Practical, scrap-friendly, low-waste, and beautiful.
It’s that time of year — the season of giving gifts to the people we love and the people we barely know. If you’re keen to give something that won’t get shoved in the back of a cupboard (or quietly binned…), here are five handmade ideas that are practical, thoughtful, affordable and easy to adapt for different styles.
Each project can be made using fabric scraps and, if you want to keep it natural, finished with a small selection of plastic-free threads and trims. We embraced a wabi-sabi approach to keep these projects fun, relaxed, and organically imperfect.
1. Reusable Bowl Covers
A simple, waste-free alternative to cling film.
Bowl covers are quick to sew and endlessly useful — especially during the season of potlucks, picnics and leftovers. We recommend choosing natural fibres and trims, ideally GOTS or OEKO-TEX® certified, so nothing harmful comes into contact with your food.
I made these using this gorgeous hemp/cotton blend fabric, sewn with organic cotton thread and finished with 6mm natural elastic. These covers aren’t designed to be airtight but are ideal for transporting food and keeping flies off while you’re prepping a party table.
Optional Tutorial:
I didn’t use a specific tutorial; it's as simple as sewing two circles together, turning them inside out, sewing a line for your elastic channel and threading your elastic. A quick google search provides multiple options for written and video tutorials.
2. Christmas Decorations
A thoughtful gift for people you don’t know well or who already have everything!
Fabric decorations are charming, space-friendly and wonderfully personal. They’re also a great way to practice hand stitching, embroidery, or sashiko inspired details.
These little Christmas trees are wonderfully simple and addictive. They are made using natural fabric scraps, leftover buttons, organic cotton ribbon and are stuffed with small fabric and thread scraps.
Optional Tutorial:
This tutorial by Bethany Lynne Makes offers lovely inspiration and simple instructions for tasteful, modern decorations. We recommend checking out the rest of her site for other tutorials and PDF patterns.
3. Scrunchies & Hair Ties
The classic stocking filler — endlessly useful and customisable.
Scrunchies are fun, quick and perfect for beginners (kids included!). Go bold with oversized statement scrunchies or keep it simple with classic colours. Mini scrunchies make a great alternative to regular synthetic hair-ties and are better for your hair and the planet.
I kept these simple with natural fabric scraps, 6mm natural elastic and organic cotton thread.
Optional Tutorials:
• Seamwork Simple Scrunchie Tutorial
4. Drawstring Pouches & Gift Bags
Reusable, personal, and endlessly useful.
Drawstring bags are a brilliant reusable way to wrap gifts as well as becoming part of the gift themselves. Pop in a small handmade soap, lip balm or biscuits and voila, a thoughtful, practical and low-impact gift. Keep them simple or experiment with colour blocking, quilting and embroidery, or even boro.
These are created from a leftover curtain fabric, lined with old sheets (already used to make muslins) and finished with organic cotton thread, organic cotton cord and tape, and a few old beads from the kids stash!
Why not make a whole set to use instead of xmas wrapping under the tree this year!
Optional tutorial:
The internet is awash with free tutorials and you can go as basic or as elaborate as you like. If you want to make one with a lining, boxed corners and a contrast drawstring channel I found this tutorial useful.
5. Fabric Bookmarks
The perfect scrap-buster for readers (or for slipping into a Christmas card).
Bookmarks are any easy win: everyone needs one, they’re flat, gift-friendly, and fun to make. They’re also great for trying patchwork, quilting or hand-stitching. I used fabric scraps and embroidery thread from my stash and added some organic cotton ribbon and a strip of lightweight biodegradable interfacing for extra structure.
Optional Tutorial:
Rebekah Johnston is a UK based textile artist who provides a range of stunning free + paid tutorials. I used her free tutorial for boro bookmarks as inspiration for my own.
Natural Materials + Tools for Plastic-Free Making
Trims
If you’d like to keep your handmade gifts as natural as possible, we’ve curated a range of natural, plant-based sewing essentials. These are the trims used in all the makes featured in this blog. I stuck to neutral-coloured threads, ribbons, and cords — using natural tones throughout provides a cohesive look and suits the organic, wabi-sabi nature of these projects.
Hand sewing all the closures makes the stitches less noticeable and is a quick, relaxing way to connect with your make.
- Natural sewing threads — organic cotton and Tencel™
- Natural elastic — soft, safe, long-lasting natural rubber and organic cotton elastic
- Biodegradable interfacing — perfect for bookmarks and adding more structure to lighter weight scraps
- Organic Cotton or Tencel™ cord and ribbon
- Corozo buttons
Tools
Beautiful, functional tools make every project easier and more joyful. We love Cohana for everyday sewing tools — not only are they made for makers, they’re created by master craftspeople, helping keep traditional techniques alive. Here are a few favourite products I used during my process:
Do you have a go-to handmade gift? Tag us, message us, or share your ideas — we always love seeing what you create.