How to Make Your Own Christmas Fabric
Making your own Christmas fabric can be fun and useful too. Christmas fabric can be used to wrap presents, for craft projects, for personalized quilts and pillows, or for interesting throws. Here is how to make your own Christmas fabric.
High-tech
There are fabrics you can buy that can be used in your home printer to make Christmas fabrics. These can be found in your office supply section or in your craft department, as well as on the internet. These fabrics are stiff and are specially made to absorb printer ink. These fabrics would be perfect to make Christmas fabrics with pictures of family, friends, and pets. You can also use colorful clip art, in conjunction with your word processor, to make interesting, fun fabric.
Always make sure to follow the special washing directions that come with the printer fabric. Some of these fabrics are not intended for heavy use, such as on clothing. Fabric decals can also be bought to decorate fabric. These decals come in many different designs and are applied with a warm iron.
Handmade
If you would like a raw, traditional looking Christmas fabric, then you may want to try your luck at hand printed fabric. First, choose a sturdy fabric that is absorbent, like muslin. The fabric should be a light, solid color, and should not contain any ribbing, nubs, or pattern.
Next, decide how you would like to put the print on the fabric. Stencils, stamps, and markers used with fabric paint are all good choices. You can also make your own print with objects around your home. A Christmas stamp can be made by carving a potato into a desired shape. You can also use a potato sliced in half and dipped into Christmas colored paint to make festive polka-dot Christmas fabric.
Another way to make a festive print on fabric is to splash, fling, or squirt red and green paint onto the fabric in an abstract pattern. The fabric paint that you choose will have washing instructions on the packaging. Be sure to follow them to retain the original look of your Christmas fabric print.
From Scratch
You can also weave your cloth from scratch in pretty Christmas colors. This isn't as hard as it sounds. There are many weaving kits out there for children and adults with simple, easy to follow directions. Some easy things to create with your hand-woven Christmas fabric are placemats, tree skirts, pillow shams, dollies, and trivets.
