Sunday, August 14, 2011

A Weekend Spent Crafting

I felt like crafting this weekend. It's always interesting to see what comes of a weekend where I want to create. I did have things in mind, however.

Back in July, I cut apart those Santa blocks from that material I bought a couple years ago. The stack has been sitting on top of the sewing basket so this weekend, I decided to do something with the stack. Step 1 was to match a front and a back. I paired them up and pinned the pieces together.

When that was done, the next step was to cut the ribbon which would be the hanger. These are going to be ornaments. I hope the amount I cut is just long enough to go on a tree without it dangling too far.

What's great about this project is that, other than polyester fiberfill, I haven't bought anything new for it. The hanging ribbons were in a drawer of accessories. I've had some of the ribbons in this drawer for a long time. The bigger lace or ribbon won't be appropriate and I have some colors or designs that won't work with the Santa theme either, but I have a lot of ribbon and lace that will. I'll be using it up, which is a bonus, too.

When the drawer has been exhausted, I have the box of trims. Some of these are very old. My ex-husband's great-aunt was a seamstress and a crafter. When Aunt Adele moved from her house to an apartment, she gave me boxes of stuff; thread, trim, patterns and sewing equipment. As I had a lot of different trims myself, I consolidated most of the items into the box she gave me. Once the trims in the drawer are exhausted, I shall begin rooting through this box to see what I have that will work.

Not every ornament is getting the trim treatment. The first ornament in every style is plain. I know some of those for whom these are destined as Christmas gifts don't want ruffles or lace or ribbon around their ornament. They prefer simple. That's a quick pin around the outside, making sure the hanger is tucked inside. Then it's sewn with a small seam and a spot is left to turn it.

When it's turned, I stuff it. It's very easy to get it overfull.

Once it's stuffed, I hand sew shut the opening at the bottom. Here is the finished product hanging on the door knob. This is the very first one off the "assembly line". It came out rather well.

For trims, I sew the trim on first, then pin the hanger with the other half and sew the whole thing together. I wasn't leaving enough of an opening at the bottom and found it hard to turn and stuff. Having figured that out, I leave over half of the bottom open as these aren't very big and I need room to get them turned, particularly with some of the more rigid trims around the outside.

Here is the product of the weekend. I have gone through 4 different trims, and three different Santa poses. At one point, I had the crazy idea I'd add beads or sequins but, seeing these completed, I think that borders on gaudy. These are nice as they are. 


Yes, you now know what you're getting for Christmas, but you don't know which one. 

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

No comments:

Post a Comment