Christmas Sewing Round-up

A quick round-up of the Christmas presents that were sewn up by me. Mostly, these are all patterns I have sewn previously, so not much to add.

Another Perfectly Preppy skort, from the pattern by the Scientific Seamstress. This was a popular choice again featuring favourite colour, purple. The spots fabric is a cotton, and the lining a poly/cotton poplin.

The free downloadable popover sundress pattern from Oliver and S. I chose not to use a contrasting fabric for the yoke and straps, as suggested in the pattern. This is made from a very light weight cotton.

These shorts in a size 18-24 months are made using the Oliver and S Sketchbook shorts pattern. These are made from a remnant of cotton drill used previously. These looked and sewed up very similarly to the previous pairs made with the Burda 9793 pattern. I would choose to sew the Burda pattern in preference to this one, while the boys are in the size range for it.

These mens boxer briefs were made using Kwik Sew 3298. Unfortunately, the yellow contrast fabric was a bit more contrasting than anticipated! They sewed up quickly and easily, would sew these again with a more considered choice of fabric. The main fabric is a cotton jersey, the contrast a cotton/lycra jersey.

Christmas Ornament Swap 2012

A few months ago, I signed up to the New Zealand Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap. The basic premise is you are assigned a swap partner, for whom you make one Christmas ornament and a card.

This sounded like a fun activity to take part in, in the lead up to Christmas so I signed up.

The ornament I made was a ribbon pine cone. These are fairly simple and quick to make - using sequin pins, you attach rows of folded ribbon to a polystyrene egg.

They can look quite effective if you group several together in a bowl or dish for a table centerpiece, particularly if you use coordinating ribbon colours. (Not like the ones above!)

I was assigned Gillian of Mudbird Ceramics as my swap partner, so I packaged up my pinecone and card and posted it off to her.

The very next day, I received a package from Gillian, and was delighted to discover a lovely wee ceramic dove and card featuring one of her other designs. Thanks, Gillian!

This has been a great experience to take part in, and I'm sure I'll be playing along again next Christmas.