Christmas in July Tutorials: Day 3

Welcome back for another day of Christmas in July tutorials, featuring our new holiday-themed collections! Today, Lisa from Stubbornly Crafty is here, using Nancy Halvorsen's Christmas Pure & Simple line to make an adorable snowman bag. We're in love!

Here's Lisa:

Today I'm sharing a little tutorial for this sweet snowman. Benartex asked if I'd be willing to make something Christmasy using their fabrics. Umm, yes! I don't think they even knew about my obsession with Halloween and Christmas fabrics. I just lucked out. They sent me these yummy fabrics from the Christmas Pure & Simple line. I need a lifetime supply of the red multi-stripe. I lurve it so. Here is how to make your own:

Supplies

• Coordinating fabrics, 1 white & 2 accent
• Scrap of orange felt
• Fusible fleece
• Wonder Under (optional)
• Buttons
• Velcro
• Black paint (for eyes)
• Any other embellishments (pom poms, rickrack, etc..)
• Large glass bowl
• Acrylic ruler

Cut:

• Main snowman fabric (white) 4"x11" (2) 6"x11" (2)
• Accent fabric (hat) 3.5"x11" (2)
• Accent fabric (scarf) 2.5"x11" (2) 2.5"x5" (4)
• Interior lining 11"x28"

*All seam allowances are 1/4 inch unless otherwise stated.

Cut out your strips of fabric following the cut guide above.

Sew the strips together in the same order as photographed above (3.5 inch strip, 4 inch strip, 2.5 inch strip, 6 inch strip). Make sure to back-stitch at the beginning and ends.

Repeat so you have two matching rectangles. Iron flat and top stitch.

Grab your Wonder Under, felt, a pencil, and a scrap of paper. Using the paper, make yourself a template for a carrot nose. Trace the nose onto the Wonder Under.

Cut around your traced carrot nose and iron the rough side of the Wonder Under down to your felt. Follow the directions on the package for specifics.

Cut out your shape and take the paper off the back. Fold your fabric in half and finger press the "face" to help find the center and make placement easier.

Once you have the nose placed, iron it down following the directions on the back of the Wonder Under package. Stitch around the perimeter. If you do not have Wonder Under, just pin the nose in place and then stitch down.

Grab a large bowl that is about the same size as the top of your snowman. Line the bowl up with the top of your snowman's "hat" and trace the bowl.

Trim the excess fabric off. Repeat with the back snowman piece.

Use some black paint and a small paint brush and paint on two small dots for eyes.

Take your four 2.5"x5" strips. These will be part of the snowman's scarf. If you are adding any embellishments to make tassels at the ends of your scarf, add those now. I like to tack it on using a 1/8" seam allowance. Then sandwich two of the strips right sides together.

Sew around the perimeter, leaving an opening for turning on one of the longer sides. Repeat with the other two strips. Trim the corners off, making sure not to cut your sewn line.

Turn and iron flat. Top stitch around the perimeter, making sure to sew your opening closed. Set aside.

Sew on the buttons.

Match the front and back of your snowman right sides together and sew on the bottom using a 1/4" seam allowance (sorry, forgot to photograph that step). Lay your liner in half. Keep the snowman front and back folded together and lay them on top of your liner matching the uncut end (lining) and your newly sewn ends (main snowman) up. Use the curve at the top of your snowman as a guide and trim your lining to match.

Iron your snowman open flat, wrong side up. Cut a long rectangle of fusible fleece to match and lay it on top. Iron down. Once you've got it nice and fused, flip your snowman over. Make sure you don't have any lumps. If you do you can pull the two fabrics apart just where the lump is and re-iron. Trim off the excess fleece.

Fold your snowman in half, wrong sides together, and pin the two sides together leaving the top open. Since the fleece is a bit bulky it makes it difficult to fold without bunching up at the bottom. Use a ruler to help you get a crisp edge. Repeat with the lining.

Sew down the two long sides on the lining and main snowman, leaving a 2.5 inch opening on the lining. Do not sew the top or bottom.

Now, to make our bags stand up we need to box our corners. Pull on the corner of your main snowman and press down so the side seam matches up with the bottom seam. Lay your acrylic ruler across the corner, lining up the diagonal edge of your piece with the 45˚ angle line. The stitching line should line up at 1.5" (as shown above). Draw a line across the top of your ruler.

Sew across that line. Trim off the excess corner, leaving a 1/4" seam. Repeat with the second snowman corner and both corners on your lining.

Turn your lining right side out. Cut two small pieces of velcro.

Fold the two sides of your lining together and finger press at the opening of your lining (the side with the rounder edge). This will help you with placement. Using your acrylic ruler, measure down one inch from the top and center-align your velcro just below the ruler. Iron in place according to package directions. Do NOT iron directly on top of the velcro. Either iron from the back or use an extra piece of material between your iron and the velcro. It will melt if you iron on it directly. The directions say you don't need to sew the velcro down but I find it falls off after a while if I don't, so I'd recommend sewing your velcro down after fusing it down with the iron.

Let's finish this little guy off. Turn your snowman right side out and your lining wrong side out. Slide your snowman inside of the lining. The two pieces will be right sides together.

Match up the top edges together and pin all the way around.

Sticking with our 1/4" seam allowance, sew all the way around the top of your bag taking the pins out as you go. Make sure to back-stitch at the beginning and end.

Turn your bag right side out by pulling everything out through the opening on the side of your lining.

 

Once everything is right side out, sew your opening closed using a 1/8" seam allowance. Tuck your lining inside.

To finish the top edge, make sure the lining is inside and the top seam is not visible from the front. Use an iron and a few pins to help you do so. Top-stitch all the way around.

Now all you have left to do is add the tassels/scarf ends. I just eyeballed placement and used a couple of buttons to sew them on. I also glued a pom pom on top of the hat.

Phew! That was a long one, folks. I'm a visual person so I'd rather have too many photos than not enough and leave you scratching your head. Please leave a comment or send me a message if you have any questions.

I see endless possibilities with this little guy. Add some stick arms to the side and some sunglasses. Or change things up and make him into an elf or santa. Or maybe a bundled up little boy or girl for a reusable birthday bag. If you use this or any of my other patterns and tutorials, post on Instagram with using the hashtag #stubbornlycrafty. I'd love to see what y'all make!

A big thanks to Benartex for getting the ball rolling on holiday crafts. I've been wanting to do Halloween and Christmas crafts since February. :) The flood gates are now open.

Would you like a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of Christmas Pure & Simple? Head over to Lisa's blog to find out how!

Check out the rest of our Christmas in July tutorials:
Day 1: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts and Season's Greetings

Day 2: Benartex Blog Design Team with Holiday Balis
Day 4: Wendy from Ivory Spring with Holiday Magic

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