Easy To Make No-Sew Reusable Fabric Christmas Crackers
I really despise unnecessary waste at Christmas, so, this year I have come up with this sustainable, zero-waste Christmas craft that uses and repurposes left-over household items. These no-sew crackers are easy to make and can be reused over and over; the good thing about them is that they come apart in the middle like paper crackers and still bang if you choose to add in a cracker snap.
All you need to make these reusable crackers are:
Fabric: a lightweight fabric works best (such as cotton or linen). This is also a good way to recycle old clothing where the fabric is still in good condition! The fabrics that I used here are from Laura Ashley.
Fabric scissors (ideally pinking shears which stop cut fabric from fraying)
2 pieces of card, a ruler and a pencil
Strong craft tubes (one per cracker)
Toilet roll cardboard tubes (one per cracker)
Stapler
Luxury velvet ribbon
A small cracker gift such as these mini acorn baubles
To start, make two paper card templates so that all of your crackers will be the same size. I found that to make the perfect size cracker, one template should be 25x17cm and the other 20x17cm. Turn over your fabric, mark around each template, and then cut out the two pieces.
Using some fabric glue, turn over the top and one side of each piece of fabric to create a hem. Leave the bottom and one side edge unhemmed to avoid too much of a fabric build-up around the cracker surface.
Your craft tube will be the main body of the cracker as it is stronger than the toilet roll tube. Using the craft knife, measure 10cm along the craft tube and cut the tube down to size.
Do the same to the toilet roll tube, but this time cut it down to 6cm in length.
Start with the largest piece of fabric and the craft tube. Place the hemmed side of the fabric to the left so that the unhemmed section is on the right. Position the tube down closer to the right onto the underside of the fabric, leaving at least 1 cm excess at the end. You are now going to use the spray adhesive, so cover the left side of the fabric that is not going to be wrapped around the tube to avoid it being covered in glue. Once everything is positioned correctly, remove the tube and give your fabric a light coating of adhesive.
Take your craft tube and position it by the unhemmed base of the fabric and roll it upwards towards the hemmed part so that the folded seam is on the outside of the cracker. Make small incisions around the 1cm excess end of the fabric and tuck the fabric over into the inside of the tube. Make sure that all of the ends are glued down properly inside the tube to avoid it catching on your cracker inserts.
Use the no-sew fabric glue along one side of the hemmed end of the cracker and secure it to the other to create a loose cracker end.
For the second half of the cracker, make a 3cm incision down the toilet roll tube and lap over the ends, securing them with a staple. This will mean that you can connect the two cracker parts together easily and tightly. Repeat the same steps using the adhesive glue and no-sew fabric glue and leave everything to dry.
Using a luxury velvet ribbon, tie a bow at each cracker end so that your cracker can begin to take shape.
Insert a cracker snap into your cracker and a small gift, then connect your cracker parts by gently slotting them together.
And, that’s it! Super-sustainable and beautiful Christmas crackers that can be used every year. For a detailed video demonstration to see me make these crackers, click here.
