Christmas Sewing

             

I actually managed a few handmade items for Christmas gifts this year....

 For my son and daughter-in-law,  I made a set of His and Her reversible aprons.  For my son, I chose  fabric with a coffee print, and also a chef print.  Then I added a Civil War repro fabric for the pockets.

For my daughter-in-law I paired up a cute Alpaca print with a little bird print in the same colors:

I use the same pattern for both aprons, but I make the men's apron a bit shorter and the pockets are square:

For the ladies aprons, I use a circular pocket with a matching binding:

Here they are, side by side:

For my mom, I made a totebag for her walker/rollator. 

Seeing as her rollator goes with her where ever she travels, I thought  a fabric with luggage stickers seemed appropriate.

I added some machine embroidery to the top, the bottom and the handles to give it some punch:

Inside are lots of pockets, and the straps are attached with buttons.

Mom's ready to roll!

The last bit of Christmas sewing I did  was these 2 adult clothing protectors that our guild collected from its members to be donated to a nursing home.

Since my sewing room doubles as a gift wrapping center, there is a lot of straightening up to do now that Christmas is over.  Got to start the new year with a clean workspace!

Parent's gifts

What do you get for the parents who have everything when Mother's Day and Father's Day rolls around?  I answered that question with some homemade gifts this year.

For Dad,  I made a reversible chef's apron.  I picked two fabrics that I knew he would like.  The first was this food printed fabric with all the Italian ingredients he loves:

And for the reverse side, I chose a fabric with newspapers printed on it, because Dad reads the daily news from cover to cover every day.

I didn't remember to take a photo of the finished product, but here is a photo of one I made for him in the past and I used the same pattern:

For Mother's Day, I made my mom a case for her sunglasses.  She has a pair of those nifty wrap around sunglasses like these, that you wear over your ordinary glasses:

The glasses are too big to fit into a standard eyeglass case, and the drawstring bag that came with them offered little protection and had no personality.

I chose a multi striped fabric in her favorite peach/coral colors and quilted it with a few straight lines.

Then I added a casing to the top for the drawstring, and cut out some squares so I could box the corners:

Added a few beads just for fun:

And now Mom has a upgraded, stylish case for her sunglasses:

As crafters, we are so lucky to have the ability to make items with our own hands for the people we love.

Friday night progress

I did my best to do some sewing on Friday night.  It was fun to think that others who were participating in the Friday Night Sew In were also working along in their sewing space.

I started with these two fun fabrics, and the intention of making a reversible  apron for a Christmas gift.

I got the pattern pieces cut, and the pockets made:

I even got them both sewn onto the apron fronts

At some point, I realized that I forgot to buy a set of "D" rings for making the neck strap.  I was going to keep going up to the point of making the neck strap, but then the lightbulb in my sewing lamp blew out and I didn't have a replacement for it.

I decided that fate was telling me to move on to something else, so I went downstairs, plopped myself down into my recliner with a cup of tea and finished knitting this:

It's a lap robe for a man.  At our last Blessing of our Prayer Shawls, a woman came up and asked us if we might have a men's lap robe.  We don't normally do lap robes, but decided to make one for her to give to her father.

It's a simple garter stitch with a few stripes, made with chunky yarn and size #15 needles.  It worked up quickly, and I am so glad to have it ready for her to give to her dad.  It kept my own lap nice and warm as I  worked on it, so I know it will work for him.

I'd say that the Friday Night Sew In was a success.  On today's shopping list is a pair of "D" rings, and a package of 60 watt bulbs!

Pocket Change

My mom had this apron as a souvenir from a trip to "Bleu Lavande", the largest lavender field in Canada.

She loves to have pockets on her aprons, so she asked me if I could possibly sew a couple of pockets to this one.  I brought the apron to the fabric store and found a pretty lavender pin dot fabric that matched the apron binding.

Then I referred back to my own tutorial for patch pockets and sewed up a couple of pockets in no time flat.

Now Mom has a pretty, souvenir apron with two functional pockets.

Happy Cooking, Mom!

Christmas Math

Two fun, funky fabrics:

plus a pair of silvery "D" rings:

and a couple of sweet pockets:

add up to one cute reversible apron:

and one less gift on my Christmas shopping list.

Patch Pocket Primer

This is the tutorial on how to make a patch pocket for the apron I posted about last week:

The pocket is self-lined and has a contrasting fabric binding at the top. 

Materials:
              (1) 8 inch square pocket fabric
              (1) 8 inch square pocket lining fabric
              (1) strip of binding fabric, measuring 7 x 2 3/4 inches.
               Template (see below)

To make the template,  start with a piece of cardboard measuring 7 x 6 inches.  Mark a small dot at 3 inches down from each side.  Draw a curved line from the left side mark, to the center bottom and back up to the right side mark.  Or, use a saucer or dinner plate and trace a curve.

Place your 2 pocket fabrics right side together, with the template on top.  Trace around the template.  Cut out the pocket pieces on the line you traced,  and sew around the entire curved edge using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Leave the straight edge at the top unsewn.

Turn the pocket right sides out, and press.

To make the binding strip, start by pressing a 1/2 inch fold on the two short ends of the fabric strip, and then fold and press the strip along the long side:

Now you have the pocket and the binding strip prepared, but you can see that the binding strip is about 1/2 inch shorter than the width of the  pocket.  This is because I wanted create a little fullness in the pocket, to makes it more useful for holding something other than a flat recipe card.

Fullness is created by  gathering the top edge of the pocket.  The first step to gathering is to sew two rows of large (basting size) stitches along the top, close to the raw edge.

Gently tug on the bobbin threads in each row of stitches to create a gentle gather along the top edge of the pocket.

Gather enough fabric so that the length of the pocket is just slightly less than the binding strip.  Distribute the gathers as evenly as possible.

Place the binding strip onto the pocket, aligning the raw edges.  (If you are using a lining fabric that is different from the pocket fabric, pin to the lining fabric.)  Make sure the the binding extends beyond the pocket by about 1/16th of an inch. Pin.

Here is the other side.  See how the turqoise binding strip just peaks out at each edge?

Sew, using a generous 1/4 inch seam. Then gently press the binding strip away from the pocket.

Turn the pocket over to the right side, and fold the binding from the back over to the front, just enough to cover the row of gathering stitches. Pin.

Sew the binding to the front, using a narrow seam allowance. 

Now the pocket is ready to be sewn to the apron front.  Place the pocket into position on the apron front and pin.

Topstitch along the outer curved edge to attach the pocket and you are done.

I would love to hear from you if you use this tutorial, and would be happy to answer any questions about it.