White Elephant wristlet

I've got plans to make about two or three more of these types of bags, based off of A Lemon Squeezy Home's tutorial. I've only got this one completed so far, but thought I'd share now just in case anyone is interested in using the tutorial. I added a strap so that the bag could be a wristlet, which is more portable in my mind than just a clutch.

I made this one for the white elephant gift exchange at work. The owner of my company (male) got it, and I felt a little bad that he ended up with it. But he said that he'd plan to use it to hold his tees when he goes golfing. Go figure.

Gum Drop Pillow

Hi!  Magpie Mimi here and glad to say one more Christmas present ticked off the list!  My eldest sister gave me a whole bunch of fabric that she found on super sale and I thought I should make her something nice from some of it so she's getting an Amy Butler Gum Drop Pillow and so will a few other family members as they're quick and easy to make and will hopefully go down a storm.

Grey/cream background colour fabric with sketched on flowers with white highlights.  Think they're dog roses.  It has eight segments and an octagon on the top to cover the joins of the segments.

By some chance of luck I managed completely by accident to cut the octagon for the top with a flower right in the centre!  So chuffed!

Side on view showing the pattern of the fabric more.

 The cotton is quite soft and shiny and will hopefully compliment her living room as it's mostly white and greys.  I know it's not a practical cushion with two children, but since the rest of her living room are in these colours she must be able to cope! hehe!  All I can say is she must have shares in Vanish!

First X-mas Presents Done: Reindeer Shrugs

Hi, this is Stephanie from The Naked Seamstress with my first handmade Christmas present this year: two Reindeer Shrugs for my boyfriend's sisters. Both sisters are practically grown up but I know that they love wearing special Christmassy things during the holidays and I thought these shrugs make an ideal extra warm cover for sitting around in your pyjamas at Christmas time. I used a free Hot Patterns shrug pattern I found online* but had to shorten the shrugs a lot because I had too little fabric. The shrugs are still pretty long, so I guess the original shrug would reach all the way down to the hips.

The fabric is a cream white fleece with red reindeers printed on and I found it in a shop in Norway last summer and was immediately inspired to make Christmassy shrugs with the fabric. For the edges I used ordinary cotton jersey rib in a matching color.

The shrugs are super simple to make, especially if you have a serger. So it's not too late to make one for Christmas!

*There are plenty more free patterns where this one came from!

A clutch and two wallets

Hi, it's Aleah from no time to sew. I've finished a few gifts! Having sewn garments exclusively for a while, I'd kind of forgotten how quickly little bags/pouches go together (and how little fabric they use), and I was able to finish these three things in two evenings - crazy (for me, anyway)! First I have gifts for my interns at work, both from both from terrific tutorials from Noodlehead:

The top one (for my female intern) is the gathered clutch, a fun take on a regular zipper pouch that is really pretty and not really much more effort. I added a removable wrist strap by sewing a tab with a d-ring into the side seam and attaching a strap to a tiny dog clip. Her favorite colors are purple and black, so I was glad to find this fabric. The bottom item (for my male intern) is the zippy wallet. I love the pearl snap on the little tab! I added a key ring in case he wants to clip it to his keys or belt. It's so hard to find adult-male-appropriate fabric, but I like this plaid. It's a thin shirting, but I interfaced it with a sturdier interfacing. Check out all the other great tutorials at Noodlehead if you need a last-minute quickie gift!

I also made this wallet for my mom:

The pattern is this one from Dixie DIY. I made just a couple changes - I used a magnetic snap rather than a button/loop, only put in one money pocket, and I made my zipper pocket the same way as on my messenger bag instead of how she instructs. I love this fabric!

So that's all for now, but I hope I can keep up this pace for a while longer and have some more things to share soon. Happy Making!

Refashioned Sweater to Skirt

Hello, Holiday Crafters!  My name is Seeks, and this is my first post here for the Crafty Christmas Club. I am a blogger who's interested in a number of things, so my blog ranges in posts from sewing to art to food. I'm starting to pick up some sewing momentum of late, so I am happy to have a chance to contribute here. I just finished one of my first present projects and really need to show it off somewhere before I spoil the surprise! Thank goodness you're here to save me from blabbing!

I had a sweater that both my cousin and I loved, but just never wore. It had a few holes in key places that just didn't make it wearable to most outings.

So, for Christmas, I thought I'd refashion it into something I knew she would wear: a cute knit skirt and leg warmers. The nature of the knit and ribbing of the sweater was perfect for the refashion because it wasn't itchy, and the V-neckline stretched just enough to serve as a perfect waistband. A nice detail on the skirt, as I've not seen many v-waisted skirts.

I used the sleeves for the leg warmers, and the top curved portion of the sleeves to make the pockets (one kangaroo pouch on front, one small pocket on the back). My cousin loves pockets, so I am excited by their addition.

I used a blanket stitch on the raw edges of the leg warmers, and they stay up quite well without the addition of any ties.


They're a little loose at the top, but that doesn't seem to compromise their hug elsewhere. My hope is that they'll spring back after a wash.

The pockets were sewn with some embroidery thread "X"'s at the corners to help keep the bulk of the inner sewn edges from sticking out.

Hope you like it!

You're welcome to check out my blog for other stuff I'm working on. Most of my good stuff will be showing up here in the next month though, as most of my projects are gifts at the moment.

How I Roll - Animal Blankets Out of Control

Hello fellow crafters! I'm Amy, and I blog over at Sew Well. I've really enjoyed keeping up with everything that everyone has been making for their family and friends this holiday season. I'm getting a late start posting over here, but I'll hopefully be able to get it all in in the next few weeks.

I figured I'd start with a few animal blankets I made for friends who just recently had babies. I used the Cotton Ginny's Animal Blanket pattern, which comes with patterns for a bear, elephant, and hippo, but I modified the patterns to better fit the recipient. Here are the results.

A pink unicorn for a little girl who's room is filled with magic and fairies.

A floppy eared dog for a little girl who's mom grew up with the greatest basset hound ever.

The blankets are simple to make and only require a sewing machine and a bit of hand embroidery at the end.

I hope everyone's having a great weekend. I'll be back soon with some more of my holiday crafting.

Until then,

Amy

Purple jackets

I've been having a sweatshop over here, sewing three, pretty much identical jackets (two of them are a bit bigger).They also have different zippers so that it will be easy for me to tell the bigger ones (pink zipper) from the small one (blue zipper). I know that the kiddo loves his, it feels cruel to make him wait for Christmas, but maybe then he'll have forgotten about it and be surprised all over again. (What to do next year when he will be more aware of what I'm doing. I must resort to sneaky sewing and no fitting).

The fabric is a sweatshirt fabric I found in the scrap bin and for the wristlets I chopped up an old failed project.

More pictures and information on my blog.

ANOTHER capelet

 I know, I'm not very exciting because I made the same capelet twice this month. The first version was for myself, but when my sister saw it she requested one of her own. We went to a fabric store, battled some terrible customer service (don't get me started), and she ended up choosing this lightweight canvas for the lining. It's pretty cool, I've never seen anything like it.

I found this black somewhat stretchy fabric for the outside of the cape at a local store. It was my first time sewing something so stretchy that just cutting it was a challenge. When I sewed it I used tons of pins which seemed to make life easier. 

As I mentioned in my last post, the "hood" is definitely more fashion than function, it is not going to fit over her head.

I tried it on to show all of you :) I can't wait to give it to my sister!

Please stop by my blog and say hello! I love meeting new sewing friends on the world wide web! :)

First Christmas present done

Hello everyone! I'm Helena of Crafting my Own Style.I was a member here last year, for Christmas presents last year I made purses, toddler aprons and record bowls. This year I haven't felt the insiration, but after reading about all the process here, it came to me!

So yesterday I finished my first gift.

Yup, the first thing you'll see is that the pouch is inside out. I could figure out the instructions, they left much to be desired, especially for a novice project. But it does its work.
Folding it out you'll see that it's a fabric grocery bag - Burdastyle's Charlie to be precise.I whipped this up in a little over an hour and I think they'll be some more under the Christmas tree. I'm hoping the scrap bin won't disappoint me.

Making this bag set free a whole bunch of inspiration for me. I've already decided that my kiddo will get an apron (same as his cousins last year), perhaps an apron for my sister as well and some more Charlie bags.

Let's get crafting!

More information about my groovy grocery bag on my blog.