I’ve had my eye on some classic Christmas decor to DIY for our house for ages now and thankfully, our long-term partner, Spoonflower, was on the same page. They challenged us to create some DIY pieces from their extensive collection of fabrics. We made a tree skirt, advent calendar, stockings, ornaments, and bunting out of their fabric and I ADORE how they all turned out.
The inspiration for our Scandinavian inspired Christmas decor
If you know anything about the sheer amount of patterns that Spoonflower has, you know that creating anything is quite the predicament–where to start?! I thought about using all of our own fabrics on Spoonflower. They’re not particularly Christmas but HOW FUN would that be?! In the end I found too many amazing Christmas focused patterns from so many different Spoonflower artists that I had to do it. I’ve been collecting them over the years so I made a collection on Spoonflower so you can see what I chose.
I started out with this angel pattern from Rebel Form. Last time I visited Denmark I spotted those little paper folded angels as decor in store windows, residences…they were everywhere! It felt super close to home and I loved the colors of the fabrics so I had to use it as the base for the whole scene. It came in a pink and a green with lots of other lovely colors in it. Then I went on an intense search through all the Spoonflower archives to find patterns in various scales and colors that would complement it.
The stockings
The idea was to create some patchwork style heirloom pieces. I first started with the stockings as I thought that would set the stage for the collection. Elizabeth, our intern for the semester, was up to the challenge to create them. She took a few different patterns to create this shape. I wanted something that was oversized so that you could actually fit stuff in it. I shared some patchwork inspiration and stripe inspiration with her and she got to work. She had never patchworked before but she did a tremendous job!
I always love a bow tied to the side of a stocking and I went to my favorite place for vintage trims, which happens to be a shop here in Provo called Harmony. They sell online too so if you are searching for some, you’re in luck! I adore a black vintage woven ribbon and tied them to each one.
Selecting patchwork fabric
I’ve never done a patchwork project myself and there’s a lot that you need to pay attention to while selecting fabrics like the scale, the contrast, the busyness of the fabric. There’s probably a few things I would have done differently to really highlight it, but overall I love how it turned out!
I can’t believe I found that adorable little dala horse pattern in the coordinating colors to the angel pattern. Big bonus there! The artist had them in a ton of different colors!
Advent calendar
I think the star of the show was the advent calendar that Elizabeth took on. Now, if I’m being totally transparent, I own quite a few advent calendars and have DIY’d quite a few of them myself, BUT I’ve never had one that has fit the bill. I had a few requirements!
- I wanted one that had pockets that were roomy enough to actually put stuff in
- It needed to be colorful and my vibe–a maximalist’s dream!
- It needed to be sturdy enough to use as an heirloom piece
Adding the details
Together we put together exactly what I was hoping for! We used the angel pattern as the main fabric and then used all the supporting fabrics as pockets. I even had a local guy with a commercial embroidery machine add on the numbers. If you do this yourself, add on the embroidery before you do anything to the fabric–just flat pieces of fabric works best. In the end we had to provide some extra squares as not all of them turned out the first time.
The tree skirt
Elizabeth found this great pattern for an adorable tree skirt and once again we had to use our angel pattern in the contrasting colors to alternate. My sweet neighbor, Mary Jo, who has offered to make stuff for me ever since we moved here, was the kind person who took this project on. She’s the best! She did such a great job. I love how it turned out!
The fabric plush ornaments
Last minute, the morning of the shoot to be specific, I wanted to add in some plush fabric ornaments because we had so much extra fabric. Now, this was a crazy idea, but if we had had more time I would have decked out the tree entirely! We did a few Christmas trees based on one that I found in France a few years ago that I cherish and they’re so cute. We added on some vintage tree as the hangers and they’re so sweet.
Christmas bunting
Last but not least, the bunting. Elizabeth did an impeccable job on the bunting. I had ordered a ton of fabrics so that it would be one string of happy fabrics in some beautiful colors and patterns. The thing with bunting is that it’s so versatile–you can use it to celebrate, as decor, on a mantle, on a tree, outside. I honestly can’t decide where I’m going to put it!
I’m going to share some specific tutorials for these projects soon, but in the meantime, feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Where to find it all!
My dress is from here
The Christmas fabric from Spoonflower is from here
The tree skirt pattern is from here