are you keeping your pendants for your own Christmas tree or are you using them to spruce up your gifts for loved ones?
In any case, I wish you all a tranquil Christmas season and lots of sustainable inspiration with the upcoming advent calendar windows.
Very pretty!
Jan