New Family Christmas Stockings

I'm making stockings like mad. They are fun and easy, so why not!

We are having a low-key easy Christmas this year, and that includes decorating. I decided not to get the tote boxes out of the garage and unpack, decorate, undecorate, and repack. The boxes are staying put. But, that's where our nice matching stockings are stored.

So.....

I made new stockings!

All different!  The kids love them! Let's hope Santa fills them up to the top!

Christmas Twirly Skirt

Guess what? It's Christmas season and my kids have nothing festive to wear. And, I did the silliest thing ever: I misplaced my Redondo skirt pattern! I've been searching for it for over a month now and still cannot find it!

Out of desperation, I took one of Libby's skirts from her drawer and used it to trace out a new pattern. At least now I have the size 6 version of the pattern. I would freehand it, but it's hard to get the sizing and the swirls just right.

I scored some funky green and red chevron printed fabric and I paired it with some green and red polka dot. It's going to be so colorful and fun!  It will also double up as a Dr. Seuss skirt in March for his birthday celebration at school. Awesome! Love it when I can get two occasions out of an outfit.

I made one Redondo skirt for my daughter, and one for my Etsy shop. I wish I hadn't run out of the chevron print, but I got the end of the bolt so I know that's all there is to that. I only have half a yard left and that's not enough for another twirly skirt.

Merry Christmas and Happy Twirling!

Pink Christmas Stockings

I made a bundle of little Christmas stockings out of fabric printed with breast cancer pink ribbons and sayings.  I also used some other pink prints to make enough stockings.  I am making these for my new "cancer club" friends. The ladies in my breast cancer support group have been really great and we are having a group meeting in mid-December; these will be fun to bring along and show my gratitude to them for becoming such a source of information, strength and friendship to me.

I made the stockings by freehand drawing a stocking shape and cutting out several. No big deal there, pretty simple. I tried to keep it small, yet big enough. They aren't too large.

Then I added a cuff made of a small pink gingham print. It's cute. I embroidered names on the cuffs before I cut them and added them to the stockings. They aren't perfect, but they are good enough. I then folded the cuffs over and attached them to the tops of the stockings.

I see that I have stockings going in each direction. Whoops. Oh well. Since they won't be hung together (each lady will take one home with her) it shouldn't matter.

I made them completely on the serger. This was a good project if you want to practice serging curves because the stocking has the heel, toe, and ankle curves.

When you get to this point in the stocking:

 You need to curve around the ankle but you can't because the knife will cut the fabric. This is how I do it and I get a great seam every time!

I pull the fabric so that it is straight. It will come out just fine when you lay it flat again.

When I go around the toe and heel, the curve is the opposite way, so I just serge slowly and lift the presser foot to adjust if needed. Those are easier.

I showed the top picture to a breast cancer support group on facebook and the ladies there went crazy for it! There were at least 50 requests for me to make them and sell or give them to the ladies on that forum. Amazing response!  Because of the positive response, I went out to search for more pink ribbon fabric. I purchased this fabric at a quilting shop that went out of business last summer. I checked every store that sells fabric, and couldn't find any. I did find some online, but by the time I order fabric online, get the stockings made and shipped out to buyers, it would be after Christmas already. So, I will keep this project in mind for next Christmas and get ready earlier!

In the meantime, the ladies in my breast cancer support group are going to get these cute little stockings. They are quick and easy to make and come from the heart. I'm sure they will really like them! (hoping anyway!)

Little Makeup Bag

My husband invited me to tag along to an overnight conference. I could hang out in the hotel and just relax while he and his cohorts went to meetings. I thought that was a grand idea! I quickly threw together an overnight bag, but I didn't have a makeup bag that I wanted to take. I had one that was too big, another that was too big, and another that is too dark inside and I can never find anything in it. Hmmm.

What else would I do in a situation like this? I made one!

First thing I did was look through my zipper stash and I found a 7" plastic pink zipper.  Great!  Then I looked through my PUL fabrics and found something that matched up. I cut two rectangles of the PUL so that the zipper edge was 8" giving me plenty of room to secure the zipper on the corners.

I sewed the zipper on each piece, one on each side, and then I sewed up the sides and bottom of the bag.  When I finished, I boxed the corners on the bottom edge to give it a little volume and a base to stand on. Worked great!

My little makeup bag was cut and sewn in about 20 minutes. It was the perfect size, not too heavy and a nice bright color. Love it!