Christmas sew | Mr X Stitch

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)