How to Sew a Christmas Toy in Shabby Style

I offer you to make a textile Christmas toy.
I made a tender and cute Christmas heart.

I used:

  • linen with golden coating — 15Х30 cm;
  • beige cotton lace — 2 types of lace with a size of 30 cm, 2 types of lace with a size of 50 cm;
  • floss in two shades of green — a piece of each color with a length of about 1 meter;
  • green, red and yellow Czech seed beads — a few pieces of each color for the Christmas tree embroidery;
  • metal elements — 1 pc with a "hand made" lettering and 1 pc in the form of a snowman on a ring;
  • tulle — 60Х12 cm;
  • padding polyester — 15Х30 cm for the heart and 20x20 cm for stuffing;
  • transparent plastic — 5.5X5.5 cm;
  • jute cord — 10 cm;
  • tonal threads, golden thread, monofilament, a needle for hand sewing, a needle for beads, dressmaker pins, scissors, a water soluble marker, a sewing machine, an iron.

Cut two parts of the heart and one circle for the central element of linen and padding polyester.
Cut the same circle of plastic, it will serve as an interlining.
Apply linen details to the details of padding polyester and connect them with a zigzag stitch.

Steam off through cheesecloth.

Draw a tree with a water-soluble marker on the circle linen detail.

Put the circle of padding polyester on the inside part and start to embroider. Fix the thread.

The tree will be embroidered with French knots.
Bring the thread on the front side. Make three turns of thread around the needle and go back to the same place where the needle was taken out, departing a couple of millimeters.

Embroider the contour.

Embroider the star with a gold thread.

Put red and yellow beads on a piece of monofilament, decorate the Christmas tree with the beads.

Randomly sew on green beads.

Fill the remaining space with French knots. Use floss of a darker shade.

Turn the embroidery, apply the plastic circle and wrap it, turning the fabric inside.
We begin to fold the edge completely as in the photo.

Align the embroidery strictly at the center of the circle (if it moved out while wrapping the plastic base), now it is still possible to move it.

Start decorating with lace.
Make a straight machine stitching on the edge of a cotton tape.

Pull one thread and cinch the lace to the desired length.

Sew it on in a circle.

Add the second layer of lace.

Fix the central element decorated with lace on the heart detail. Sew it on by hand, gently grabbing its edge.

On the outer edge of the heart fix the third type of lace, making symmetric pleats.

Sew a metal plaque with "hand made" lettering on the second part of the heart.

Decorate the edge of the second part with the remaining lace, also making pleats.
Carefully sew up the lace with tonal thread.
Both sides are ready.

Make two loops of jute cord.

Sew one loop to the bottom edge, the second one to the upper edge (on the inside of the heart).

Now it's time to sew the two parts together. Leave a small opening to stuff the heart with padding polyester and stitch along the contour (do not turn inside out or hide the edges).

Fill the pendant with padding polyester.

Sew up by hand. That's what we've got.

The snowman is attached to the loop at the bottom of the heart.

Thread a tulle ribbon through the top loop.

One edge is shorter, the second one is longer — tie it into a bow.

Ready!