Thank you to those who have registered for my latest online workshop, Stitched - Christmas 2016.
The response has been great and I have had to giggle a few times about the workshop being referred to as a "no brainer." Truth is, it is. It was not created to be complicated, for beginners or for experts. Just like all of my classes whether they are in-store or online. I do not want to overwhelm or stress out anyone. Creating something is meant to be relaxing and enjoyable by yourself or with friends. The steps and my instructions are basic.
If you are a beginner, the class is perfect. If you are a long time stitcher, the pattern is there for you as a spring board and then I encourage to add "you" to it with buttons, alternate colors and patterns, different stitches, etc.
Once I was all done with the projects and launched the class I was asked a few different times, "How do you come up with things?" so thought I would start with the pattern that was not included in the class.
Introducing "Santa 2016" (whether you want to know it or not, he is coming to town in 75 days.)
yep.
So, 9 times out of 10, whatever is reproduced in the form of a product such as a rubber stamp, a die, an embossing folder or some sort of pattern, starts with my handrawn doodle.
Exibit One (and please note that I HATE to watermark things because truth be told, stealers are gonna steal whether there is a watermark on it or not)
So I doodled a Santa about 5 years ago..maybe 6. He became a product for a company and then he came back to me as my "property" and then he became a red rubber stamp and was sold through Purple Onion Designs.
I am going to veer off subject for a minute but I think that Santa and his friends are stupid cute. That is how I say "super cute" in my own way and typically, when I think something is super duper stupid cute...it does not sell well. When I really do not like something that I have created, that is what people want. I have been arm wrestling that fact for about 20 years. Needless to say, the stamps did not do well at all and I have one of each in a little box in my shed that I take out every couple of years and smile at.
Moving on, I noticed about a month ago that Sizzix has relaunched Santa as a Textured Impression Folder so if you are a fan of embossed images, Santa might be your boy this year. I like the way it comes out but I don't add any color to them (remember, kraft and white are my favorite colors so you cant expect much from me) but I know that there are many of you out there that have mad skills with markers, chalk, glitter, all that blah blah blah so you could probably make Santa look more awesome than he already is in real life..
okay, back to what I was saying...so when I saw him online, I thought, dang he would look so cute is wool felt
SQUIRREL!!!!!
Welcome to my brain:
I took the original drawing scan of him and before I printed it out I enlarged it a little. This took me at least 18 minutes to figure out on my 10 year old HP all in one Fax, scan, printer, copier. Just doing that made me want to quit but I just keep going.
This may make no sense to you until you see the drawing, but after I printed him out, I cut him all apart, piece by piece, so that I could make a pattern. It was a little tedious at times because I had to remember what was what to be able to put him all back together. Good thing for phones with camera's (or camera's with phones!) because as I sat and watched Monday Night Football and cut all of these little pieces out, I took pictures using my phone.
In the time it took to create this cute little man, I probably could have flown to Maui (nah, it did not take 5 hours, but close) but he is stupid cute so here we go!
- Cut out one entire shape of Santa. It is the camel colored piece. (This is similar to what you would get if you were cutting a santa out of sugar cookie dough.)
- Cut one hat from red, 2 gloves from smoke gray (or white, you decide) and boots: NOTE: The patterns are individual pieces but I decided to pin the two boots onto the felt and cut it out as one piece. Pin pieces into place and stitch
- Put Santa's pants on for the love of Pete! Cut out pants piece in red, pin and stitch into place right above boots.4. Cut out Santa's coat from red and a belt from smoke gray. Stitch coat on first and then add the belt.
- Cut out Santa's coat from red and a belt from smoke gray. Stitch coat on first and then add the belt.
I am not sure why I did not take a picture of the belt buckle but here is what I did: I cut a square of gold that fits in the center of the belt. Do not try to cut out the center. Just cut a smaller square of smoke to sit right into the center of the gold. Put gray piece into place in center of belt and stitch on. See photo below:
Now it is time to stitch together Santa's face.
- Start by layering all of the little pieces on to see what you are going to be stitching first. My suggestion to you is that if you have a camera with a phone (or a phone with a camera) take a picture so that you remember what you are going to be doing.
- Place camel colored face to beard right below where the fuzzy brim of Santa's hat is and stitch face on. Refer to picture above.
- Place mustache on and stitch into place. NOTE: take a look at my mustache. It is crooked and it is okay.
- Place little cheeks into place and stitch. NOTE: I did not try to cut cheeks using pattern. I just cut two little pink circles.
- Place nose over cheeks and stitch on.
- Add two eyes by stitching french knots using two strands of dark gray floss.
Let's finish this up.
- Stitch the entire face piece onto body. Add a stitch along the fuzzy rim of the hat. Stitch on the white fuzzy ball onto the end of the hat. Add the white fuzzy pant cuff in between the boots and the pants.
THIS whole process, as ridiculous as it sounds, was a bit relaxing, sorta. Typing it out on the other hand, was not but since I did, I thought I'd just go ahead and give it to ya in case you wanna go for it! If you do, I would love to see what you create. Download Stitched Christmas 2016 Santa
