Sprinkle some heartfelt charm into your home with two fun projects from Pittsboro craft studio Checkered Tulip!
By Leah Berry | Photography by John Michael Simpson
‘Tis the season for crafting! Add a personal touch to your winter festivities with these DIY projects courtesy of Checkered Tulip Sewing & Craft Studio in Pittsboro, NC. The store offers creative camps and classes for all ages, including sip-n-stitch classes for adults. “We do a lot of crafting over the holidays, always have,” Checkered Tulip owner Tracy Turney says. “When the kids were young, we had a book called ‘Let’s Get Crafty.’ I came across it the other day and chuckled. It’s tattered and stained. We had a lot of fun with that book.” Follow Tracy’s lead and add a little handmade magic to your holiday season with these step-by-step projects.
Christmas Tree Napkins (Craft for Adults)
This is a sewing project, so experience is needed! Please read complete instructions first.
Makes four napkins.
You’ll need:
- Iron
- Two 1/2 yard pieces of two different, contrasting 44-inch cotton Christmas print fabrics
- 20-inch piece of 2-inch-wide fabric for the trunk (or 8 pieces of 2 x 2.5 inches). (Choose a different print from your large pieces.)
- Spool of cotton or all-purpose thread, either contrasting or matching
- Pins and chalk
- Sewing machine
Step 1 – Prepare your material
Iron all your fabric on a cotton setting with steam.
Step 2 – Cut material
Cut four pieces from each print into 11-by-18-inch rectangles.
Step 3 – Make half-circle shapes
Place an 11-by-18-inch rectangle in front of you, long side at top/bottom. Find the center by folding in half and mark at the bottom with chalk. Next, make several marks 8.5 inches from the bottom center point, fanning out across your piece of fabric. This will create a dot-to-dot to draw your semicircle. Now you’re ready to cut.
*Pro Tip: To save time, stack four pieces of fabric and mark just the top, and cut all four together. Make sure they stay lined up!
Step 4 – Work on the tree trunk
Take two pieces of 2-by-2.5-inch fabric and stitch together on three sides, print-sides together, using a 0.25-inch seam allowance. Clip the corners, and flip right side out. Gently use a pencil to push corners out, then press. Now top stitch at 0.125 inches, or as close to the edge as you can get, around the trunk. Repeat for the other three trunks.
Step 5 – Prepare the half-circle for sewing
Lay a half-circle in front of you, print side up and the straight edge facing you. Place one of your trunks 2 inches up the circle from the bottom straight edge on the left side. Place the trunk inside the half-circle so the unstitched edge is flush with the edge of the half-circle. Pin trunk in place. Now place a contrasting half-circle with the right sides of the fabric down and the wrong side of the fabric facing up. Pin in place.
Step 6 – Sew your half-circle
First, give your pinned half-circles and trunk a quick iron. Using a 0.25-inch seam allowance, stitch around the half-circle, leaving 3 inches of the flat edge unstitched (for turning right side out later). When you are finished stitching, clip the corners and flip right side out, and then iron. From the inside, use your hand to push toward the outside of the curve, while ironing to make sure fabric is pushed out to the stitch line and not folded.
Step 7 – Finish sewing
Lay fabric in front of you with the tree trunk to your right and straight edge closest to you. From the left bottom edge, measure 5 inches and draw a chalk line from the bottom to top of the half circle. Stitch along that line, backstitch at beginning and end of the stitched line. Lastly, make a top stitch around the entire half-circle using a 0.25-inch seam allowance.
Step 8 – Complete the napkin
Now that your napkin is sewn, iron it. Iron the edges using steam. Fold at the 5-inch stitch line that you drew and stitched in Step 7. Press and steam fold a couple of times. With the napkin in front of you, the flat edge facing you and 5-inch stitch seam on the left, fold the 5-inch section into thirds (layering folds back and forth). When complete, the fabric on top of the fold should match the top of the napkin (see image). Steam press the fold. Now flip the napkin over. Fold the unfolded side into thirds, alternating as you did with the top in the last step. Flip the napkin over, iron and steam, and voilà!
“Here’s a tip: While sewing the napkins, to match each contrasting fabric, use a different colored thread in the bobbin, then the main thread,” Tracy says. “And these napkins will retain their fold lines after washing, so folding is quick and easy.”
“I believe everyone should take a shot at crafting and sewing,” Tracy says. “It’s calming and has been proven to reduce stress and promote good mental health.”
Christmas Sock Gnome (Kid-Friendly Craft)
You’ll need:
- 1 pint glass or large 16 oz. glass
- 4 cups rice, divided
- 1 white adult sock
- 8 mini elastic/rubber bands (1.5 cm)
- 2 contrasting fuzzy Christmas socks
- Hot glue gun
- Glue sticks
- 1 medium pompom
- 1 small piece of white faux fur (about 3 x 3.5 inches
Step 1 – Make the gnome’s body
Fill a pint glass with 2 cups of rice. Place white sock over pint glass and turn over to fill the sock with rice. Shake, jiggle and hit sock on the tabletop so that rice settles and starts to take shape. Repeat with the second pint glass of rice, pouring into the same sock. Shake and jiggle until form is smooth and full. Pull tight and close the top of the sock with an elastic band, then repeat with a second elastic band for added strength. Clip the top of sock off about 1 inch above the elastic bands.
Step 2 – Make your gnome’s nose
Lay rice sock on its back. In the absolute center of the form (top to bottom, side to side), use all five fingers to form a nose roughly the size of a large grape. Be sure rice fills the nose as you form it. Secure an elastic around the shape and voilà , you have a cute gnome nose! “Brushing or dabbing a little pink eyeshadow on the gnome’s nose will bring it to life a bit and add a little flush to the face to make it pop!” Tracy says.
Step 3 – Make your gnome’s shirt
Choose one of your Christmas socks for your gnome’s shirt. Cut that Christmas sock off below the heel, so the heel and above parts remain. Squeeze shirt sock, with heel in the back, over white sock and pull all the way down to the bottom of the white sock. Next, pull the sock up and around the nose of the gnome. This would be a good time to secure the shirt with a few beads of hot glue starting approximately 1 inch from the nose on either side.
Step 4 – Make your gnome’s hat
Let’s give our gnome his hat! Grab your remaining Christmas sock, and cut below heel as you did in Step 3. Next, turn the sock inside out and put an elastic band on the heel end of the sock to close the sock. Turn right side out, lightly fill with leftover sock clippings. If it helps, cut the remaining sock into smaller pieces. Push filling toward the hat tip to give the hat a cone shape. Pull the hat down over the gnome around its nose and over the shirt on sides. Apply small beads of hot glue under the hat edge to secure. Finally, glue pompom to the tip of the hat and add, if needed, some glue to the hat to keep in place.
Step 5 – Make your gnome’s beard
What’s a Christmas gnome without a beard? Cut your piece of white fur into an approximately 3.5 x 3 inch rectangle. It is easier to draw and cut fur from the back side of fabric. Round bottom edges of the 3.5-inch side into a “U” shape and clip a little dip on top for the nose. Glue beard in place under nose. Trim and comb. “Now it’s time to give your gnome a sweet home under the tree!” Tracy says.
The Creator Behind the Crafts
Tracy Turney has loved crafting for as long as she can remember. She’s been a instructor for more than 15 years, from running the kids’ sewing camps program at Cary Arts Center to holding classes at her own studios. The mom of two also aims to make sure her own kids know how to work with their hands and express themselves creatively. After a few years living in the Pacific Northwest, Tracy and her family returned to Chatham County in 2021 because “it’s the best place in the world,” she says. She opened Checkered Tulip in downtown Pittsboro in 2023 with a mission is to show people of all ages that it’s easy to unleash your creative genius if you know a few tricks.
Looking for more holiday crafts? Check out The Holiday Issue of Chatham Magazine!
