Have Yourself a Scandi Little Christmas

Scandi style seems to be seeping into our TV programmes, clothing and home; so it is no surprise that many people will be celebrating a Scandi-like Christmas this year. The typical Scandi style offers a quieter, more understated approach than most trends – using natural materials and traditional crafts.

The use of materials with a more natural look lends rooms a cosy, homily appearance… even as I was searching Pinterest for tutorials the images were conjuring up dreams of log fires, mulled wine and the family pet snoozing on the rug. The fact that many Scandi style decorations are made using traditional crafts mean that if you are a stitcher or knitter it is easy to create decorations yourself rather than paying over the odds in the shops. If you are living in a smaller house, or just prefer your style to be ‘no fuss’ then these tutorials could be right up your street. While there are many more tutorials and articles for inspiration on our Pinterest board, here are our favourites so far:

A Collection of Inspiration – This article is actually more than it says on the tin. It is many articles in one. If you are not too sure what the Scandi style is about, these beautiful images will explain all. Meanwhile, if you are a more experiences stitcher or crafter, they can offer inspiration for creating projects of your own, without the use of templates.

Birdie Tutorial – These birds are small enough to hang on a tree, but are simple enough to not be too fiddly. Although there isn’t a template to download, the clean cut shape of the bird and its wing mean that it is easy to create a template for yourself using a bit of card. We love the idea of using contrasting colours on the body of the bird and the wing, and feel they are easy enough to get the family involved.

Scandi Cottage – If you are feeling adventurous or confident in your skills this is an adorable project. The template is downloadable – so you don’t have to worry about recreating the cottage by hand. If you have a set colour scheme in mind, stick to them colours when creating this cottage, simply using varying tones to add interest. What we love about this project (other than the fact it is adorable) is that it has many uses. We can easily imagine this on a mantelpiece or a windowsill; and if you know somebody who has recently moved house this could be a lovely and personal ‘new home’ gift.

 

For a quicker project, a tablerunner is a great alternative – you can make them using quilting techniques, or simply one long length of fabric that you like – we think that this cotton fabric would be great as a runner with an contrasting bias binding to finish the edges. If you have never made a table runner before – you can find a tutorial for a quilted version here.

 

Talking about projects to adorn your table, have you ever made your own cloth napkins? They can be washed and re-used, from almost any Christmas-themed fabrics (you can view a selection of ours here.) This tutorial for cloth napkins is easy to follow with helpful images to explain the steps.

 

Another easy project is Christmas scatter cushions – a simple cushion cover can update the room without the need for buying more cushions or decorations. To learn how to make them click here, whilst keeping in mind that flannel fabric can be a cosy winter alternative to cotton.

Our final favourite christmas project is a home-made advent calender – we love the tutorial shared in this post, and hope you will too!

 

While these are our favourite makes, there are a lot of projects out there to get the creative juices flowing. If you’re making something for Christmas this year – Scandi style or not, we’d love to see it.