Ho ho ho everyone! For this post Christmas column I thought I’d share a Christmas decoration I made for a friend for Christmas. A festive hand sewn reindeer with a very personal twist. First of all I drew an outline of a reindeer I saw online onto some fabric. Then I used some child friendly hand paint – and my friend’s son’s finger – and used his fingerprint to blob on Rudolph’s nose.
A cut little finger printed nose
Next I got my black thread out and made eyes from French knots and outlined the reindeer head. Then some brown thread to draw on the ears, and some little antlers made up of chain stitch. I also went round the nose with red thread, just in case the paint faded in years to come, the shape of the fingerprint would still be there.
Stitched up and happy with himself
I had bought some tiny hanging frames, so I cut round the reindeer so it was slightly bigger than the internal part of the frame.
Cut out (badly) ready to frame
After that I sewed round the back of the fabric to pull it tight so it fitted into the frame properly, screwed the little frame tight, attached the backing panel, and hung it in her tree. It has pride of place as a lovely keepsake of a fabulous tiny finger.
Happy in the tree with his little fingerprint nose
Have you made any Christmas decorations? I’d love to see some pics.
Best cake for this make: Christmas cake of course!
Best song for this make: Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town by Bruce Springsteen
Costs:
Ink: borrowed from a friend for free
Fabric: taken from my stash for free
Thread: taken from my stash for free
Frame: part of a set of ten bought from Amazon for £8.99 so only 89p
Total: 89p (plus chocolate used to keep the child happy enough to finger paint… ha ha)
Jo Burgess
Originally from Northern Ireland, Jo Burgess is a craft crazy rock music loving gal based in England. With a career including time spent as a motorsport journalist in England, in the film industry in Northern Ireland, and working on ghost tours in Scotland, her background is as mixed up as her love of craft. Jo will try her hand at anything and loves learning a new skill with tea and cake, crafty friends and great music blasting out of her speakers. Cross stitch, electronics, sewing, beadwork, glass fusing – she loves it all, and through this column Jo hopes to pass her love of different crafts, music and (of course) cake on to you. Craft rocks!