Elsie May and Bertha christmas lovelies 2011

You may feel that Christmas is still a good way off, but for those of us who make things for Christmas, magazine editors planning Christmas issues, or shops their Christmas displays, we're all full immersed in all things Christmasy.

Felt and gingham collection Christmas decorations (all £3.50 each)

I started sketching some christmas ideas in early summer, plus I reuse some I've made before (this mainly applies to the felt and gingham ones) , but a lot of my designs/ideas for Christmas decorations actually come from the fabrics, usually vintage, themselves.

Silk and fabric decorations (£3.00 - £7.50 each)

I've created a set of shapes - hearts, stars, fish, fat birds and longtailed birds - these aren't overtly christmas shapes, so that they could be displayed throughout the year if you so desire, but there's no rules to say what can and what can't be a Christmas decoration.

'Gold Spike Decorated Fish' made from vintage Japanese silk (£7.50)

  Most of the fabrics I've used for the silk and fabric collection for this year are vintage, and many are Japanese silks taken from vintage kimonos. These silks are ideal for decorations, they're beautiful in themselves and are lovely to work with.

Fan beaded silk heart trio, made using vintage Japanese silk (£11.50)

As these decorations are made from vintage fabrics, there only a few of each decoration that I can make and quite often each one is slightly different. For instance, the set of three hearts in the picture above, there's only one of those, as there was only one painted fan on the piece of the fabric I acquired, so if you have them hanging on your Christmas tree, no-one else will.

Fat, red crested, yellow bird, made from vintage Japanese silk (£4.50)

Elsie May and Bertha felt and gingham decorations on the other hand, can be made in higher numbers as there's no restriction on the raw materials.

Snowball star felt decoration (£3.50)

Felt is great to work with as it doesn't fray, and the frayed edges of linen and gingham fit in the with homespun aesthetic so this enable you to layer fabrics together without having to worry about turning your edges in.

White linen christmas hearts (£3.50)

This also means that there's no limit to what you can do whether they be stars, hearts, baubles, holly leaves or christmas trees.

White noel holly felt heart (£3.50)

Christmas stockings are a favourite of mine. They make a lovely present, filled with lots of lovely little gifts, that can then be displayed at future Christmases.

Red gingham rosette christmas stockings (£6.50)

Christmas decorations also make lovely christmas presents. In our family, we quite often give them as table gifts, that way we receive little presents throughout the Christmas season when we eat at each other's houses. It's lovely, when you're decorating your Christmas tree (or trees) to be able to hang these decorations given to you in previous years.

Dark red patterned longtailed birds, made from vintage Japanese silk (£3.50)

All of the decorations and stockings listed in this post are available from the Christmas section of the Elsie May and Bertha website. Pop over and have a look and see what others there are available.

Sorry (sort of!) for this being a bit of an advertising post.

TTFN
Louise