Christmas Recap

Yes, I'm just now getting to my Christmad recap. Things have been pretty quiet here on the crafting front as of late. We've had much too nice of weather lately (and it seems like everywhere else has had a rough winter) that I've been spending a lot of time prepping our yard and garden and not any time in the sewing room. So, since I don't have anything new to show, I'll show off the stuff that I put together for Christmas presents. 

My husband and I went back to Wisconsin for two weeks for both Christmas and New Year's celebrations and my suitcase was packed to bursting. Thankfully I flew southwest and could check two bags free. I definitely needed both! My siblings and I decided to draw names for a secret Santa gift exchange this year so that cut down on some of the presents I would normally bring, but I ended up making a lot of things for my sister. I'm so happy I drew her name, because I had so many ideas for her!

First I made her an apron out of an old sugar sack she had given me a few years back. She had used it as wrapping for a wreath she made me and told me, "you'll do something fun with it." That I did! These sacks are super absorbent too! I had all of this stuff already at home so I didn't even spend any money on this part of the gift. :)

Next I made her a makeup brush holder. I knew she wanted a set of brushes so I got her some on a huge sale at Target for $10. 

Again, I already had all of the supplies for the roll so the only money spent on this was for the brushes. I wanted the inside to be make-up smudge friendly so I used some brown, yellow and light pink fabric. The outside was an orange and yellow print that was begging to be used for this. My sister really likes the color orange along with other vibrant colors. 

I also made her a journal out of a children's copy of Little Women from Goodwill. That set me back a whopping $2. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. 

Lastly, I made her a set of napkins and napkin rings. I had the fabric for the napkins already. For the rings. I bent forks that I bought at Target. Those were $1.68 for 4 forks, so roughly $3.00 for the whole set. I put them all into a box that I bought at Ross for about $5. So, that's how I managed to stay in our budget of $20 or less and give her so much stuff. :)

I made two other sets of these napkins and napkin rings. One went to my mother-in-law (same fabric) and the other went to her neighbor, (pictured below) the mother of one of my husband's good friends. We've stayed close and she and her husband even visited us here in Oregon. 

I also made a couple of aprons for my sister-in-law. One was a blue floral print and the other was this tiny white heart on red background print. 

For all of the aprons I made, I used one continuous strap for the waist and neck tie. So, you can put the apron on and then just tug on the waist strings to tighten it around your neck. Then you just tie it in back. It makes it so you don't have to tie the neck if it's too long, you can just adjust it each time you put it on. I love that, because the knots in apron neck ties always irritate me and my neck. 

Well, that pretty much sums up what I made for presents. I did all of that between Thanksgiving and Christmas while traveling back and forth to Wisconsin for both of those holidays. It was a busy couple of weeks! I always think that I'll start my gifts earlier, but that never happens. Maybe that should be my New Year's resolution...

Sewing Sleepover

Hello everyone! This past Friday night my sister and I headed off to my mom's house for a sewing sleepover! It was a lot of fun. We made a bunch of aprons together, so here's a look back at our night. :)

My mom bought my sister and I some fabric for Christmas with the plan that we would get together eventually to make some aprons. She actually brought me more fabric for Easter to use too! Well, after putting that plan on hold for busy schedules and really bad colds, we finally got together this weekend.

My sister brought an apron that she had received for Christmas for us to use as a pattern. It featured adjustable straps which we all agreed were just the thing we needed. No more tying a knot for extra long neck strings! My mom traced and cut out the apron pattern while I ironed all of the fabrics. She has a really nice iron so I didn't mind one bit.

My mother and sister decided to make their aprons with a ruffle at the bottom. I'm not so big into really frilly things, so I decided to do mine without the ruffle. We also all made different pockets on our aprons. My sister wanted one really large pocket on hers. I just wanted one for my left hand, and my mom made one that is a little shallower but is a divided pocket on the front.








Half way through our night of sewing we were distracted by popcorn. My mom's husband makes the best popcorn. Lightly salted with real butter and air popped to perfection. Usually I can only eat 2 handfuls because I just don't like the taste of popcorn very much. That night I ate half the bowl! (oops!) It was delicious.

We got to about 10:30pm on Friday and my mother and sister were both pooped. I'm a little more used to staying up late, so I sewed until about midnight. That meant that by the time I needed to leave on Saturday I actually completed 2 aprons! That also meant that my first apron was the guinea pig for how everything was going to work and be sewed together.



We basically made a single-fold binding for the straps (3 strips the length of fabric and 2.5 inches wide sewed together straight across to give us the right length) and another single-fold binding for the track for the straps - those were cut to 15 inches long and 4.5 inches wide. I sewed both sides the guide on to the apron at the same time. Those went along the armpit of the apron, and then we fed the straps/ties through each one with the center of the tie ending up at the neck position.



Here's our end result - and fully reversible:

These were a lot of fun to make, and super easy once we knew what we were doing! My second apron went together in just a couple hours - most of that time being for ironing. I don't have that one pictured, but it's out of more chocolate fabric. :) These were the first clothing items (can I call them clothing items???) that I've really ever made. I'm not going to count the awful pair of pajamas that I made in grade school... Yikes! So, I guess I've been nervous about clothes ever since that time and I'm very happy that these turned out so well! I think it's because my sewing skills have greatly improved between being 12 and 26. Makes sense to me! :)

So, what did you guys do this weekend? Get any sewing done? Is it nice outside where you live? We've had rain last week Sunday through Tuesday, sun on Wednesday, rain and/or snow Thursday and Friday, sun again on Saturday and now rain predicted today through Wednesday this week. Flood warnings abound in my area and my mom's sump pump was working over time while we sewed this weekend. Anyway, happy crafting!