When I was dreaming up the Holiday Craft Bash, today’s project is the one that was most clear in my mind. Its that project I dreamed of and envisioned, and knew I had to copy the pictures my head as closely as possible. My Santa head canvas may be my very favorite Christmas project! It’s quick and easy, and the best part is that you can take the basic instructions and make whatever character you choose. You could make a penguin, reindeer, Frosty, or a tree. Whatever picture you dream up, you can use to make your own Christmas canvas. I’ll be giving you instructions to make a 24″ x 30″ canvas just like mine, but feel free to change up the size of the canvas to suit you.

Here’s what you need:

– 24″ x 30″ canvas
– 1 yd red fabric for background
– 1/2 yd white fabric for beard and hat trim
– 1/2 yd or large scraps of semisolid red for the hat and nose
– 2-3 skeins black embroidery floss for eyes
– 1 yd Wonder Under
– hammer and sawtooth hanger for hanging your canvas (mine came in a three pack from Home Depot)
– staple gun

First we’re going to draw out our design. You may find it easier to do this on graph paper. Draw out the shape of your canvas, then draw on your design. You’ll be using this as a guide for cutting the pieces for the canvas because it’s easy to scale on graph paper. Plus this gives you a good idea of what your finished canvas will look like.

From my drawing I know that I need a beard, and a hat. (I wanted to embroider the nose and eyes, but you may want to include a nose in your cutting since a space that large takes a lot of time to fill with embroidery stitches; I used French knots which took many hours to do.)

We’re going to start our cutting with the background. Cut out your background fabric so that it extends 3″ past each side of your canvas. My canvas is 24″ x 30″ so my background fabric is 30″ x 36″.

Now I want to cut out the beard. To do this, draw out the beard on the smooth (paper) side of the Wonder Under. Be sure that it does not exceed the size of the canvas or your background fabric. Cut the design out the Wonder Under, then fuse the rough adhesive side to your white fabric. Do not remove the paper. Using the Wonder Under as a guide, cut the design from the white fabric.

Repeat this step until you have cut your hat pieces and nose from the proper fabrics. Leave the paper in place on each of these pieces.

Position all of your pieces on the background fabric to your liking. Remember not to place these pieces all the way to edge of the fabric, as you have that additional 3″ on each side that you will need for wrapping.

Once you have a good idea of the arrangement you will use, you can remove the paper from the beard and fuse it right onto the background fabric. Repeat until you have fused all of your pieces.

 Now you are ready to sew. This step is super easy since all of your pieces are already stabilized onto the background. All you will be doing in the way of sewing is stitching a zig-zag stitch around all the pieces to ensure that they stay put. Just be sure to use a coordinating thread!

After you have finished up on the machine, you can grab a marking tool and your embroidery floss. Draw on Santa’s eyes, and use a satin stitch to fill in the space. You can fuse on some interfacing prior to embroidering if you want.

He’s looking pretty good, huh?

It’s time to mount your work onto the canvas. To do this, simply place the Santa head right side down on a table.

Place the canvas right side down on top of the Santa head and center as best you can. Fold under the raw edges of the fabric a bit, and fold back onto the back of the canvas. At the top center, staple in place. Pulling taut (but not stretching), fold under the raw edge and fold the fabric on the bottom side over the back of the canvas and staple in the center. Staple the top and bottom in the manner, keeping staples about 1″ apart until you are an inch or so away from the sides. Staple either side in the same manner as you did the top and bottom, neatly folding the fabric when you get to the edges. Staple the corners in place.

To attach the sawtooth hanger, simply center it at the top and hammer in place using the nails that came with the hanger.

Now find a good place for your canvas and adore your work! You’ve made a perfectly festive work of art.

 Be sure to check out the other projects from Week Five of the Holiday Craft Bash!

Jessica’s Frosty Advent Calendar

Debbie’s Christmas Tree Farm

Jacey’s Happy Tree’s Mini Quilt (will be up on her blog tomorrow!)

We would love for you to make your home ready for Christmas with us. If you make any projects from the Holiday Craft Bash, be sure to add them to the Flickr group! We’re excited to see what you make!

 -Meredith