One of my oldest memories as a kid is about renting a couple of video tapes each Saturday and watching them in my room in the evening. For those of you who remember that time, you’ll know that we had to go through a few trailers first before we could enjoy the movie proper. I remember vividly one of those trailers for it seemed to be present on every tape I rented: The Nightmare before Christmas. At the time, I couldn’t care less about what I perceived to be a weird stop-motion trailer that was delaying the enjoyment of the movie that I wanted to watch.
A few years have passed since then and I finally got to see and enjoy Tim Burton’s masterpiece. Naturally with Halloween coming up I got inspired to create this bag charm trio to commemorate what is now one of my favorite movie. So get your tools ready and follow along this tutorial to make your own spooky version of Sally, Jack Skellington and his archenemy Oogie Boogie!
Although there are 3 different patterns in The Nightmare Before Christmas bag charms pattern pack, most of the steps to follow to create each bag charm are identical. Thus if only one bag charm is showcased to illustrate a step it means that the procedure to follow is identical for the other ones.
Since the assembly sequence is unique to each bag charm the stitching process will be detailed individually.
Print it on US letter or A4 paper depending on the version you downloaded.
Make sure that the pattern is not resized by checking your print settings. You can check if it was printed properly by measuring the reference found at the bottom of each page.
Keep the assembly diagram to help you position the pieces later on during the stitching process.
Securing the pieces of the pattern on the leather
Roughly cut-out around the different elements of the pattern and secure them to your piece(s) of leather with masking tape.
Punching the stitching holes
Use 1mm stitching prongs or a 1mm hole punch to punch the stitching holes directly on top of the paper.
You can use a 1.5mm and 5mm hole punches to punch-out the narrow curves of Oogie Boogie’s body to make it easier to cut-out during the next step.
With a 2.5mm hole punch, punch-out Sally’s pupils at the center of her eyes (elements denoted C on the pattern).
Keep the two little pieces as we will glue them back-in after painting them black.
Tracing the lines of Jack Skellington’s “bowtie”
Use a stylus to trace the lines directly over the paper. This will allow you to follow them as a guide when you will paint them later on.
Cutting-out the pieces of the project
Using a pair of scissors or an X-Acto knife, cut-out all the pieces of the bag charm.
Painting the leather
I used Angelus red paint for Sally’s hairs and lips, light turquoise for her skin, white for her eyes (C) and black for the pupils and the background of the eyes (B), lilac and yellow for her dress.
Jack Skellington is painted using black and white. Don’t forget to paint the lines on his “bowtie”.
I used green dye for Oogie Boogie’s body in order to obtain a light and mat tone. His eyes and mouth were dyed black.
Stitching it all together
Sally
Insert the pupils eyes into each eye (C) and apply some pressure with your mallet or wood burnisher to set them in place.
Secure them by applying glue to the back of each piece. Wait until the glue is dry before proceeding to the next step.
Stitch all of Sally’s facial features to the face a torso (A). That is her scars, eyelashes and nose. I am using a simple back-stitch here in order to obtain very straight stitch lines.
Stitch the eyes (B over C) and the lips (D) to the face (A) using a saddle stitch.
Stitch the hairs (E) to the face (A). We are only stitching the inner-most stitch line for now. The first and last stitch of the sequence are only decorative and don’t connect to the torso.
Connect both sides of the front of the dress (F & G) with a whip stitch (you can also use a cross-stitch but I wanted the stitch to have a thickness consistent with that of the facial features with only one thread connecting each pair of holes).
Stitch both sides of the dress (F, G & H) to the torso (A) and the four overlapped holes of the hairs (E) using a saddle stitch. I used two colours of thread here to match each half of the front of the dress.
The V of the front of the dress (F & G) connects to the neck (A), not to the back of the dress (H). The shoulders however do.
To complete the bag charm, stitch the back of the hairs (I) to the front of the hairs (E) and to the back of the dress (H).
Stitch the strap (J) in between the two layers of hairs at the top of the head and add stuffing as you progressively close the bag charm.
.
Stitching the hairs to the back of the dress can prove difficult. I recommend using a curved needle for that section to make it easier.
Jack Skellington
Start by stitching the facial features to Jack’s face (E) using a back-stitch. That is his eyebrows and mouth.
Then stitch his eyes (A & B) and nostrils (C & D) using a saddle stitch.
Glue the neck (L) to the corresponding portion on the back of the head (K).
Stitch both sides of the head (E & K) together using a saddle-stitch.
Add the strap (N) between the two layers once you reach the top of the head.
Add some stuffing before closing the head.
Stitch the white decorative stitch around the front of his costume (F) using a back-stitch.
Then stitch-on the white center piece (G) using a saddle-stitch.
Set-up the “bow-tie” to the front of the costume (F) by stitching-in the two eyes (H) to the underlying layers (I, J & F in that order).
To complete the bag charm, stitch both sides of the costume (F & M), connecting the “bow-tie”, the costume and the head once you reach the top.
Add some stuffing before closing everything up.
Oogie Boogie
Start by gluing the eyes (A) in place on the top half of the front body (B).
Then stitch the eyebrows and the eyes.
Stitch the mouth (C) using a whip stitch.
To assemble the body, first connect the two halves of the front (B & D) using a cross-stitch.
Once the two halves are connected, start stitching the two opposite sides of the body (B, D & E) together using a cross-stitch.
Stitch the strap (F) between the two layers once you reach the top.
Add some stuffing as you close the body.
Final result
I hope you enjoyed following along this tutorial. Please consider posting a photo of your creation in the comments below. It would mean a lot to me to see my little projects out into the world as you make it your own.
Any feedback/question about this tutorial or project idea that you’d like to see posted here is and always will be more than welcome.
Happy crafting!
Footnotes
The following online content provided some assistance and/or inspiration during the making of this project:
Tutorial
The Nightmare Before Christmas Bag Charms
4 hours / bag charm
Moderate
Common for leathercraft
One of my oldest memories as a kid is about renting a couple of video tapes each Saturday and watching them in my room in the evening. For those of you who remember that time, you’ll know that we had to go through a few trailers first before we could enjoy the movie proper. I remember vividly one of those trailers for it seemed to be present on every tape I rented: The Nightmare before Christmas. At the time, I couldn’t care less about what I perceived to be a weird stop-motion trailer that was delaying the enjoyment of the movie that I wanted to watch.
A few years have passed since then and I finally got to see and enjoy Tim Burton’s masterpiece. Naturally with Halloween coming up I got inspired to create this bag charm trio to commemorate what is now one of my favorite movie. So get your tools ready and follow along this tutorial to make your own spooky version of Sally, Jack Skellington and his archenemy Oogie Boogie!
Requirements
Skills
Tools
Bill of Materials
Pattern
The Nightmare Before Christmas Bag Charms
5,00 €Walk-through
Although there are 3 different patterns in The Nightmare Before Christmas bag charms pattern pack, most of the steps to follow to create each bag charm are identical. Thus if only one bag charm is showcased to illustrate a step it means that the procedure to follow is identical for the other ones.
Since the assembly sequence is unique to each bag charm the stitching process will be detailed individually.
Printing the pattern
You can get the patterns here.
Print it on US letter or A4 paper depending on the version you downloaded.
Make sure that the pattern is not resized by checking your print settings. You can check if it was printed properly by measuring the reference found at the bottom of each page.
Keep the assembly diagram to help you position the pieces later on during the stitching process.
Securing the pieces of the pattern on the leather
Roughly cut-out around the different elements of the pattern and secure them to your piece(s) of leather with masking tape.
Punching the stitching holes
Use 1mm stitching prongs or a 1mm hole punch to punch the stitching holes directly on top of the paper.
You can use a 1.5mm and 5mm hole punches to punch-out the narrow curves of Oogie Boogie’s body to make it easier to cut-out during the next step.
With a 2.5mm hole punch, punch-out Sally’s pupils at the center of her eyes (elements denoted C on the pattern).
Keep the two little pieces as we will glue them back-in after painting them black.
Tracing the lines of Jack Skellington’s “bowtie”
Use a stylus to trace the lines directly over the paper. This will allow you to follow them as a guide when you will paint them later on.
Cutting-out the pieces of the project
Using a pair of scissors or an X-Acto knife, cut-out all the pieces of the bag charm.
Painting the leather
I used Angelus red paint for Sally’s hairs and lips, light turquoise for her skin, white for her eyes (C) and black for the pupils and the background of the eyes (B), lilac and yellow for her dress.
Jack Skellington is painted using black and white. Don’t forget to paint the lines on his “bowtie”.
I used green dye for Oogie Boogie’s body in order to obtain a light and mat tone. His eyes and mouth were dyed black.
Stitching it all together
Sally
Insert the pupils eyes into each eye (C) and apply some pressure with your mallet or wood burnisher to set them in place.
Secure them by applying glue to the back of each piece. Wait until the glue is dry before proceeding to the next step.
Stitch all of Sally’s facial features to the face a torso (A). That is her scars, eyelashes and nose. I am using a simple back-stitch here in order to obtain very straight stitch lines.
Stitch the eyes (B over C) and the lips (D) to the face (A) using a saddle stitch.
Stitch the hairs (E) to the face (A). We are only stitching the inner-most stitch line for now. The first and last stitch of the sequence are only decorative and don’t connect to the torso.
Connect both sides of the front of the dress (F & G) with a whip stitch (you can also use a cross-stitch but I wanted the stitch to have a thickness consistent with that of the facial features with only one thread connecting each pair of holes).
Stitch both sides of the dress (F, G & H) to the torso (A) and the four overlapped holes of the hairs (E) using a saddle stitch. I used two colours of thread here to match each half of the front of the dress.
The V of the front of the dress (F & G) connects to the neck (A), not to the back of the dress (H). The shoulders however do.
To complete the bag charm, stitch the back of the hairs (I) to the front of the hairs (E) and to the back of the dress (H).
Stitch the strap (J) in between the two layers of hairs at the top of the head and add stuffing as you progressively close the bag charm.
.Stitching the hairs to the back of the dress can prove difficult. I recommend using a curved needle for that section to make it easier.
Jack Skellington
Start by stitching the facial features to Jack’s face (E) using a back-stitch. That is his eyebrows and mouth.
Then stitch his eyes (A & B) and nostrils (C & D) using a saddle stitch.
Glue the neck (L) to the corresponding portion on the back of the head (K).
Stitch both sides of the head (E & K) together using a saddle-stitch.
Add the strap (N) between the two layers once you reach the top of the head.
Add some stuffing before closing the head.
Stitch the white decorative stitch around the front of his costume (F) using a back-stitch.
Then stitch-on the white center piece (G) using a saddle-stitch.
Set-up the “bow-tie” to the front of the costume (F) by stitching-in the two eyes (H) to the underlying layers (I, J & F in that order).
To complete the bag charm, stitch both sides of the costume (F & M), connecting the “bow-tie”, the costume and the head once you reach the top.
Add some stuffing before closing everything up.
Oogie Boogie
Start by gluing the eyes (A) in place on the top half of the front body (B).
Then stitch the eyebrows and the eyes.
Stitch the mouth (C) using a whip stitch.
To assemble the body, first connect the two halves of the front (B & D) using a cross-stitch.
Once the two halves are connected, start stitching the two opposite sides of the body (B, D & E) together using a cross-stitch.
Stitch the strap (F) between the two layers once you reach the top.
Add some stuffing as you close the body.
Final result
I hope you enjoyed following along this tutorial. Please consider posting a photo of your creation in the comments below. It would mean a lot to me to see my little projects out into the world as you make it your own.
Any feedback/question about this tutorial or project idea that you’d like to see posted here is and always will be more than welcome.
Happy crafting!
Footnotes
The following online content provided some assistance and/or inspiration during the making of this project: