Easy Christmas Sewing Projects

I limited myself to just a few Christmas projects this year, and thankfully I was able to get them all finished! With the exception of some pants that I’m going to make for my mom, but she’ll be here on Christmas, and she is bringing the fabric with her.

I stuck with very simple things, and I think they all turned out really nice. If you have some fabric (or scraps!) and some down time over the weekend, these can be whipped up in a day if you need to make some last-minute gifts.

Scandinavian Woven Stars

I’ve had so many beautiful scraps pilling up for years, and I felt like they were pieces of art that I couldn’t throw away. They work well as bag linings, but I wanted them to be more visible. Then I saw a Scandinavian woven star tutorial that @rosiecard posted, and I knew exactly what to do with them!

We’ve been in a never-ending covid vortex (somehow, I’m the only one that hasn’t caught it), and I was feeling so tired and creativity starved. These were nice because I didn’t have to sew anything, and it was fun to see how many of my fabrics actually coordinate really well together!

I think I’ll add a string to them so they can be Christmas ornaments and give a few away to friends and family. One friend said that they would be cute strung up like bunting too! Either way, they are a relatively easy craft that only take about 15 minutes (each), and they make a great gift or decoration.

My favorite one is the second to the top in the middle (black, pink, and tan). Which one is your favorite?

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Tote Bag with Inside Zipper Pocket

My sister saw all of the totes that I made over the summer, and when I asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she had very specific instructions (which I appreciate so that I don’t have to guess!) She wanted a 15×15″ tote that was 3″ wide, had a zipper pocket inside that was 4×6″ and a 7×7″ pocket on the outside.

I started by overwhelming her with a bunch of links of where I could buy fabric. My sister is 10 years younger than me, and she has a fun sense of style, so I knew she would want fabrics and prints that were a little more quirky. Ikea has tons of great options, and I figured out that I could make a bag using the living room pillowcases because they were large enough — PLUS it would include matching zippers! — PLUS, PLUS I would have very minimal fabric left over, which is always nice.

She decided on this cute cotton canvas tiger print pillowcase (it looks like they don’t have it anymore, but there are lots of other great options), so I bought two to make sure I had enough fabric for the outside pocket. I also ordered orange cotton poplin from Divazus, and after unpicking everything, I got to work. I watched a few zipper pocket videos on Pinterest, but I liked this video the most. It seemed easy enough as long as you make sure to clip all the way into the corners after stitching. And I used Wonder Tape to make sure the fabric and zipper stayed right where I wanted it while topstitching.

The black on the inside is a water bottle loop to hold her water bottle. We’ll see how functional it is after she’s tried it out. I’m not sure if the bag is sturdy enough, but hopefully it works well enough. The one thing I’ve never added to a bag before, but love, is the little magnet to snap it shut. It was really easy to install, and I’ll definitely be adding it to other tote bags in the future.

I made the Loop Bag and Sun Tote (free pattern) over the summer and kind of did a combination of both with different dimensions to make this tote more custom made for my sister. So as long as you have a nice basic bag pattern, it’s pretty simple to add the features to make a bag exactly the way you like!

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Lego Playmat and Bag

We have the never-ending problem of Legos constantly being all over the floor 24/7. We tried getting some containers from Ikea after we moved here to help contain them, but the containers were too deep, and it was hard to find what the kids were looking for. I tried dumping them out onto a sheet as an experiment and my son was finally able to find pieces easily and he ended up building so many more things! But I wanted my sheet back…

I remembered that I saved a Pinterest pin a while back that showed how to make a Lego bag/playmat that could lay all the way flat for Legos and other kids toys. I ordered 2 different kinds of cotton from Divazus: gray for the middle and blue with dots for the border. I just wanted the color to be neutral enough that they could find Legos easily.

The Pinterest tutorial was enough to give me an idea of what to do, but I did a few things differently. First, I made continuous bias tape so that the fabric curved nicely around the circle. I’ve made continuous bias tape before, so I just watched this video on Pinterest as a refresher, but there are lots of videos on Youtube that explain how to do it in more detail.

I also topstitched around the whole circle once it was turned right side out because it makes it lay really nicely and if I wash it, I don’t have to worry about the insides getting all frayed. I also decided to tie both ends of the rope together so that I don’t lose one end and have to string it through again.

Is this a perfect solution? No. There are still Legos all over parts of the carpet when they’re working on projects, but most of the Legos are contained. This would be great for other toys and can be made to be any size you want!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and maybe get some sewing time to yourself. Happy sewing! xoxo

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