ASL Christmas Crafts

-This post sponsored by Cricut-

About a month ago I shared a collection of t-shirts that I made that had words fingerspelled in American Sign Language. I shared a little bit about how we use ASL in our home as 3 of our 6 kids are deaf. I was kind of surprised by the numbers people who commented on how excited they were by the designs because they too were deaf, or someone in their family was, or a close friend, or they were an interpreter, or someone in their family was, or they had some other personal connection to sign language. It was really fun to find that connection and community. But even if you don't have as personal of a connection to ASL it is still a neat language to learn and you never know when you may be able to use it.

I thought it would be fun to do another Cricut project using ASL, this time Christmas themed. I used the same concept that I used on my t-shirts, a fingerspelled word with the corresponding letters below. This time I chose words that I felt like went along with Christmas.

The original idea was to make a stocking or two, but I wanted to use multiple words and show how they could be used in lots of different projects.

By changing the sizes of the words I used them to make a stocking, a pillow, and a simple ornament. Any of the words could be resized to fit any of the projects or any other project you may want to make.

I used my Cricut Maker to cut the iron on, the fabric for the stocking, and the felt for the ornament. Because the pillow is made of strips I chose to cut those out with a regular rotary cutter and mat, though they could be cut on the Maker instead. I don't love the cutting part of sewing so it was really nice to have the Maker do all of that for me.

I know it is still a little early for Christmas but it is probably my favorite holiday and I love making Christmas projects so this was fun to make. It made me excited to start getting to work on even more Christmas stuff.

How to Make ASL Christmas Crafts with the Cricut Maker

You will need:

• Cricut Maker with fine point and rotary blades
• 12x24 fabric grip mat
• 12x12 light or standard grip mat
• rotary cutter
• self healing mat
• cutting ruler
• 1/2 yard of main fabric to make both pillow and stocking (stocking only you will need 1/3 yard, pillow only 1/4 yard)
• 1/2 yard white fabric to make both pillow and stocking (stocking only you will need 1/3 yard, pillow only 1/4 yard)
• fat quarter of black fabric
• thin batting or fleece 12"x 45" (optional)
• 12" x 16" pillow insert
• red felt
• white felt
• Everyday Iron On in black
• small piece of ribbon
• small amount of stuffing
• EasyPress 2 
• EasyPress mat
• sewing machine
• thread to match fabrics

Instructions:

You can use any of the words on any of the projects but you will need to adjust the size to fit the project you are making if you change them up from what I used. In the file MERRY is sized to fit the stocking, JOY is sized to fit the ornament, and NOEL is sized to fit the pillow. 

I am going to share the instructions separated by project, if you make all three you can cut the words out all at once but it is easier to explain each project individually.

Stocking:

Open the Christmas Stocking project in Design Space. Do not follow the directions listed in the project, we are going to change it up a bit. 

The stocking shown has a heel and toe piece that are sewn into the stocking. I wanted to make my project a bit simpler so I chose to leave those off. To do this I only used mats 1 and 2 (a white stocking with no cutouts, meant to be the inside piece. Also, the cuff is made by folding the top of the stocking down so the inside fabric shows around the top, my lining is white so that is what you see as the cuff. Because it was white and my outside fabric was so dark I felt like it was a little see through so I added a layer of Project Fleece in between, you could also use a thin batting or you can leave that part off, it is up to you.

Take you main fabric (the buffalo check), your lining (the white), and the fleece if you are using it, and trim each one to a 12" strip that is the width of your fabric (12"x approx. 44"). If you are using 1/2 yard cuts and are also planning to make a pillow you can set aside the leftover strips to cut for your pillow. 

Place the main fabric on the 12"x 24" fabric mat, smoothing down with your hand or a brayer to stick securely on the mat. The extra length can just hang off the bottom edge. 

Cut mat 1. 

Remove from mat and flip the fabric around so that the uncut edge is now on the mat. (Important: do not change the side of the fabric that is facing up, if you placed the fabric on the mat right side down for the first mat, place it right side down for the second mat too). 

Cut mat 2.

Repeat with the lining fabric and with the fleece if you are using it, you will need to change the material setting, used the fleece setting and it worked perfectly. 

Open the ASL Christmas Design Space file and cut out the MERRY from your iron on. Don't forget to mirror. Weed and set aside.

Sew the main fabric stocking pieces together by placing right sides together and stitching all the way around the sides and bottom of the stocking, leave the top open. (all seam allowances are 1/4")

Repeat with the lining but if you are using the fleece you will layer fleece, fabric, fabric (right sides together), fleece. Stitch around leaving an opening on one side (I left it just above the toe portion). The pattern says to leave an opening when houses the tops in the next stitch and you can do that instead, I prefer having the opening end op on the inside so I can stitch it up on my machine and no one will see it. 

Clip curves around the heel and toe of the stocking.

Turn the outside piece right side out. Tuck it inside of the lining (still wrong side out so the right sides are facing). 

Stitch around the opening. Turn your stocking right side out through the opening in the lining. Stitch the opening closed.

Fold down the cuff.

Place the cut out iron on on the cuff of the stocking and press in place.

Pillow:

To make the pillow open the ASL Christmas Design Space file. Cut out the NOEL from black iron on. Don't forget to mirror. Weed and set aside. 

Cut the pieces for your pillow front and back (finished size is 12" x16") as follows:

from buffalo check cut 2 - 3 1/3"x 16 1/2"

from white cut 1- 5 1/2" x 16 1/2"

from black cut 2- 1" x 16 1/2" and cut 2- 9" x 16 1/2" for the back

Stitch the strips together in this order: check, 1" black, white, 1" black, check

Take the 2 larger black pieces and hem one of the longer sides on each with a narrow hem.

Press all of your pieces. Place NOEL centered on the white strip on the pillow front and press in place. 

Take your 3 pillow pieces and lay them so that the front is right side up, then place one back piece right side down with raw edges matched up with the top and sides and hemmed edge in the center, then place the other back piece right side down with raw edges matched up with bottom and sides and the hemmed edge overlapping the other back piece in the middle. 

Stitch all the way around. Turn right side out.

Place pillow insert in pillow cover.

Ornament:

Open the ASL Christmas Design Space File. Cut out the JOY from iron on and weed. Cut the 2 red circles from red felt and the white circle from white felt. 

Press the Joy to the center of the white circle.

Stitching very close to the edge (1/8") sew the white circle centered on top of one of the red circles. Place that on top of the other red circle and again stitching close to the edge sew around, leaving the a couple inches at the top of the circles open.

Stuff the ornament lightly. Cut a ribbon for hanging and place between the ends inside of the ornament. Stitch the opening closed. 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.