Dreaming Of An Eco Christmas
Christmas; the time of year when wrapping paper engulfs your living room floor. If you're fed up of wrapping paper being discarded during the holiday period, then reusable, eco friendly products are definitely the way to go! Even better when you make them yourself; full of love and Christmas wishes, because let's face it there's nothing better than receiving a handmade gift from someone.
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A glass bottle is one of the most common gift for the Christmas period; usually a bottle of wine, or whisky. Making your own bottle bag will not only; cut down on cardboard bags being discarded every year, but will also makes the gift feel more personal to the recipient. Not to mention that you are the one who makes the design decisions for; fabric style, patterns, and other additional features! You can make any design you wish, and even tailor it to match the recipient's personality or preferred style.
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Reusable Wine Bag
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Craftsy.com offer a free tutorial/pattern for a reusable wine bag on their website, which is easy to understand and follow along with. Perfect for anyone who is particularly new to sewing!
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The tutorial doesn't include a specific materials list, which gives you completely free rein over the design aspects for this project. The pattern uses two pieces ribbon as the drawstring for closure and security. This can be adapted if you have another material you'd prefer, for example string or bead string.
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Overall, this is a relatively easy going project, which shouldn't take too long to complete.
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Santa Sack
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A Santa sack is a popular way to gift and wrap your Christmas gifts, especially when gifting to children. They are also a great way to wrap any awkward sized gifts.
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Polkadot Chair have a simple and easy sewing pattern on their website, complete with instructions, dimensions for the Santa Sack, and how to add some personalisation to it. Alongside they instructions they also provide a timescale of how long it should take to make. Including prep time and the time it takes to construct the sack, this make should take you no longer than 2 hours.
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Fabric Wrapping (Furoshiki)
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Furoshiki are traditional Japanese wrapping cloths. These were used to wrap and transport goods. Nowadays, Furoshiki has became a popular eco-friendly alternative to wrapping paper, and the use of paper/cardboard gift bags.
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Spoonflower has a blog post that demonstrates six different ways that you can wrap your gift using Furoshiki techniques. The blog includes multiple videos for following the instructions with ease, allowing you to pause and rewind when needed.
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This is a fun and personal way to wrap your gifts, and allows the receiver to reuse the fabric for a gift of their own, or as a new piece of scrap fabric. Keeping waste to an absolute minimum.
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Lined Drawstring Bag
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HeatherHandmade has a great Lined Drawstring Bag pattern that also comes with a quick video to help you understand the instructions. A drawstring bag is a good idea for storing gifts and can be used for many different gift ideas. Such as, bath bombs, jewellery, makeup, pyjamas - the list is never ending!
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These can be made in different sizes to accommodate the size of the gift, as well as different fabric pattern designs that can be specified for each individual recipient to make the gift more personal.
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You could also add some personalisation by embroidering the recipients name or initials on the bag, but if you wish for your bag to be reused by the recipient you can leave this out.
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DIY Reusable Tea Bags
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Know someone who is a bit of a tea addict, and goes through loads of teabags on a daily basis? Then you may want to consider this lovely gift idea from Happiest Camper.
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Happiest Camper says that the best fabric to use to ensure steeping of the teabag is a thin, organic fabric. Mesh or sheer fabric is also an option, however may prove to be a little more difficult to work with.
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They also recommend that you pre-prep your fabrics by washing, drying and pressing (ironing).
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Reusable Makeup Remover Pads
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Those of us who wear makeup know the struggle of realising you've ran out of wipes just before going to bed. With these reusable makeup removers you won't have that problem again!
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Beginner Sewing Projects have created a tutorial using just two pieces of fabric. They recommend being cautious when choosing patterned fabrics with colour, as the colour may bleed. However using cotton is a good option and flannel is a great choice for the 'remover' side of the pad.
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Festive Fabric Chains
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Do you remember being a young child and making paper chains for Christmas parties at school? Well this is the new and improved version!
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Sew Mag have a great sewing pattern to make Festive Fabric Chains. You can use your scrap pieces of fabric from festive projects - or from any sewing projects for that matter - to make your own decorations.
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This could be a quick and fun project as all you need is some scrap fabric, and interfacing! (And a sewing machine of course).
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DIY Eco-Friendly Snow Pine Cones
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This project isn't exactly sewing related, however it is still crafty and eco-friendly - and a lot of fun to make! They are also non-toxic as well, making them a great crafty project for the kids to get involved with.
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You only need four things to make your winter wonderland pine cones; salt, water, flour, and pine cones (obviously).
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The process for making these are extremely easy, and the cost is very minimal - perfect for those with a budget on their Christmas decorations!
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