Making Mr. Scrooge
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The weeks before Christmas are simply the best. I love all the build up to the celebration and take great pride in decorating my house. I always love to add something homemade to the feast and this year it was Mr. Scrooge. When we were visiting dear friends in Cornwall over summer, Marie suggested this website to me. She had made the Santa several times and rated the patterns highly. Once home, I had a long look and I loved all the designs, but couldn’t resist making Scrooge.
I grew up with a father who absolutely loved this story and he read it aloud to me as a little girl every year. We always watched the films and tv adaptations as they appeared. The opening lines:
‘Marley was dead, to being with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as doornail’
were engraved upon my heart from the age of about 5. You have to admit, it is a book, truly worthy of the title ‘classic’. It encompasses the spirit of Christmas so much that it can never be usurped from the no. 1 spot in my house. The whole idea of a Victorian Christmas is just so charming and it easy to underplay the role that Charles Dickens played in creating the modern day Christmas that we all celebrate. Published just a few days before Christmas 1843, he wrote this book to shine a spotlight on child poverty and the lack of education and opportunity offered to those on the lower rungs of the social class system. The Industrial revolution had quashed rural traditions and provided little opportunity for joy and celebration against the grim reality of filthy and exploitative cities. Dickens was particularly outraged at child labour and campaigned hard for change and used his writing to shine the spotlight on serious issues of the day. We should be forever grateful for his rekindling of the idea of hearth and home and family as the real heart of Christmas.
So you see, amongst all the adorable patterns available on the website, there was never any competition for my first choice of Ebenezer Scrooge and so where to begin with this project.
The pattern is designed by Larissa Holland of MMM Crafts and there is a link at the bottom of the post to the website. It is a downloadable pdf and don’t be put off by the fact that there are 20 pages. The instructions are detailed but then it is a detailed thing and they are clear and well thought out and you just have to take it step by step. There are quite a few bits and pieces to assemble, but take your time and think about what kind of colours you want where and the embroidery thread and beads and sequins you will use. I made this over the course of a week so it didn’t become too intense and overwhelming.
I sourced my felt from Cloud Craft and again there is a link at the end, along with perle cotton thread for the embroidery. I found the wooden beads on Etsy for the head and hands (so now I have a stash for the next project!). I would recommend keeping a tray on hand to pop all the tiny bits and pieces on as you go to, just to keep everything together at the end of the day.
There is an option to put a date on the back of Scrooge’s dressing gown and I decided to do this as it will something that I give to my eldest son to take home after Christmas as it is his first Christmas married and I hope it will mark the start of their own Christmas traditions.
It is quite a ‘hallelujah moment’ when it is finished. It is fiddly and you do need patience, but it simply the most adorable make and not that difficult if you just work slowly. I think it makes a terrific gift and how lovely to gift it with a vintage copy of the book.
I would definitely make this again and might try another one of Larissa’s patterns because they are all gorgeous. You can follow her on instagram at mmmcrafts and on facebook at MmmcraftsPatterns to see more of her incredible creative work.
