Santa will know that you have been extra good this year when he sees this super sweet mantel scarf over the fireplace.

Guests will love it too, because it practically shouts out that it's a Holly Jolly Christmas!  And, it will have your whole family grinning from ear to ear.  

Supplies needed:

• 2 yards each of outer and lining fabric. If your mantel is more than 70 inches long, you will need more.

• 1 package each of medium-size red and green rickrack trim

• Five pompoms, 1 1/2 inch size

• 2 yards of 1/8 inch wide ribbon and a hand needle with a large eye

Instructions:

Cut out the shelf topper piece. I used the measurements of the shelf (66" by 8") and added one inch for seam allowances, which made it 67 inches by 9 inches.

On the remaining fabric, mark out the triangles that will hang from the front of the mantel shelf. Adding an inch for seam allowances, mine were 23 inches wide at the top and 13 inches tall.

I marked out three triangles, then embroidered the North Pole village designs in the center of each triangle. If your mantel is longer or shorter than 66 inches, you will need to adjust the size of the triangles that you use.

Mark out the side triangles.  Again, adding seam allowances, mine were 9 inches wide at the top by 13 inches deep. Embroider the elf designs in the center of these triangles.

Cut out the embroidered triangles from the plain fabric. Use these pieces as patterns to cut out their mates from the lining fabric. Don't forget to cut a mate for the rectangular shelf piece.

Prepare the pompoms:
Thread the hand needle with the narrow ribbon and put the needle through the center of the pompom at the densest area. Pull the ribbon through the pompom until you have  about 5 Inches of ribbon between the end of the ribbon and the pompom. Cut the ribbon off so that there is 5 inches of ribbon on either side of the pompom. Repeat for all five pompoms. Tie the ends of the ribbons together on each pompom.

Place each embroidered triangle right sides together with its lining counterpart. Stitch the triangles together using a 1/2-inch seam allowance along the 2 sides. At the point of each triangle, insert the tied ribbon end of a pompom into the stitching line and between the layers of fabric.  The knot should be in the seam allowance area.

After the triangles are stitched, turn them right side out, and stitch rickrack trim along the edges of each side of the triangles. I used red on the center front triangle and on the side triangles, and I used green on the left and right front-facing triangles.

Lay out the plain shelf rectangle with the right side up. Place each triangle in place on the sides and along the front edge of the shelf piece. 

Stitch the triangles into place along the edges using a 1/2-inch seam allowance.

Lay out the purple shelf piece as you did in the last step, with the triangles laying towards the center of the shelf piece. 

Lay the shelf lining piece over the top of the triangles. Stitch the lining to the shelf piece along the front and sides (these are the sides that the triangles are attached to).

Turn the mantel scarf right side out, and turn the seam allowances along the back of the shelf pieces to the inside.  Pin and edge stitch into place along the back of the shelf piece.  Press, and you're done!

Oh, what fun it is to deck out your fireplace mantel for the holidays with this extra special mantel scarf.