Handmade Christmas wrap up

Christmas was great. It was really fun to sew some of the presents this year. It was also fun to see J so excited for Christmas. He is 5 this year and I think it is the magical year for excitement during the holidays. I stayed up late quite a few nights to finish everything but it was worth all of the effort. Here is a snap shot of our Christmas.

The pattern for the tent is from Growing up Sew Liberated which is a lovely pattern book full of all sorts sewing patterns for creative play. I love everything in the book and the tent pattern was super. It is a really sturdy design and as you can see from the photo above it works for adults also. The main part of the teepee is made out of cotton canvas that I picked up at JoAnns Fabric. The cotton canvas print for the contrast is from Ikea and was used to make the poufs also. The pattern for the floor cushions is from the Living with Punks tutorial. I made the second pouf with a removable cover and I really like the design.

The pattern for the play capes is again from the Growing up Sew Liberated. I made the butterfly one for my 5 year old niece who loves to dress up and play all sorts of wonderful games. The outside is a brocade that I purchased a long time ago at JoAnns Fabric and the inside is a orange cotton knit. I decided to make one for J also and bought a light blue charmeuse for one side and zebra cotton knit print for the other from Fabric.com. In Growing up Sew Liberated she suggests using an animal print for one side. I wasn't sure about making the cape for J since he tends to be more into building than dressing up. He did want me to make him a crown before Christmas so I figured he could use the light blue side to be a king and the other side to be a wild animal. It is took a little bit for him to warm up to the cape but he then wore it on our walk to Riverview Park. He had a great time being ruler of all the lands and then a zebra. I love the photo of him above with his sweet little smile. 

I made Snapazoos to put in J's stocking. The Snapazoo tutorial is on the KAM site along with ideas on how to snap the little critters together.  J's favorite animal was the flying squirrel that he could throw across the house. R like them quite a bit also.

I made blocks for R from scrap quilting fabric. She liked the blocks but I think she actually liked the paper better.

We ended our celebration with a fabulous dinner for Christmas Day. We made smothered seitan with green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. The recipe links are on our food blog Vegan Scratch.

Monster mash

I am continuing to make Christmas presents for the little ones. My latest project is a monster plushie for R. I looked online at a lot of patterns and decided to just wing it and make my own. The body looks surprisingly like Jabba the Hut. I was going for large monster slug and I think I came very close. I made the body out of recycled cotton velour and the eyes out of knit scraps. The back is open and I made a separate insert for stuffing in the body. The insert is filled with rice so it can double as a warm soothie. I made the legs and horns from scrap woven cotton prints. The fun part is I made legs and horns as separate pieces that can be snapped on the main body. My goal is to make a few more and have the parts interchangeable. J had fun tonight mixing up the parts. R won't be able to snap on the pieces for a while but it will be fun for J to make different monster dolls for her.

Making progress

I'm making progress on Christmas presents. I have the two poofs done and a pattern for the teepee. I bought heavy weight green canvas at the fabric store and I will use the same canvas from the poofs for the contrast. The pattern for the teepee is from Growing up Sew Liberated. I am not sure why I haven't seen this book before. It is fantastic. I love all the patterns. I have high hopes of making the art bag and also the play capes. I just ordered a zebra cotton knit and a light blue satin for the lining of J's cape. I am also going to make one for his cousin. I have a satin brocade with butterflies that I will use for her cape and line it with an orange cotton. So exciting to create all these fun gifts. For R I made baby blocks with ribbon taggies. I am also going to make blocks for her cousin who is due any day now. Very exciting. The blocks come together very quickly and are made from scraps of quilting cotton. I used 5 inch squares. So onward and we will see what else I get made before Christmas. J and I also had fun this past weekend making a Gingerbread House from scratch. He also enjoyed some holiday sensory bin fun.

Handmade Holiday

Happy Holidays!!

I decided this year I am going to make most of my Christmas presents. Funny really since this is the year I have the least amount of time for sewing since little pookie is here. No matter though and I am going to rise to the challenge. Yes I only have a few weeks but I tend to kick things in high gear when the deadlines are close. It always worked for me as PhD student and then researcher so I am confident it will work well also as  family designer and seamstress or that is the plan. It is interesting the comments I receive from others about my quest to sew almost everything for the family. I hear often that someone would like to make this or that but where would they find the time. I think most people have some time for creative endeavors but it is a matter of priorities. Maybe sewing or being creative is not high on your list and that is totally fine. However if it is one of those things you always wanted to do then find some time. Look online for a few fun tutorials and then unplug for a while. Well at least unplug from social media. If possible involve your children in the process. J is helping me make soft blocks for R. He is drawing pictures that I will scan and print on fabric for some of the blocks  He is also great at adding the filling. Yes, I sometimes have a mini sweat shop in my house but it is good for him. He learns the value of handmade items. He knows when we buy things that someone made that item and hopefully they did not make it in an actual sweat shop. Another good reason to sew your own clothes but I digress. So we will see how much I get done in the next few weeks. If you need any ideas then follow along with me on Pinterest. I am posting all of my ideas on the Handmade Christmas Board.

Happy Creating!!        

New serger

I finally bought a serger. Woohoo! I bought a Juki MO644d and it is awesome. I really wish I would have bought a serger sooner. It really is fantastic for sewing your own clothes. Anyway, I don't know what I did all these years without one. I am really pleased with the Juki brand also. It came already threaded and all I had to do was reduce the tension and pull new thread through the machine. It sews beautifully and is relatively quiet. Anyway as you can tell I am very happy with my purchase. If you don't own a serger then I suggest you purchase one very soon.