Mandy Shaw - Mandys Magical Christmas

Mandy Shaw

www.davidandcharles.com

I absolutely love the build-up to Christmas, where I get to sew beautiful decorations to transform my home and gorgeous gifts for the people I love. This collection of gloriously Christmassy projects brings together the festive makes from my three books, Stitch with Love, Stitch at Home and Celebrate with a Stitch into a handy edition that you can whip out when you just feel the need for some festive sewing fun!

There are ten projects to choose from, including decorations, wreaths, bunting, tags and more and plenty of redwork stitching my all-time favourite technique which just works so perfectly for Christmas projects.

Ive included a comprehensive guide to all the hand embroidery stitches youll need, as well as all the templates at full-size, so theres nothing stopping you just tracing from the page and getting started today!

I hope you enjoy this collection and cherish the process of making your own magical Christmas.

Mandy xxx

The best bit about making this little gingerbread house is the decorating. You could go really mad with all the lovely festive buttons and ribbons you can buy. However, I have chosen a more subtle snow-and-ice inspired cream ric-rac braid and pearl button heart motif.

• 46cm 30.5cm (18in 12in) thick interfacing
• 46cm 30.5cm (18in 12in) thin cotton wadding
• 50cm (20in) of 106cm (42in) wide brown cotton fabric
• 25.5cm (10in) square fusible webbing
• Red small dot, pink stripe and cream fabric offcuts
• 132cm (52in) cream narrow ric-rac
• 40.5cm (16in) cream wide ric-rac
• 18cm 20cm (7in 8in) cream felt
• One skein cream embroidery thread
• Fabric adhesive or tacking thread
• Eight 1.3cm (12in) pearl buttons
• 35 6mm (14in) pearl buttons
• Wooden kebab stick
• Drinking straw
• Two wooden beads*

Note: * choose beads to fit the end of the kebab stick.

Finished size: 15.5cm 13cm 15.5cm (6in 5in 6in) excluding chimney

Fast2Fuse a thick, iron-on interfacing that is very easy to sew through will save you time (see ).

. From the interfacing and cotton wadding, cut the following: one base 15.5cm 13cm (6in 5in); two sides 15.5cm 7.5cm (6in 3in); and two roofs 10cm 18cm (4in 7in). Using the gable end template (see ), also cut two gable ends.

. Glue the wadding to the interfacing with a light spray of fabric adhesive (see ). Alternatively, tack (baste) the layers together at step 4 below.

. Fold the brown fabric in half. Lay the interfacing/wadding pieces on top, leaving a 5cm (2in) gap in between. Cut out the pieces 2.5cm (1in) bigger all around to give you two sets of brown fabrics pieces for each house part. Put one set aside.

. Using spray fabric adhesive, glue the other set of brown fabric pieces to the wadding side of each house part, centring the pieces in the middle of the fabric. Alternatively, tack (baste) the layers together now.

. Draw one 5cm 7.5cm (2in 3in) rectangle and three 4cm (112in) squares onto the smooth side of the fusible webbing, and cut out roughly.

. Iron the rectangle onto the wrong side of the dot fabric for the door, and the squares onto the stripe fabric for the windows. Cut out neatly.

. Peel off the paper and iron the door to one of the gable ends, and a window on the other. Fuse a window on each side of the house, placing them about 2.5cm (1in) up from the bottom edge. Blanket stitch the doors and windows by hand or machine.

. Place the set-aside brown fabric pieces right sides together with the other set of prepared house parts. Stitch together all the way around the edge of the interfacing, leaving a 5cm (2in) opening at the bottom for turning.

. Trim off the excess brown fabric, cut across the corners and turn the right way out. Poke out the corners with the end of a spoon. Sew the opening closed. Gently press.

Chain stitch emphasizes a shape and will make that area of the design look more prominent.

. On the gable ends and sides of the house, tack (baste) the narrow ric-rac 6mm (14in) in from the edge at the top and sides. Stitch in place through the middle of the ric-rac.

. Cut two side snowlines and two gable end snowlines from cream felt (see ). Prepare with fusible webbing and appliqu the snowlines in place along the bottom edge with blanket stitch. Note, you will need to cut one gable end snowline in half to position on either side of the appliqud door.

. Cut two gable end hearts (see ) from cream felt and appliqu above the window and door at the gable ends. Cut a 2.5cm (1in) cream fabric window and appliqu to the door. Embroider a chain stitch border around the windows and doors. Blanket stitch the hearts and new windows by hand or machine.

. Sew two 1.3cm (12in) buttons on either side of the windows and door. Add a 6mm (14in) button for the door handle, and another to the centre of each small felt heart.

. Tack (baste) the wide ric-rac along the bottom edge of the two roof pieces, tucking it under at each end. Sew in place.

. Mark the roof heart design (see ) with a fine pencil onto each roof piece. For each pearl button heart, sew on 16 of the small pearl buttons following the outline.

. Cut one roof snowline from cream felt (see ). Prepare with fusible webbing and cut out the shaded area in the middle of the template (this slit will accommodate the chimney later).

. Place the roof pieces together with a 1.3cm (12in) gap between the two. Centre the roof snowline over the gap and fuse in place. Blanket stitch around the snowline by hand, and sew to secure to the top inside edge of the roof.

. For the chimney, cut two pieces of cream felt 2.5cm 7.5cm (1in 3in); hand-sew together with blanket stitch down the long sides. Fold in half and sew the ends together to make a loop. Pop the sewn end through the roof slit from the right side (it will be secured later).