A Difference of Opinion
Me and Alan aren’t seeing eye to eye on something, namely Christmas presents for the nephews and nieces. If you’ve been reading along you know that this year I was determined to make handmade. But Alan thinks my ideas aren’t fun. He thinks Christmas is a wonderful magical holiday for kids. They get toys and fun things and it’s great. So my ideas of handmade clothes or gingerbread cookies made by me and Isabelle isn’t really on his excitement scale.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t really finished sewing clothes. After my practice shirt I made another one in a smaller size, 104cm. And nothing went smoothly. It’s still too large.
And I screwed up the cutting. I had to make the front piece out of two separate pieces. And since I was low on fabric, the knit stretches the wrong way, length-wise instead of width-wise. Then on top of that I decided: all the fabric I chose was wrong, maybe too young?
So yeah…that’s as far as I got. I’m not giving up on the handmade idea though. I’m thinking snow-globe soaps. How many days do I have left?
Project Notes
Pattern: 27 from Ottobre Spring 1/2008
Fabric: knit interlock
Size: 104cm
You have four days till Christmas. Aren’t the snow-globe soaps adorable?! I want to try those too.
You sure are determined! Especially with four days left. I gave up on the handmade dolls, aprons, wash cloths, etc.. considering my recent health issues.. I think everyone understands. And besides, everyone loves getting a fun movie. Cringe, I know.. I love love giving handmade it seems to mean so much more.. but sometimes, you just gotta give a little.
I must say I’m interested in the snow globe soaps. I’m gonna google that now. Happy Holidays!
My hubby and I have not been seeing eye to eye on the handmade Christmas, either. I just ignore him, but maybe that won’t work in your marriage
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I think snow globe soaps would be adorable.
Just an idea: My friend Katie – about 15 years ago – said she was going to make pillows for her niece and nephews. I thought like Alan, “Yeah, that’s going to go off well.”
I was wrong, and she was right. They were so excited and still have them around to this day.
She isn’t even that crafty. The pillows weren’t pretty. They were just regular pillows, like the kind you sleep on, but she had chosen material based on each kid. If a pillow is too hard, even a pillow case that is tailored to their interest may be great. I wanted to embroidery glow in the dark stuff on pillow cases for my nephews but just haven’t gotten around to it.
I guess it depends on what you make and how the kids’ personalities are like. Each kid is different. Some may be too young to get the hand-made gift thing and you will become the crazy weird aunt who makes them all those strange things every year, or you will be the aunt who pays attention and makes the kids’ stuff according to their personalities, which is very cool. But I think kids won’t notice those points until they are around 10 years old or so. When they are really young, they don’t even realize who gave them the cool toy. They will just play with it and get bored of it in 3 days. I say make a batch of cookies or cupcakes. Everybody loves those and you can get them baked within 3 days.
I don’t know how old your nieces/nephews are, but maybe you could make them beanbags! Beanbags are super fun! Maybe make a little cardboard cut-out to throw the beanbags into or just get a cute basket or bin to throw them into. Have them try from a few feet away and then back further and try again. If they are older, they could try juggling!
My kids don’t always dig the handmade (dolls in particular). They did really like it when I made Totoro Tshirts for them (just appliqued onto a premade Tshirt). It was one of their favorites. They also really liked the personalized board books I made them last year.
Maybe a handmade cape? I bet you could think of some fun things that Alan would be agree are exciting enough (that aren’t too hard to make with just a few days to go!).
An idea for little ones. I’ve decided to go handmade for my daughter’s little friends, too. This year I’m making capes (like super hero capes). You are such a super sewer that I’m sure you could whip them up in like a second, whereas I’ll be up half of tonight getting 10 of these little things done. I’m going one step further and fusing their initial in a fun fabric on the already bold colored bad boys. Pink with strawberry print fabric letters for girls and blue with an airplane/firetruck/car print fabric for the boys. I’m just putting velcro on bias for the collar so that they can “break away” in case the cape gets caught while they are running. Good luck on whatever you decide to tackle!
handmade always the best gift! when i was rushing to make gifts and time were limited, i always sew a simple pouch, guess that’s the fastest to sew and that covered ‘handmade’
and fill them with little things since each of my niece have different preferences.
may you and your family have the warmest and joyous christmas time ever! happy holiday!
I forgot to add that I don’t think the print is too babyish. My son is almost 5 and he wouldn’t think that. Though he is a bit on the innocent side compared to some kids his age I suppose.
aha! the problem is probably due to the direction of the stretch. with knit fabrics, you want the stretch to go around the body. if you put the stretch vertically, it will indeed grow. don’t give up. knits are wonderful to sew. ottobre patterns are also wonderful.