More even than most years- I decided to make our gifts this Christmas. One such gift was to make ornaments for most everyone we have Christmas with. Thinking through what supplies I had on hand, I decided to sew felt candycanes with some beading. I drew out a candycane stencil on newsprint and cut it out to trace onto felt. I already had a surplus of red and white felt, but falling short on poly fil, I opted to use leftover batting scraps and the tiny felt scraps I was making with all these canes to stuff them with.
I used embroidery floss and cotton perle threads, jute rope for their loops, and did a blanket stitch on each to close them up. The stripes I varied and when making them with felt, I would cut out an extra cane to cut into the stripes using straight scissors or pinking shears.
All in all I made two dozen, including a banner of 6 for my house and a banner for my sister. They took so much longer than I had planned- but I think the result is worth the effort.
