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Easy Gifts to sew that have “Wow” factor:)

Nothing says giving from the heart like a hand crafted gift made especially by you (at least that’s what I think)! It’s fun to think about what your special someone would love, and it’s even more fun to spend time making it. Sometimes I begin making a gift because I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for, so I decide “I can make that.” But there are also times when I look at the price tag on said item that I want to give and think “I could make two or three of those for that price, and tweak them to boot!” So it goes with these delightful fun to sew gifts . . .

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Let’s start by level of difficulty.

Fun to sew gifts–Easy embroidery in about 45 minutes

As you can see by the price tag, this is very budget friendly:) I purchased an ordinary T-shirt that had a pocket (yay)!

My daughter likes embroidery on her T-shirts, denim shirts and jeans. I’m no expert at hand embroidery, but you don’t have to be to create these cute little designs. I used embroidery floss like this one.  There are enough colors in this set to coordinate with any background and look great. I used three threads (out of the 6 in a skein), and a needle with a larger eye. Remember to pull out just one thread at a time out of the skein. Trying to pull out two or three results in a knotted up mess! If you want the embroidery to be more dense, use 4 threads. With no specific plan or pattern, I just thought about what kind of flowers I liked, what colors would look good, and started at it! I stitched above the pocket on a couple, on the sleeve of another and to the right of the V-neck of one.

There are only a couple of stitches on these fun to sew gifts, so easy peasy. While I was hatching the plan, my big tabby cat made himself comfy on my lap so I couldn’t get up.

We affectionately call that C.O.L. disease (cat on lap), so I had to use what I had on hand . . . My water-color pencils were nearby, so I used a white one to mark the spacing of the flowers before I started stitching. I used a french knot for the center of the flowers, a chain stitch, lazy daisy, and a back stitch. Here’s a great tutorial on Craftsy.com  with pics to show these easy stitches.

Fun to sew gifts–Beautiful felted Wool blanket in about 4 hours

This blanket project may seem daunting just because of the sheer size of it, but not to worry. It’s really just sewing together a bunch of rectangles, so it’s in the fun to sew gifts category. I would say it would be a good project for the moderate beginner with some sewing experience.

Rummaging

To begin with, you need 5 or 6 wool sweaters. If they have zipper, buttons or v-necks, they add character! I have the best luck with sweaters that are at least 80% wool. Rummage through your closet, or visit some local thrift stores. The older ones are great and shrink very nicely.

Washing/Shrinking

Shrinking is done via washing and drying. Put one or two sweaters in a pillow case and pin it closed. They produce a lot of lint and will clog up your washer otherwise. Depending on the size of your washer, you may be able to wash 4-6 sweaters at a time. Use hot water.

Now for the heat of the dryer to do its magic. Toss the sweaters, still in the pillow cases into your dryer. You’ll want to check them every once in a while to see how much shrinking is happening. Some all-wool sweaters can shrink too much and end up too dense to sew, so you would want to remove them before that happens.

Cutting

Next, decide on the size of your rectangles. For this blanket, I kept the same width, but varied the lengths to make the best use of the sweaters I had. I laid out the blanket on the floor before pinning and rearranged to make it visually appealing.

Pinning

Pin the pieces one row at a time with right sides together and sew with a 1/2″ ish seam allowance. Repeat for each row, then sew all the rows together.

Front side of blanket                    I love you label:)                             Back side

Once all the rows are sewn into the blanket, use leftover scraps to bind the edge, cutting them about 5″ wide. I used a soft and thinner sweater and cut strips on the diagonal for good stretch. Sew all the strips together to make the binding before attaching to the blanket.

To apply the binding, pin and sew the right side of the strips to the top (right sides together), then turn it to the back and “stitch in the ditch”. You’re simply sewing on top of the seam that was made when you applied the binding to the front of the blanket. Make sure you’re not missing the back binding while you’re sewing. Trim off the excess close to the stitching. Give your blanket a good pressing with a steamy iron to smooth it all out and you’re done!

Fun to sew gifts–Stylish felted wool mittens in about 1-hour

I have a pattern that I made for these. The level of difficulty is around a moderate/advanced beginner for this fun to sew gift. Working with the bulky wool and getting the thumb right is a bit tricky, so it is going to take a bit more skill. But, fear not, the pattern download is below, along with instructions. These particular mittens are lined with lightweight wool sweater for one pair and the other has fleece blanket material inside. You simply make the lining using the same pattern as the mitten, and sew it inside. If you want the mittens to be lighter weight, a lining isn’t necessary.

I’ve got an idea in my head that I’m going to try next–unlined mittens that are “text friendly”. They’ll have a button hole in the thumb and tops that open and fold back to use your phone.  That may be a tutorial in the future:)

Have fun and share pics and comments! I’d love to see what you make!!

Sally

Numbers 6:24-26

 “The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
 the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”

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