Russian Stacking Cones

If you love little collections of gathered beauties, or are mad about Christmas, then stop on over to The Fable of the Table this week... there's a wonderful idea for an unusual and personal decorating idea, and she's giving away a little set of oddities picked up from her travels in China, Thailand and beyond...

This year, my family is planning a Christmas-of-the-century: a family reunion, meet-and-greet-with-Tilly, house-warming, three-week-long, English-countryside, handmade extravaganza. The idea is that, if we start now, there'll be time to get done all the things we want to have ready for Christmas. So, to spur us on, each week I'll be posting a little Christmas inspiration or tutorial. And perhaps you can add a little handmade fun to your celebration this year, too.

Today, I've got a little how-to on making felt Christmas cones. Very easy, and a lovely way to add colour to your tree.

You'll need:

• a piece of felt, about 8" square (I used 100% wool felt as it's a bit sturdier, but acrylic will work, too)
• about 20" of trim (ribbon, rickrack, twill tape)
• scissors
• a needle
• pins
• sewing thread

Cut a curved line across your felt from one corner to the corner diagonally opposite. (You can use a compass to mark this out first for perfection, but it's not necessary) Then, starting about 2" along the curve, cut towards the corner. This will trim away one of the sides, so that your cone won't be so wide. Cut a small curve in the bottom corner of the felt, as shown below.

Take the trim you've picked, and pin it along the edge of long curve on the right side of the felt. It may look a bit bumpy now, but it should straighten out when the cone is joined up. Cut the trim to size once it is pinned.

Using small running stitches, sew the trim onto the felt. A thread that matches the colour of the trim will make this almost invisible, or you can use a contrasting colour if you want the stitches to show.

Fold the cone in half, so that the right sides are together and the trim is on the inside. Pin it, and sew down the long sides of the felt, from the trim to the bottom of the cone, and across the bottom. The only opening should now be at the top, where your trim is. Turn the cone right-side out.

Cut another length of trim for the handle, 10" long. Pin it to the sides of the cone, on the inside. The seam where you sewed up the cone should be halfway between the handles.

Sew the handles to the cone. Again, matching thread will make this invisible. Cut away any excess trim.

Now, fill with sweeties! 

And why not make a couple more in complementary colours? The beauty of handmade things is that they probably won't be exactly the same size, so they'll be able to stack inside each other just like Russian dolls... which will no doubt make for easy storage when they're not in use.

If you make any cones, I'd love to see! Or, if you've got any Christmas projects of your own you're working on, please share a link so we can all have a look.