Lara asked if she could share some of her handmade gift ideas for those of you who are crafty and eager to share gifts with others! Special thanks to Lunga, Lara’s partner, who took photos of the candles and soap for this post, with long-distance art direction from Lara, and an assist from Agatha, the cat. Take it away, Lara!
I start planning for Christmas presents around September, partly because I love giving gifts and partly because I need to make all my Christmas presents. Here follows a short list of ideas that I’ve used over the years.
Sewing with felt
If you have rudimentary sewing skills, sewing felt Christmas decorations is a piece of cake.
It doesn’t fray, the stitches are easy and they always look cute!
The outlay for materials and equipment is super small, and they usually fit inside envelopes so can be sent along with the Christmas card to make it a present.
Usually, I just browse Pinterest for shapes I like and then make my own templates, but there are some online tutorials, like this one, which uses blanket stitch (although they don’t sew in a bit of ribbon for hanging the ornament which seems silly) and this one which has more detailed ornaments, but really slow instructions for those newer to sewing.
My personal technique involves more free styling and a normal running stitch to join my pieces of felt together. I also leave the stuffing out so that it fits better in the envelope (if it is going with a Christmas card)
If you want to be a bit more adventurous with your felt, you could make these really cute felt coasters.
They’re such fun!
Other free sewing patterns
In fact, with Christmas sewing, your best friend will be the free sewing patterns available online.
Bless the sewists who collate free patterns on their blogs. My favourite list can be found at Broad in the Seams.
Just a note that the blog post was published a few years ago so the links might be broken. If that is the case, just google the name of the pattern and Google will find it for you.
This free oven mitt pattern is a favourite and I’ve made it so many times!
Soap
If sewing is not your thing, but you’d still like to make something, may I suggest soap?
I started watching Mirenda’s TikToks and soap-making captured my heart in a real way. I watched heaps of her videos before investing in the equipment needed.
Because you’re using lye, it’s worth investing in the right equipment, just for safety’s sake. It’s a big outlay, initially – at least it’s big in comparison to hand sewing!
I just follow her instructions for making soap and then use this calculator to work out the recipe.
Soap-making rewards experimentation and there’s something so satisfying about coming up with your own recipes. Like Mirenda, I prefer a more traditional bar to the confections available online.
A hard bar with a smooth, silky, bubbly lather is my happy place. Be warned, the soap needs to cure for about 4 weeks before it is ready to use, so start now!
Candles
A more recent craft I’ve dipped my toes into is candle making. I’ve found that each supplier has their own instructions for how best to use their products and there’s heaps of great troubleshooting advice online.
I’m still new to this stuff though so I don’t really have any great recommendations… yet!
Crochet and knitting
For patterns, I like to read the Christmas editions of crochet and knitting magazines through my library’s electronic resources. There are some great patterns out there!
(For information on using your library to read magazines, check out this post.)
I really like the craft magazines published by Immediate Media. (Ed. note: ME TOO.) Their website currently has some brilliant Christmas patterns!
TLDR:
No time and no money? Felt Christmas ornaments!
Some time and no money? Crochet and knitting!
More time and some money? Soap!
Drop your favourite recipes, tutorials and ideas in the comments! Let people know where they fall on the cost and time spectrum so we can help each other plan 😊
Ed. note: one of my favorite sewing gifts for people are simple quilted placemats and flannel napkins. If you’d be interested in instructions or a tutorial, please let me know in the comments – and we cannot wait to read about your holiday crafting suggestions!
Thank you, Lara!!
Popping up to say I know Lara IRL and we recently made soap together. It was very satisfying and not as complex as I thought it was going to be, although you do want to watch your Ps and Qs with the lye.
(The link on the image in the click-to-read-the-post post goes to the previous Stuff We Like featuring Loops. The text link came here.)
Someone on r/crochet made a snowflake attached to a homemade card that the recipient can detach and use as an ornament. That took me back to childhood when my mother made dozens, starched stiff, to hang on the tree. Relatively quick to make and seasonal but agnostic.
Note to soap makers: If you are making soap for friends with small children, cut the soap into small cubes. My cousin’s kids could use a whole pump bottle of soap in a couple of unsupervised hand washings—bubbles!—so she used bars. Bar of soap + little kids’ usage = gross after a while, way before the soap was even close to done. Having new small cubes to replace the nasty ones when guests were coming over was life altering.
Christmas balls—yes balls, not baubles (interesting choice, publisher!)—by Arne & Carlos are a fun if fiddly knit for the holidays. I made some (terrible) ones in 2017 that my nephews gave input on, but they were in the tree decorating pictures from last year. I should probably make better ones to replace them…
Free mini balls: https://schachenmayr.com/en/free-patterns/julekuler-s10717a-x
Knitting directions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9dmjyhPeGM
My favourite gifts to make are crocheted Christmas ornaments. My go-to pattern for this is the (free!) teddy ornament pattern from the blog allaboutami (not sure if links are allowed but if you google “allaboutami teddy ornaments” you will find it). They’re easy to make but also easy to adapt. The original pattern is for three bear variations (panda, koala and regular bear) but if you change ears, colours or facial features you can easily make cats, dogs, bunnies, etc. I made an Umbreon (pokemon) ornament for a friend last year and she loved it.
A website that has really helped me to make the ornaments (and all my other amigurumis) better/smoother is the blog planetjune. There are tons of tips and tricks (with pictures and videos – whichever you prefer) and also some free patterns. Ravelry and Etsy are also great sources for patterns. Ravelry has purchasable as well as free patterns and a good filter system. Through Etsy I have discovered the joy that is crocheted gnomes and I’m gonna make some Christmassy ones for my in-laws this year. I recommend the Etsy shop/user Mufficorn who has a lot of fun designs and the PDFs come with clear instructions and lots of pictures.
@Lena: OOPS. Thank you! All fixed.
Love these ideas! This article reminded me I have some Christmas ideas saved on Pinterest. I live in ND, and it’s hard to find special gifts sometimes so I usually make some kind of jewelry for my mom and sisters. One year I crocheted scarves, very inexpertly.
My sister likes “usable” gifts, as well as handmade ones, so I’m crocheting her some cotton dishcloths (or washcloths – she can decide). There are lots of free crochet patterns online for dishcloths, scarves, hats, Christmas ornaments, etc. The Spruce Crafts (https://www.thesprucecrafts.com) has lots of patterns for different crafts, and also lists of free patterns from other sites. I agree with Lara and Sarah about the Immediate Media magazines – many lovely patterns.
one of the best practical-yet-cute gifts I’ve gotten is the Bowl Cozy
https://tarareed.com/bowl-cozy-pattern/
We’re in the season now where I heat up soup in the microwave, so having a few (because sloshing) is grand.
From the time my daughter was three through high school, she DECORATED candles for gifts using Stockmar beeswax sheets. At three, I cut out shapes for her to use; as she grew up, she made her own designs. A plus for decorated candles is that the recipient can display them or use them.
https://www.amazon.com/Stockmar-Decorating-Wax-20×10-colours/dp/B01AK3ER5A
@Bea and anyone else who might be interested, there’s also one for pint sized ice cream cartons:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://craftyforhome.com/2022/03/27/ice-cream-pint-cozy/&ved=2ahUKEwi0pc335qH7AhX1JjQIHV0SBNAQFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw299LwGgFTnz_bCDwOh0iC3
We’ll be doing these as a make and take at this year’s quilt retreat.
I made those Citrus Coasters years ago and they are still loved 🙂
Every year I buy beaded ornament kits from The Beadery and give them to my coworkers. Each ornament ends up being a buck or two, and everyone is impressed with the sparkly things.
But my favorite thing to do is diamond painting. It’s a much more expensive hobby, but there’s a painting to match every giftee’s taste, and I can listen to my audio books as I work. Diamond paintings are also sparkly and impressive when completed.
A couple of years ago I decided I needed to weed out my yarn stash so I crocheted scarves or head wraps for all my coworkers. They were a big hit, so the next year I made hats, scarves, or hoods for my friends. I was able to knock out 1-2 a week but I’m an experienced and fairly fast crocheter. My pattern sources:
https://www.yarnspirations.com/patterns?prefn1=brand&prefv1=Red%20Heart
https://www.lionbrand.com/ (Click on the menu bar top left to curate by accessory type, preferred craft, person you are gifting, etc)
https://www.crochetspot.com/
https://www.myhobbyiscrochet.com/
http://www.poshpatternsblog.com/free-crochet-patterns-free-knitting-patterns/
https://www.mooglyblog.com/
https://www.fiberfluxblog.com/?m=1
All free patterns!
This year I am doing tiny blackwork bookmarks and ornaments on perforated paper (for quick finishing) from patterns found on Pinterest, using discontinued metallic floss and my voluminous stash of beads. They finish flat, so again, a good gift to slip into a greeting card. I can stitch up about one per hour (or two days of waiting for my old computer to boot up); depending on your stitching experience and the floss you use your time may vary.
Love those citrus coasters! May try those next year!
Bowl cozies are wonderful. We got some quilted ones from my mom several years ago, and we use them multiple times a week.
Yay the gift guide!