Burlap Stockings

OK, I know Christmas is over, but this is what I made Christmas Eve so Santa would have somewhere to put presents for the kids.  So, you can either get a head start for next year or save this idea to use later.  The outside of the stockings are burlap and the insides are lined with the same fabric I used to make the cuffs.  Don't you just love the Christmas toile prints?  I plan to either add three buttons down the part of the cuff that overlaps or find some monogram pins.  Too bad I can't find monogram buttons anywhere.

1. To get started, first you need to make a pattern for yourself.  I used some large sketch paper that I had laying around and traced a cheap stocking that I had.  Make sure to add another 1/2" all around for you seams.  You will also need a pattern for the cuff.  See pictures below to see the overall shape that it should be. 

2. Line the pattern up so that the top of the stocking is on the selvage edge of the burlap and cut.  That way, you don't have to worry about the top fraying.  You will need to cut two of these.  (If you are using something other than burlap, make sure to flip the pattern over to cut the next piece and you will need to hem the top some other way.)

3. Pin the two pieces together and sew a 1/2" seam all around except for the top.  Go back with a zigzag stitch to ensure that the burlap will not fray.  (If you are using a fabric other than burlap, sew right sides together.)

4. Line up your cuff pattern for the second fabric on the part that you want to show on the front of the stocking.  Flip your pattern over, and cut another piece.   Put wrong sides together, and sew on double fold bias tape.

5.  Pin the cuff to the inside out burlap portion of the stocking.  This is where it gets kind of tricky.  You may want to turn the burlap portion of the stocking right-side out to line up where you want to place the cuff and then turn it wrong side out again to pin it on.  The unfinished edge of the cuff should be on the inside of the stocking when everything is done.  Look at the picture below to get a better idea.

6.  Sew the cuff to the top of the burlap stocking.  To do this by machine, you need to be able to pull the stocking over the base of your machine and sew around until you reach the starting point again.  Am I making any sense?  I also did another zigzag stitch to make sure nothing frays here.

7.  I neglected to take a picture of this step, but you will need to make a loop to hang your stocking.  To do this, I cut a piece of bias tape about 6" long (you can trim it later) and sewed it shut.  Make a loop with the bias tape and sew the two ends to the inside of the stocking on the part you want to hang it.

8. Cut out two of your stocking pattern in the same fabric you used for the cuff.  Be sure to flip the pattern over for the second one.  Pin and sew together with 1/2" seam just like you did for the burlap part.  Make sure to sew right sides together.

9. Turn outer part of stocking right side out and put lining inside.

10.  Fold over top of lining about 1/4" and hand stitch to burlap portion of stocking.  If you don't want your stitches to show, sew only through the folded part of your lining.

Here is a rough outline of how everything should go together.  Sorry if the last sketch looks like a diagram from 6th grade anatomy class. :)  It's what I sketched to really help me piece it together. 

  After I made the first one, the second took no time at all!  Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

**Edit: to see an updated tutorial with a free pattern click here.**

Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet

More Quiet Book Templates

I finished the templates for the "What do I eat?" and "Where do I live?" pages.

I like to find coloring pages and printables online to make some of my projects.  For this page, the animals can be found by following these links for the frog, rabbit, squirrel, and bird.  You will have to re-size them to fit your page.  The only thing I don't have a template for is the grass.  Not too hard to figure that out though.

The templates that I created can be found here.  See the whole book here. There should be three pages.  Enjoy!

Again, the templates are for 9x9 inch pages.  Make sure to leave at least a quarter inch border when you sew your pieces onto the page, otherwise when you sew other pages to the backs of these, the stitching will go through them.  Leave at least a half inch on the side that is going to have the holes for binding the pages together.  This does not matter as much on the "Where do I live?" page.

Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet

Sewing Baskets

I found these antique or vintage sewing baskets at my grandmother's estate sale last weekend.  Not sure exactly how old they are or what they are made of, but I think they are fantastic!  I just imagine women in pretty dresses, sitting around using one of these to store their sewing supplies.  You know, the kind of stuff from Jane Austen novels.  Probably more likely from the early 1900s though.

The top of one is adorned with some glass beads and old Chinese coins as was the tradition for a while. 

I plan to try and clean them up a bit and maybe (depending on how valuable these ones are) store some of my less used sewing supplies in them. 

How awesome would it be to fill one of these up with sewing or knitting supplies to give as a Christmas gift to someone?  Ebay has several reasonably priced ones.  This article on Antique Trader suggests making a sewing kit as a unique bridal shower gift.  LOVE IT!

Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet

Dress Me Templates

As promised, I have been working on templates for the pages of Evan's quiet book.  Click here to download the "Dress Me" page templates.  There should be three pages.  Again, please let me know if you have any problems with these, since I am new to blogging.  For the letters, I used a printable found here on printableletters.org.  You may need to re-size these to fit your needs.  These are also the same letters that I used on the cover of Evan's book.

Hopefully my templates are pretty straightforward.  Make sure to click on the picture above to get a better view of some details.  Everything is sized for a 9x9 inch page and embroidered with floss.  I didn't use any glue or paint.  The door knobs are buttons, and the clips on the fire jacket are the hook part of a hook-and-eye.

For the laundry basket, I cut strips of felt and wove them together to form a rectangle slightly larger than the template.  I then sewed the pieces to a solid piece of felt cut to the size of the template.  Finally, I just trimmed the excess from the strips of felt, and it was done.

One last thing!  Make sure to leave at least a quarter inch border when you sew your pieces onto the page, otherwise when you sew other pages to the backs of these, the stitching will go through them.  Leave at least a half inch on the side that is going to have the holes for binding the pages together.

Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet

Evan's Quiet Book

I made this quiet book for my son, Evan, on his third birthday.  I wanted something different from the average quiet book with zippers and buttons.  I had a ton of felt left over from another project, so I made my book from that.  I suggest making it out of something else if you plan on washing it.  Each page is a 9 inch square sewn back to back with another page.  I bound them together with large eyelets and binder rings so I can add more pages later.

The "Dress Me" two-page spread is customized for my red-headed, blue-eyed little boy.  I plan on making one for my daughter later.  My favorite part is the little hooks on the front of his fireman outfit. 



The "What do I eat?" and "Where do I live?" pages took the longest, but they are my favorite.  The animals are attached to little bits of Velcro and move between both pages.

This page is also customized to look like our family.  Evan loves to pull the little people out and play with them.  Each of the flaps close with snaps to practice those fine motor skills.

These pages have a dual purpose.  Right now, Evan really loves the matching game (although he does like to cheat), and Tic-Tac-Toe will be more appropriate for when he is a little older.  Please excuse my embroidery on these, I am still learning. :)

This page is probably Evan's least favorite.  The flowers come off the buttons, but he can't put them back on.  Maybe he will like it later.  At least it looks pretty!

The fishing page is still a work in progress, but I thought I would post a picture of it anyway.  My original idea was to put the magnet inside the fish, and a paperclip on the rod, but the magnets I bought were too weak.  As is, there is a paperclip sticking out of the mouth of each fish.  Evan still enjoys it, but mommy is a perfectionist and it will hopefully be fixed soon.

The barn and mailbox page templates can be found here at homemade by jill.  She was actually the inspiration for making my quiet book (and crafting for that matter).  I had to make them a bit smaller for a 9x9 page, since her book is a bit larger.   My kids both love the finger puppets and the working mailbox.

So, there you have it!  I am working on making free templates for each of the pages that I designed.  Check back to download them next week! edit: to get the completed templates click here. For specific info on how to make some of the pages click here.

Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet

Nativity Advent

My advent calendar is finally finished just in time for a countdown to Christmas!  I searched and searched for some figures to make for my nativity that I liked.  I finally found some here at barefoot in the kitchen. 

For my calendar, each piece was made with rainbow felt and is at least two layers thick.  A round piece of the soft side of Velcro is sewn on the back of each one.  Aren't they adorable?!

I cut the rough part of the Velcro into little stars and sewed them, along with the stable, onto a 20x30 inch piece of felt.  There are 24 pockets that are each 2 1/2 inches square.  I used a chain stitch to embroider all of the numbers.

Here is the final product.   There are four felt loops sewn into the top and a long wooden dowel with a string attached to both ends for hanging.  The baby Jesus should be put in pocket 24 to signal that the next day is Christmas!

 



And because I want everyone to be able to make one too, I got permission from Stephanie at barefoot in the kitchen to share the templates that I created to make my nativity figures.  Sorry they aren't the greatest templates in the world, but it's a start!  Just click the link below to download and print them.  There should be four of them. 

**EDIT:  I have also created a list of printable Bible verses that you can read each day.  Those can also be found by clicking the link below.  Read my post about them here.  Also, by downloading these templates, you agree that you will not use them to make anything to sell. I have special permission from Stephanie to sell these calendars in my etsy shop here.**

Click here to get the Nativity Advent Templates

Materials:

·         ¾ yard of 72” wide felt for background (cut into two 20” x 30” rectangles)

·         felt sheets  in various colors

·         1/2 yard of 2” wide hook and loop fastener (Velcro)

·         embroidery floss in various colors

·         thread (if using sewing machine)

·         ½” wooden dowel (cut to 20 ½” long)

·         2 dowel end caps (optional)

·         string, ribbon, or twine for hanging

·         embroidery needle

·         sewing scissors

·         pins

·         rotary cutter, cutting mat, and long ruler (optional but very helpful)

Basic Instructions:

1.       For each figure, cut two of the overall figure in the main color felt.  

2.       Cut out the smaller pieces and hand stitch them onto the top layer using 3 strands of embroidery floss and running stitch.

3.       Embroider details onto top layer of felt. All of the eyes are done using a french knot.

4.       Cut soft side of Velcro into circles and sew onto back of bottom layer of each felt figure.

5.       Sew the bottom layer and the top layer of each figure together.

6.       Cut rough side of Velcro into star shapes (you can just cut circles if you prefer)

7.       Sew numbers 1 - 24 onto 2 ½” x 2 ½” square pockets

8.       Cut main background color of felt into two 20” x 30” rectangles

9.       Arrange stable and pockets onto one of the 20” x 30” background pieces, pin and sew.

10.   Arrange rough side of Velcro onto the same layer of background felt and sew.

11.   Pin top and bottom layer of background felt (wrong sides together), pin and stitch all but the top of the calendar closed.

12.   Cut 4 2” x 6” pieces of felt for hanging loops.

13.   Fold strips in half and slide 1” into top of calendar evenly spaced apart.  Pin and sew top of calendar shut, going over each of the felt hanging loops to secure.

14. Slide loops onto dowel and hang with string.

Now get to work!

Please check out my other countdown calendars here.

Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet

My Cutesy New Blog

Please bear with me while I figure out how to make my blog super cutesy!  I've got tons of new ideas, and some crafts that I have already completed to share with you.  I know there are 50 million other craft blogs out there, but I really wanted a place to share all of the things that I like to make.  Enjoy, and please stay tuned for some really cutesy crafts!



Like what you see? Don't miss a post, click here to subscribe!

Tweet