Christmas Has Been and Gone

And left a mountain of photos for you to view :)

Now that the day of giving has passed, and I have had a chance to catch my breath and pause in the indulgence of wonderful food and sit quietly, I thought I should share my Christmas sewing with you all.
I am very pleased, as I managed to give a lot of handmade gifts this year. So in no particular order.......

Teachers presents - a boxy pencil case and a bar of handmade vanilla delight soap.

All of the pencil cases.

One of the individual presents.


3 aprons, for my cousins, I also did a jar of cookie mix for each of them to go with the aprons, and a little triangle headscarf instead of a chef's hat. The aprons are from Cindy Taylor Oates - More Retro Aprons pattern.



A bag for my mum, from a pattern by NapKitten. Lots of turning to make the handles, but it worked out wonderfully.



A bag for my SIL - Lots Of Pockets Tote by KeykaLou. I love this pattern - it was so fun to make, and very easy to do.



A crochet project bag for my Aunty - I made up my own pattern for this, to a size I was happy with.


Some vanilla soap, made especially for my Aunty, but given away to many, so much so that I only ended up with one bar for myself. But never mind, it means I can make more.


Pencil cases for the kids, as they both asked for one :)


An outfit for my DS. It looks so big, as he is only 6, but it fits him perfectly and looks gorgeous on. Both the tee and shorts are from Ottobre, the tee - #20 from 2/2005 and the shorts #23 from 3/2009.





An outfit for my DD, Modkids Emma top and skirt, and a pretty little tee from Ottobre, #29 from 3/2009. She looks so gorgeous in this outfit, and the mish mash of fabrics suits her perfectly! lol





And on a very exciting note, a few days before I finished my Christmas sewing, my labels arrived! So I popped them on the kids clothes. And a good thing too - as the first thing my DS said when he opened his up on Christmas morning was, "Where is the label?!" He wants my label on all the stuff I make him.


I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Cheers!

Up-to-date...........

On my current projects. The ones that have been cut out so far. Hang-on, I might of been forgetting some Christmas outfits that I have cut out...... Ok, I am up-to-date with the projects I have been working on. Hmm, still doesn't sound very convincing, so I will just show off what I have been doing.

My mum gave me a shirt she no longer wanted. I new exactly what pattern I wanted to use it for - the 3 way dress in Otto 3/2009. So I did. But of course I modified it a little....... I did the full sleeve version, and attached them completely to the body, but I didn't use a different fabric for the bottom panel, as I wanted to use the existing hem on the shirt. That didn't work out quite as I planned it, so I ended up doing a rolled hem at the bottom, and also on the sleeves. The ruffles and button placket were existing on the shirt, so I left them for detail. I did add a gorgeous little turtle embroidery though - just at the hem.




I think it looks more like a nightie than a dress, and it is a whisker too short, so it will be great as a nightie for summer.


Working on some Christmas presents reminded me that I needed to make some soap - for Christmas presents. So last weekend I whipped up a batch of Very Vanilla soap. This smells absolutely scrumptious! And because the soap dryer is under the BBQ, when the house is open, the scent wafts all the way through. I can't wait until it is ready to try, though I may have trouble trying not to eat it :)



Friends of ours just recently had a baby girl and I wanted to send them a gift. I already had burp cloths made up (I need to, just to keep up with my sister buying them from me!), but I wanted a little more to go with them. So I dug out this baby pattern from Farbenmix for ideas. I used the dress/tunic top and combined it with some baby leggings from Otto 4/2004. Both of the items were rather simple and quick to do. I made the bias binding myself so it matched, and even that didn't take very long. Sadly though, I only have scraps of the butterfly fabric left. It was the most gorgeous fabric, and I wish I had bought more.






With the burp cloths. Makes for a lovely present I think.


So that is what I have been doing. I still have many more projects to do, especially was Christmas is fast approaching. Though I may not be able to share all of them until Christmas has been and gone :)

Cheers!