December sewing, a Very Merry Christmas :)

I had a bit of a manic time before Christmas trying to get all the last minute sewing done. I'm pleased with what I got finished this year, this post will get very red, white and green!

First up, I made three scoodies as gifts for my mam and sisters. These are very simple to make, I took a hood I liked the shape of and added a four inch wide scarf to either side of the neckline. They have polka dot fleece on one side and bamboo velour on the other and are reversible so my recipients don't have to walk around feeling like Little Red Riding Hood :D





I also managed to make gift bags for the children this year, just rectangular drawstring bags made from red velour and lined with star print cotton (you'll see loads of that in a moment!) and they were embroidered with the text "Merry Christmas" followed by each child's name. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of those that I can share just now, you'll have to take my word for it that they looked very sweet filled up with gifts on Christmas morning :)

I made my now obligatory Christmas Eve jammies, six pairs of the things!!!! One each for my kids, niece E and nephew O. I noticed while appliqueing their initials that we are one short on spelling out REJOICE which would be very fitting for Christmas jammies, wouldn't it? I requested a new niece or nephew for next Christmas, to be named something beginning with E and was told by all parties not to hold my breath lol!

Here they are, the fabrics are interlocks from Tissu Fabrics which are a nice weight, the colour didn't run which was great but they shrunk around 15%. I'll be buying more from them as it's a good fabric at a great price but if anyone else gets some, be aware of the shrinkage when deciding how much you need! The patterns are a mix of Ottobre 06/09 and 06/10 and the sizes go from 86cm up to 140cm, the kids loved having their initials on them :)







A rarity for me, a non-blanked out faces pic :) I have a thing about not uploading recognisable pics of the kids on public sites but this one is so sweet, I'll leave it up for a few days then take it down again.



And another rare photo, my head is not chopped off lol! I love this dress, it's a bottle green stretch velvet from Tissu and the pattern is Simplicity 2647, view F. The fit was a lot better than I expected given my last few encounters with Simplicity patterns, I chose the size based on my bust measurement (totally ignored the fact that my waist and hips both put me two sizes bigger!!) and it's come out a really nice fit, comfortable round the bust and plenty of ease still through the wast and hip. The shoulder straps are my favourite part, they are gathered to the front and back bodice and you can pull them over your arm as I have in the pic so they look like little cap sleeves. Love it, love it, love it and will be making it again in different fabrics and views.

Teacher gifts

We asked the kids' teachers what their favourite colours were then I made them each a snowflake ornament using the embroidery machine. Quick, simple and very appreciated :)

Xmas pj's

For the last three years I've made the kids matching pyjamas/nighties which they are allowed to unwrap and wear to bed on Christmas Eve. We were having a large family Christmas at my parents home this year so six pairs were required, one each for my kids and also for Niece E and Nephew O. I had five yards of a snowman print flannel left which came up the tiniest bit short for all of the trousers, Toddler had to have the backs of her trousers made from plain flannel with a couple of appliques stitched on. time ran out when making the tops so I settled for making two of them and embroidering some RTW for the others. The embroideries are simple text put together using my machine's built-in alphabets, they say "let it snow let it snow let it snow" which is so very appropriate for us this year!