Christmas Gifts - Sewing

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! Chris and I have been enjoying a relaxing week on vacation. For once, we took a vacation and didn't go anywhere. That might sound boring to some, but it's been awesome to have time off and relax, get stuff done around the house, play games, enjoy a snowy day while cozy inside. Even better I still have a few more days to go!

Now that all of the gifts have been given, I can finally show off the secret projects I've worked on over the past few months!

The first gift I finished this year was a journal notebook cover for my dear friend Mary. I'd been wanting to make it since my curves class wayyyy earlier this year, but didn't have time until fall rolled around. I had to call upon some old brain cells to remember how to sew the curves, but fortunately Stitched in Color's directions are always great and it came back to me quickly. I think I spent almost as much time picking out fabric as I did actually making the project! This specific tutorial with the flower was only available through her class, but she has this tutorial for a similar journal cover.

Next up was another notebook cover for another dear friend, Nakira. I thought I was all prepared to sew this one together quickly, but it just wasn't my day. I picked out all the fabrics one night and then sewed it another night. Except by the time I got to the next night, I used the wrong fabric for the stem and then ran into several other problems along the way. Sadly, my seam ripper had to come out more than once, but I prevailed and I love how it turned out!

This scrap map project was for my sister. When I first started making it, I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but it grew on me as I added states and I really like how it turned out. That being said, it wasn't a quick project. All those states take a long time to cut out! One thing I would have done differently is to use white fabric instead of muslin for the backing. The muslin was thinner than I would have liked, but it's not a big deal. I attached it to a canvas picture frame and it's ready to hang!

 

I gave my mom the white, black and red cosmetic bag with some goodies inside. It was actually in my stash of stockpiled projects so I didn't make it recently. That's the awesome thing about making little projects like that though; I can collect them throughout the year!

 

Those are all the secret sewn gifts. Next up will be the other gifts I made and a couple of awesome handmade gifts that I received.