EPP Christmas Ornaments Workshop

Hello everybody!

Last weekend I went to a short workshop making EPP Christmas ornaments, here in my current home city of Coventry. We were at St-Martin's-In-The-Field Church, which was a very nice venue, providing excellent tea and cake in the café. We were in a heated marquee due to building work, but I really didn't find it that cold (note: I was the only one with this opinion. None of my fellow classmates took off their coat like I did). Our tutor was Jane Cobbett, a local textile artist, collector and quilt restorer.

She started by giving us a talk on how the Victorians used to make Christmas decorations using fabric scraps, often selling them to raise money for good causes. She brought in this lovely late Victorian Moravian star from her collection (maker unknown).

Isn't it lovely? A lot of the fabrics are silks, and you can make out some brocade designs. The beads are held in place by pins.

Jane also showed us this version of the same pattern she made herself.

Then we got on to making things ourselves. We we working on things a lot simpler than the Moravian stars! First we made ornaments with a single pair of hexagons.

The way these work, you leave the EPP papers in place and stitch right sides together (instead of stitching wrong sides together and then removing the papers like in normal EPP). The papers are what give it the stiffness to work as an ornament. She provided us with a lovely selection of fabric, ribbons and beads to work with. Here's the one I made.

And secondly, we made a 3D version of it, using 3 or more hexagons stitched together. I chose to use three. Me being me, I couldn't resist a bit of fussy cutting so all three of my sides have an identifiable motif highlighted.

And there we go! Two hours well spent. I had a little bit of finishing off and tidying up to do with mine at home, but for the most part we all got at least one ornament and many people got two finished in the class, so it was nicely paced. These were very easy and fun to make, and because they can use scrap materials and old EPP papers (you can use any shape, it doesn't have to be hexagons) they are a very inexpensive make, too.

And here are my two ornaments hanging on my Christmas tree!