Felt Christmas Pocket for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. This month Eileen's Inspiration Team are sharing 'Seasons Greetings' with our festive themed makes. For this one I've experimented with using felt as the base for a Christmas Pocket using Eileen's Sizzix Scoreboards 'Box, Post' XL Die. Here's the finished soft pocket that has a button closure.

The basic shape was cut from Kunin Eco-Fi Plus Felt in that beautiful deep grey Granite colour; since it's a heavyweight felt it can hold the shape and structure of the pocket. To bring more interest to the background I added some grey lace along the main edges and a patchwork of painted tissue pieces in a  using soft gel medium securing it in place with decorative stitching.

Taking inspiration from an accordion Tiny Book created earlier this year I included felt 'trees' using Eileen's Sizzix Scoreboards 'Spring Leaves' L Die and little houses using her Sizzix Scoreboards 'House Ornament' L Die. These were stuck onto the patchwork background using dry adhesive - I'd recommend using something like Bondaweb on the back of the felt before die cutting it to make application easier.

Eileen has shared her passion for using embroidery stitching and it's infectious! French Knots became falling snow and Satin Stiches were used to cover the roofs with a wintery touch. It is much easier to sew through the felt base before it has been assembled.

With the decoration completed the pocket was ready to be assembled. I stuck strips of card onto the base and side sections to strengthen them further before adhering some dark grey interfacing to the inside to cover the stitches. Once thoroughly dry the sides were glued together and I did some 'invisible stitching' with grey cotton thread to ensure they didn't pull apart over time. A buttonhole was machine stitched onto the flap closure with a button added to the front of the pocket to complete the closure.

You can see all of the amazing projects that Eileen's Inspiration Team have made this month using her new dies by visiting Eileen's website.

For now, thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix Scoreboards XL Die 'Box, Post' available in the UK at Country View Crafts and in the US at The Funkie Junkie Boutique