Nursery

Pretty much all ready!

Ghost says "Boo!"

This morning, Maggie and I made some ghosts to hang in the window. I cut some shopping bags into squares for her to color on with permanent marker. Then we stuffed the heads with the handles and printed-on pieces of the bags, and tied them with black yarn.

We just tied them to the blinds in the front window.

Snoopy Jammies

I whipped up a pair of Snoopy pajama pants for Maggie for Christmas. I got this fabric from Mom's house, one of too few that I kept. This is one of my lesser regrets though, because I have a feeling most of the fabric is still in a box at my Aunt Sharon's house.

Anyway, I made a one piece pattern by tracing a pair of PJ pants folded in half, and it hardly took any time at all to make them. In fact, Maggie has been asleep since I started. 14 1/2 hours ago...

Tree Skirt

Another thing that didn't get made last year was a skirt for our tree. This is the fabric I picked out for our stockings before John pointed out we don't have anywhere to hang stockings so they don't have to match our tree. We bought 48" of 44" fabric. I folded it into fourths and trimmed the corners so it's an oval shape. We decided oval was better than a 4" smaller circle, or piecing it. Our tree is not very wide so it looks fine. I trimmed about 2.5 inches off the inside corner of the fourths to make the center hole, then cut straight down to the back. I did a rolled hem around the entire thing and sewed on the trim (it took almost 5 yards). Then I sewed 4 1" squares of velcro on for the closure. I have just enough trim left to do the center circle, but I kind of want to use it on my stocking.

Maggie says the skirt is "tree-sized", but it fit her tiny waist just fine.

Christmas Stockings Tutorial

I made Christmas stockings for our family this week. I never got around to doing it last year. They were very easy and quick to make, and don't require any special sewing skills. The snowmen one is for John, gingerbread men for me, Pooh for Maggie and Snoopy for baby. I tried to convince Maggie she wanted the Snoopy one. She would not be swayed... until she saw me making it for the baby, of course.
The stocking fabric is cotton, with fleece cuffs, except for the fluffy stuff on John's. Not sure what that really is. It was in the fake fur section and I had to zigzag around the edge to keep it from shedding everywhere.

To make a pattern, trace an existing stocking. Be sure to add seam allowance all the way around.
Fold your fabric in half, right sides together, and pin the pattern. I cut my fabric out using pinking shears to cut down on the unraveling. I used 3/8 yard of fabric for the fabric that could be cut in either direction. For the one way prints, I needed 5/8 yard. If you were using the same fabric, you could get two from 3/4 yard of a one way print. Make sure the pattern on the fabric is facing the right direction.

Sew the stocking together from the top, around the bottom, back to the other side of the top.

To make a strap to hang your stocking from, cut a 5x2 inch piece of fabric. Iron it in half, then open it up...

and iron each side to the crease.

Then fold in half again and press.

Sew as close as you can to the open end. Sew straighter than I did...

For the fleece cuff, cut a piece twice as wide as you want the cuff, and twice as long as your stocking (Mine was 9.5x13.5 inches). Fold the cuff piece in half, lining up the shorter ends. Pin the strap in the middle of this seam, and sew. The loop of the strap should be in between the right sides of the fleece.
To attach the cuff, turn both the cuff and the stocking right sides out. Put the cuff over the stocking, with the wrong side of the cuff against the right side of the stocking.

Make sure to line up the cuff seam and strap with the back seam of the stocking. Pin and sew around the top edge.

Pull the cuff up wrong-side out, then fold down halfway so the strap is on top.

Press the whole thing, right-side out.

Also, apparently they also make good "socks".

Little Birdie

Baby Rattles

I made two little wrist rattles out of fabric and ribbon scraps. The Peanuts one (from a Leonard boxers scrap so small I can't believe I saved it) is for our baby. The other one, from Wonder Box scraps, is for a friend who is expecting a girl this week. I also made her a pair of baby shoes. The baby shoes fabric is from the wallets I've made.

The wrist rattles were quick and easy to make, other than some hand sewing. Here is the free pattern (PDF).Maggie thinks these are a lot of fun, so hopefully the babies will too.