October 31, 2018

DIY Christmas Decor with Cricut

Creating DIY Christmas Decor is so much easier when you use your Cricut Maker! Today, I am sharing two projects that will add to the Holiday spirit in your home this Christmas season.

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DIY Snowflake Pillow

The holidays are coming quickly and I have been inspired to create new DIY Christmas decor using the Cricut Maker! The first DIY project is an easy-to-sew pillow that I made from a piece of heavy canvas from my fabric stash. The pillow uses a simple straight stitch and an applique made from Cricut Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV). I used a standard 18″ square pillow form from the craft store, sewed the cover and decorated it with the Cricut vinyl. It’s a fun project that would also make a great holiday gift idea!

Snowflake Pillow Supplies

18″ square pillow form
Cricut gold Heat Transfer Vinyl
1/2 yard offwhite cotton canvas
sewing machine, thread, & scissors
Cricut EasyPress (A traditional iron would also work.)
Cricut Maker

Snowflake Pillow Directions

1. Cut the fabric to a square 23″ wide. Turn fabric right sides together. Stitch around the outside edge with a 1/2″ seam allowance while leaving an opening at the bottom edge 8″ wide to insert the pillow.

2. Press and then turn right side out. Press again from the right side.

3. To make the flange, top stitch 1″ from the edge all the way around the pillow while leaving the bottom open as before. Press.

4. Cut the vinyl on the Cricut Maker according to the directions on the Cricut website found here. Be sure to use the knife blade set on the vinyl setting. Also, be certain to place the vinyl shiny side down on the standard grip mat before cutting. (You could also use a Christmas tree or Christmas wreath vinyl for your holiday season decor!)

5. Weed out the excess vinyl from the snowflake design. Place the vinyl on the canvas pillow cover with the sticky backing down on the fabric.

6. Pre-heat your EasyPress to 290 degrees, or iron to the high or cotton setting. I loved using the new large EasyPress 2 as it worked great for this larger project! Using either a press cloth or a Cricut press mat, press for 30 seconds. Turn the pillow over, and press again on the back side for another 30 seconds.

7. Let cool slightly and then remove the clear vinyl backing.

8. Insert pillow form then stitch the bottom opening closed.

DIY Embroidered Felt Stocking

The second DIY Christmas decor project I made is this pretty felt stocking. This project is a great way to work on your hand sewing and embroidery skills. Although I haven’t embroidered in a long time, I really enjoyed working on this project. There’s no need to be intimidated by it as there are only 3 stitches in this entire project. (The satin stitch, french knot, and the outline stitch.)

The Cricut draws the initial embroidery design on the felt and also cuts the stocking out at the same time. You can use a hoop during the embroidery stage if you so desire. It seemed awkward to me so I didn’t use one. The felt is quite solid and also easy to work with without a hoop.

I found an embroidery floss ring organizer at the craft store. It made it easy to find the right color floss and unwind it as needed. Only use 2-3 strands of floss at a time as you work. Excess strands of floss can be re-wound on to the plastic tab until needed.

Felt Stocking Supplies

1-yard white glittered felt
Cricut Maker, Cricut fabric mat, and rotary cutting blade
embroidery floss (dark green, light green, red, dark blue, light blue, yellow, orange and pink)
Cricut fabric pen.
embroidery hoop (optional)
hand sewing needles for embroidery (I used a large eye needle.)

Felt Stocking Directions

1. Cut the felt to 12 x 24″ as described on the Cricut website here.

2. Insert the fabric pen into the Cricut Maker along with the rotary fabric cutting blade.

3. Draw and cut the fabric using the Cricut.

4. Remove the stocking from the mat. Embroider according to the Cricut directions, you can print the PDF document with directions here.

5. After embroidering the felt, sew a 1/4″ hem on the top edge of each stocking piece.

6. Stitch the stocking together by sewing the outside edges along the marked line.

7. Sew the piece for the stocking hanging loop by folding a rectangle of felt into thirds and stitching along the entire length while using a zig-zag stitch.

8. Attach the loop into the corner of the stocking using a single needle top-stitch.

9. Spritz the stocking with water to remove the fabric pen marks. Cover with a press cloth, press to remove the marks. You may have to repeat the process a few times until they have all disappeared.

I spent about 15 hours doing the embroidery on this stocking. I found it very relaxing to sew in the evenings when I was too tired to accomplish anything else. If you are a more experienced embroiderer you could probably do it in less time. I haven’t embroidered in many years, and it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. Now that I have done it, I am looking forward to my next hand-sewn embroidery project, maybe it’ll even involve more DIY Christmas decor. I hope you’ve enjoyed these holiday decorating ideas!

Thanks to Cricut for sponsoring this post!