Christmas Projects

I've been a little obsessed with fabric folding lately. I've been here before - Styrofoam, pins, fabric squares, and Elmer's to put on the tip of the pins when I place the fabric on the form. I started with two egg shapes this year. I covered them with two Christmas fabrics, cut off the bottoms so they sit flat, and added cording to the bottom to tie together all the colors. 

 

Then came the wreath. Oh my, the wreath. I had a lot of 1-1/2" strips of Christmas fabric a friend had given me, so I cut them into 1-1/2" squares and decided to do fabric folding on a wreath form. This took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I finished it and it is indeed on my door! (I want to redo the ribbon at a later date, though.) There are approximately 1600 applique pins and 800 squares of fabric, along with the red ribbon and a small wreath that my sister had, which I hung in the center to give the wreath a more completed look. 

I will fold more fabric, I'm sure, but my second obsession has been making ham bag pillows. I've made 6. Now what do I do with them? Here are two:

The second on is actually a vintage sugar bag, but it's the same concept.  

I'm sure there will be more sewing and fabric obsessions in the year ahead. I'll be decking out a new sewing area and that means organizing fabrics again, and again! Which ones will spark my creativity? 

Oh yeah, I did make a pair of slacks in between projects. 

There's always more to sew.

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's hoping Santa brings you lots of fun sewing stuff!

Last year's Christmas pillow made from a Christmas skirt I had made for an ugly sweater party the year before. See what I mean? One thing leads to another! 

Christmas is coming. Are you ready?

I've become addicted to folded fabric and Styrofoam. I have made pine cones galore for myself and others, and I have plans to make some ball shaped folded Christmas fabric ornaments. Can't wait to start those. In the meantime, I had some piping hanging around that was screaming to be wrapped on Styrofoam. I started at one end, wrapping and using glue on pins where needed, adding a touch of glue here and there, and then added a button at each end with glue and glue on pins to match and secure. One has a single ribbon hanger and the other got some bows. It started as a hostess gift for a tacky Christmas sweater party. Here's the sweater (I'll had candy cane pants with the fabric shown below the sweater!):

 I bought the sweater used from the good folks at RustyZipper.com. Great price, better than great customer service, and I highly recommend them. They even has a cheap section for sweaters, vests, and sweatshirts that might have a little flaw. I mean, really, do you need a super quality piece for one party? :)

I searched high and low for a candy cane fabric that I used to have. That's it on the left. I found one yard of that. Then I found the fabric on the right which is an awful lot like it except for spacing, and I figured I could use both to make the pants to go with my sweater. I have some red Mary Janes to go with and will probably put ribbons in my hair somehow.

Not shown is my bottle of Elmer's glue and my pins. I prefer applique pins, but sequin pins will do. They're a little harder to work with because they're so small. Dritz sells both and you can get them online or at a local fabric store. As I started the wrap, I used glue dipped pins on the top and then intermittently as I wrapped the piping. The Styrofoam egg is about 2-1/2", but you can use bigger or smaller ones. You don't need to spend top dollar on the Styrofoam and prices vary wildly, so shop carefully. The piping came as shown. It was in a goody bag I was given way back when. It spoke to me, so I put it to work.

The one on the right was my first. I learned more about how to do the ribbon by doing the one on the left. This is the top. Leave one piece of ribbon long enough to use as a hanger for your Christmas tree. 

This is a view of the bottom. The purpose of the button and pins on the bottom is to hide the piping ends and to anchor it with glue under the button. 

And here it is on the tree. I have a 2' tree and all the ornaments mean something. Now I have one that I made for myself this year. I recommend this as an easy craft to do over chit chat and coffee or with a Girl Scout Troop or an art class or just by yourself to spend some time with yourself and get out of your head for a bit. 

I think it fits in just fine!

In case I'm not back before the holiday, Merry Christmas to all of you. Keep stitching and reusing those scraps.

Psst, one more picture showing the button sewing form sculpture. She's been decorated for the holiday too!

Project - Mug Mats (Last Minute Gift Idea!)

Out of gifts for your friends for Christmas? Make these! I made them in an afternoon, including the picture taking and binding. All you need is fabric scraps, leftover batting (regulation batting, old towel, flannel, etc.), and some imagination. You can make your own bias binding or use purchased bias tape. I happened to choose Virginia Tech fabric for the strip quilting and M&Ms fabric for the back. Have fun, and get to stitchin! You have prezzies to make :)

Click here or click on our projects link on the right. 

New project added - gift tags

Years ago, I worked on a site called SewingWeb. I don't think it's still with us, but that's another story for another day. I did several projects when I had the site and am sharing one with you today. It's a simple way to use fabric, Wonder Under, and some string/yarn/ribbon that you have around the house.

Use this as a jumping off point. Let your imagination take hold and use the concept for greeting cards, embellished stationery, putting a new bit of artwork on a used greeting card, business cards, name tags or any other paper/fabric fusing you can think of.

Take a peek. It's gift tags!

Wow - MIA much or how the Scrap Stitcher does holidays!

Happy Christmas season everyone. As with every December, I've been busier than I care to admit. I had planned on coming in and doing oodles of Christmas sewing projects with you and tutorials about how to this and how to that, and lookie here... I didn't! Trust me, it would have been a blast. Okay, so maybe I stretch the truth a little bit there. But I have indeed been making Christmas stockings using my instructions, pot holders, placemats, and even a few items of clothing at the sewing machine. I've done very little sewing on the hexagon quilt, but I'll get to it. I refuse to allow it to be a UFO forever!

Today began the cooking/baking phase of Christmas. My tree is done and most of the ingredients for goodies are purchased. We have a nice steak dinner for Christmas and I went to the high end grocery today to pick the steaks themselves up. This week, I'll pick up the rest of the food and anything I've ordered from the gourmet shop. I have family coming Saturday, Sunday, and Monday next week! That means at least two meals, maybe more. It'll be great.

On a personal note, I'll be having a planned surgical procedure in January and may be a bit quiet again, but never fear, I'll definitely be back and will be sewing during my recuperation. Hexagon quilt anyone?

If you have any ideas for projects or something you'd like for which you'd like me to try a tutorial, just let me know by comment or mail.

For now, Happy Holidays to all. Regardless of what holiday you celebrate or if you celebrate none at all, we're all citizens of a wonderful planet. As the children's song goes, "we're all a family under one sky." Keep that in mind as you hang with family and friends.

Updated an older post - Christmas Stockings (teachers and otherwise)

Hey - lookie here - I updated the Christmas Stocking post with teacher's stockings and a link to how to make strip quilted stockings. Never to early to start making this year's batch!

A bit of this and that

• The former brother-in-law's quilt is done except some of the hand work on the binding.
• The bee potholders are done, but I need to take pictures.
• I put Halloween placemats on eBay (user name croakerwoods) and am going to put up some Virginia Tech Christmas stockings. 
• I'm finishing three sets of 4 Halloween Hunk/rainbow reversible placemats. I'll put them on eBay and Etsy as well. 
• My daughter and a friend want Halloween Hunk tote bags. So, I'll be crafting them soon. If you don't know what Halloween Hunk fabric is, just Google it or take a peek on eBay (lots of people have it for sale). 
• These placemats are the project I must finish before I move on. The bee potholders were the prior one. The quilt, well, it's been a work in progress, a UFO, for years, so finishing it now is just amazing.

Photos to come!

What are YOU sewing?

Custom Fabric Covered Light Switch Plate Covers/Plates

I decided a while back to make some light switch covers. Then as I got further into them, it seemed like a good thing to share with others. This is my first set:

It was not my best work, but I got the process down after a few more. Here are some other examples of covers I made:

Regardless of the size of the cover or the shape of the switch itself, you can cover it with fabric using ModPodge or a water/glue mixture and a little imagination. I used an Exacto knife, but you can use scissors or whatever you have for cutting. The basic back instructions look like this:

Want to make some of your own? Comprehensive step-by-step, photographed instructions can be found here. (Updated March 24, 2013.) Now go gather up some small pieces of fabric, some new or old light switch covers, and get started. Way easy.

A couple of notes:

• I painted the screws for each cover to match the fabric. I picked up just a basic set of paints, stuck the screws in a Styrofoam ball to hold them steady, and then painted the heads.
• For light switches with the round fader, cut a circle a little bit larger than the circle itself and turn the fabric under on the back, using the same glue/ModPodge process.
• You do need to let these dry for a day or so before using them.
• They're great for selling on line or at craft shows too using trendy fabrics, holiday fabrics, hand dyed fabrics - the list is endless.

I'm sure there are other ways to do these, but it's the best way I could figure out and now you've got the instructions too.

Projects You Can Make

You can find most of the projects I've done here, with photos and instructions. I will add more as time allows. Let me know if there's something you'd like me to try. (Updated 02/19/10)

Digging Groundhog Day

Sounds like Phil saw his shadow. Know what that means? It means six more weeks of sewing. I know I'm going to follow that edict! How about you?

I sold a few items on Etsy and a few on eBay, but mostly, I'm sewing items to sell in the fall. I'm on a Halloween kick now that I have Christmas stockings made and ready for next year. The final one is made of Smurf fabric and is embellished with a few Christmas buttons and some trim.

There's snow on the ground, my work day is almost done, and I'm going to sew today. I'm feeling the urge to feed my creative beast and that's one way to do it.

And so it's just about Christmas

My daughter has a friend who asked me to help her make a jellyfish costume for Halloween. Well, that never worked out and she made it herself. Recently, my daughter asked me to make a cat Christmas stocking for the friend and I said, hmmm, wonder if I can work in a jellyfish! And guess what, I can and I did. I used striped cat fabric, silver rick-rack, fluffy white terry for the cuff, and some silver sequin fabric and silver rick-rack to make the jellyfish. She posted a picture on her Facebook and I stole it to show you here. And with this stocking picture, I say Merry Christmas to everyone!

One more stocking and then a break

It's about time to set sewing aside for holiday stuff. The Christmas tree needs decoration, the cookies need to be made, the house needs to be readied for guests. I did make one more stocking, though. How about a Hokie stocking?

Just a little something for our Virginia Tech friends. I did try something new with this - I purchased some fluffy terry from Fabric.com and found out that it sewed very nicely. I have quite a bit, so will use it for cuffs from here forward, at least till it's gone. This stocking is two sided, so the user has a choice of which way the toe points. That's the age-old question with Christmas stockings, isn't it? This stocking is not quilted, so it's very simple to make. Cut, making sure your fabric is going in the right direction (this had a one way print), stitch cuff on the top, sew the two pieces with right sides together using double seams, clip curves, turn, bind raw edge. There you have it.

I'll begin on Valentine's Day items after Christmas. By next year, I should be two seasons ahead instead of right on time. That makes for better shows and selling! Whew.

Ties for stockings take 2

Ah, Christmas stockings. Can you ever make enough? I finished three more which I made out of neckties. Wow, that stuff is hard to sew. The harvested fabrics were silky and on the bias. Two-punch - stretchy and slippery! They turned out mighty nice, though! As mentioned below, I spent an evening taking the ties apart and learning about them. I pressed them and used the strip quilting technique that I've mentioned before. I covered the seam lines with gold rick-rack, the cuffs were made of a fluffy terry fabric, and the backs were created with simple Christmas fabric.

On a side note, I put out a "wanted" on my local Freecycle group for Christmas fabrics and score! Another Freecycler had a bag of Christmas fabrics she had been sitting on and realized she'd never use. Interestingly, several of them matched fabrics I've had for years, so they're not all modern prints. They are also the smaller prints that I tend to gravitate towards. What a great find.

I'll post pictures of the stockings made of ties at a later date. Right now, I have several Virginia Tech Christmas stockings to sew! Like I said, can you ever make enough? I'm putting them up on Etsy as I finish them. It's more about the making than the selling, though.

Update - here are some pictures of the three I finished.

Ties for stockings

I've been sewing a lot lately out of my stash. I'm trying to use what I have rather than purchase more, and am having some success with that. Over the past few years, I've been collecting silk ties with an eye towards making Christmas stockings, girls' skirts, or other things I'm inspired to stitch together.

Last night, I sat down with my seam ripper, a sharp pair of shears, a small trash bag, and my box of ties. I dissected all of them that had red or green in them and set them aside. I learned quite a bit about tie construction by taking them apart. Funny how that works.

There will be more to the story as I continue to sew, but for today, that's it. I have to work till 5 and have an errand to run after that, then dinner to make, and then work a little more. I am not sure I'll have much sewing time between now and then!

Now, would someone tell me where my box of Christmas and other holiday fabrics is?

Christmas Stockings for Teachers/School Bus Drivers

I made a few Christmas stockings this week. I used the same principles that I always use - strip quilting onto a backing with batting and then using a cotton back for the stocking. These three have a school/teacher/bus driver theme. I had purchased some school fabric at a yard sale for a quarter and it was basically border fabric that I used to harvest the apples, chalkboard, and other school items in the stockings. They were fun to make. I used some silver rick-rack; red, white, and green rick-rack; ribbons; and made bias bindings for the top of the cuff. It's time to get these made and ready to give, sell, or use!

On the 27th day of Christmas...

Kwanzaa began December 26. You can create a Kinara with felt and cord (or other fabrics you may have that would work) and have your child "light" the candles by adding the fabric flame backed with Velcro. If you'd like to learn a little about Kwanzaa, click here.

On the 23rd Day of Christmas...

Here's a quickie project you can do using an old pair of jeans. Cut a bit of fabric and insert it into an old pair of jeans that you've reconstructed ever so slightly, and you have yourself a denim skirt with flair.  The author prefers hand sewing, but you can use your machine for a more polished look. This can be made for anyone at all from any size jeans. You can piece the insert with several fabrics if you like. Upcycle that old holy kneed pair of jeans! Keep or give as a gift. (Alternative directions)
You can never have too many denim skirts and what better way to get one than to recycle jeans with worn knees.

For the 20th Day of Christmas...

Hannukah begins at sundown on December 21. Here are some very simple cup mats you can make with your children. The traditional colors used in most fabrics and designs that are created for Hanukkah are blue and white, so you can be creative in your choice of fabrics. These are created with wool felt, but you can use fabric and batting instead. Cut the fabric and batting with pinking shears and use the simple stitching as shown in the example with your fabric/batting/fabric sandwich.

On the 19th Day of Christmas...

Here's a pretty sewing machine cover to make as a gift for a friend or for yourself. You don't have to use the fabric designs that they call for; you can use scraps that you have already. This should fit just about any sewing machine around.

On the 18th Day of Christmas...

Okay, get yourself some stretchy fabric and make up some baby caps. They'd make a great last minute gift idea and you probably have knit fabric hanging around the house already.
This is a great site with a lot of free baby clothes patterns on it, but the cap looks so easy!