‘Tis the season to be crafting, so in the spirit of celebrating the holidays with handmade goodness, I tried out Christmas Woolens, a lovely traditional felt ornament kit from Rachel’s of Greenfield!

I came across this kit while browsing booths at CHA last winter, and the muted colors and thoughtful details stopped me in my tracks. Just looking at those cozy mittens and snug stockings brought back fond childhood memories of drinking hot chocolate and decorating the tree with my mom’s handmade ornaments. So, when the gentleman in the booth kindly sent me home with a kit to review, I couldn’t wait for the holiday season to roll around again so I’d have a chance to try them out!

According to the Rachel’s of Greenfield site:

Here is a charming collection of warm woolen mittens & stockings to celebrate the Christmas season. Easily constructed & full of charm, these ornaments are suitable for trimming the tree or decorating packages. Tiny surprises can be tucked inside each one. Designs include a Santa, snowman, cat, sheep, holly & Christmas Tree.

Kit includes wool felt, embroidery floss and gold string plus precise patterns and complete instructions to make 3 stockings and 3 mittens. Colors are cobblestone, red, green, black, white, and gold.

Price: $15.99 (complete kit)

What I loved:

1. The kit contains all of the coordinating felt and floss required to make a complete set of six ornaments.

2. The templates, though hand-drawn, are clear, crisp, and show the placement of each smaller shape on the mitten or stocking. Beyond the placement guide, each smaller shape also has its own separate pattern piece.

3. The pattern pieces are clearly labeled, so you won’t get them mixed up after you cut them out.

4. The quantities of felt needed to complete each set of ornaments is provided on the back of the instruction book, allowing you to change colors or make more than one set of ornaments with the templates.

5. The felt included in the kit is high quality and thick, making it easy to cut clean lines.

6. Once you get the hang of the construction, you customize your ornaments with additional embroidered embellishments, machine stitching, or decorations.

What I didn’t love:

1. Some of the pieces are glued in place, but are not also stitched. (All pieces are initially glued in place.) In my opinion, stitching around each piece would give the ornaments a more finished look.

2. The decorative stitch instructions were adequate for experienced embroiderers, but new stitchers might need to look up more detailed descriptions. I thought the chain stitch illustration was particularly difficult to follow.

3. The lengths of the floss pieces were a bit short. I always seemed to run out right before finishing a larger decorative area.

Things you should know before getting started:

• In addition to the materials included in the kit, you’ll also need an embroidery needle, a pair of embroidery scissors, a pair of fabric scissors, and a bottle of fabric glue.

• The kit contains only slightly more floss than needed to complete the set of ornaments, so you’ll want to be careful not to make too many mistakes. (The same goes for the felt.)

• The instructions say it, but I’ll say it here too: use a very thin layer of glue when attaching the felt pieces to the stockings or mittens. If you use more, you won’t be able to get your needle through to stitch them in place.

Overall impressions:

I really enjoyed using the Christmas Woolens ornament kit. The materials were high quality and easy to work with, and the instructions were, for the most part, clear. Unlike with many kits, you don’t actually have to be professional crafter to get good results—even on my first try, my ornament looked just like the sample photo. I also thought the $15.99 price was fair, given the nice look and feel of the felt and the fact that the templates can be used over and over again to make additional ornament sets. I’d definitely recommend this ornament kit to fellow crafters!

Disclosure: Samples provided for review, but my opinions are honest and my own!

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About Haley

Brooklyn-based DIY from a Gal in Granny Glasses! When not at CTD, I write The Zen of Making (http://www.thezenofmaking.com), a DIY blog featuring craft tutorials, handmade geekery, and all things domestic. (Okay, and a few cat photos.)

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