A Christmas Stocking Tutorial : :

My sister has been pestering and pestering me to make up this tutorial, and I have been meaning to do it for a little while now, so here it is (just in time for Christmas).

A CHRISTMAS STOCKING TUTORIAL: 

Firstly, you will need to gather your supplies! 

To make one stocking you will need:

A Foxy Little Fellow : :

Another Christmas present done!! (It feels so good to say that)

This little guy is a present for Little Mr Z. 

He is made from a really good quality wool felt. I have never really used felt before, but I actually found it better than cotton. The felt can be stuffed really firm, and it was a breeze to sew. 
I am DEFINITELY going to make more felt toys. He is just too cute! 

I don't know if Little Mr Z is going to love him. He will probably be much more interested in the wooden car I have for his stocking, and not to mention all the wrapping paper that's going to be floating around on Christmas morning.

But *I* think he is really cute. And I know that Little Mr Z's sisters will want to play with him, even if he isn't terribly interested. 

I got this pattern from the craft show that I went to this year. Its called 'Bandit' by Simone Gooding. The pattern is really good with really clear instructions. I finished sewing this little guy in about 2 evenings (not including cutting), and that was taking my time.

Now all I have to do is make two dolls for the girls. I have about 2 weeks to do them, so hopefully I can get them done. I want to get them done quickly too because I have a baby carrier pattern that I would LOVE to make them to go with their dolls. I just need more time! (story of my life)

Jessica

A Christmas Wreath Tutorial : :

I have always admired pretty Christmas wreaths on front doors.

I decided that this Christmas I would make one. When I envisioned it in my head I imagined Christmas balls, tinsel, and lots of other Christmas-y things on it, but when I was in spotlight, I thought some red flowers would be nice. 

However when I saw the pink and white ones, I changed my mind, and got them instead! 

You can really let your imagination go wild when decorating your wreath, but this is mine....

(If someone knows how to get rid of smudges from a camera lens, please let me know! I've tried lint-free wipes and other things but nothing seems to work!)

To make this wreath you will need:

• A Wreath 
• Decorations (I used fake flowers and some hessian material)
• A hot glue gun
• Some clear sealing spray (Optional)

To start with, I decided that I wanted to put some sealing spray stuff onto my wreath. Our front door is under a verandah, and never really gets wet, but I didn't want it to get damaged by the weather, or start to go mouldy. 

So this step is completely optional. You could even paint your wreath a colour, which would offer protection, and look awesome too. 

1. Following the directions on the can, spray your wreath. 

This is the spray I used. It has been in my shed for years and years, so I don't know if you can even get it anymore, but I am SURE that there will be something similar at your local paint or hardware store.

I started off spraying the wreath on some newspaper, but then I couldn't spray the back of it, so I found hanging the wreath on the bush worked really well for me. I gave my wreath two coats, then left it to dry completely for 2 days. As I mentioned before, this step is completely optional, and I'm sure it would work just as well using this wreath without anything on it. 

2. The next step is the fun part! Decorating your wreath! You can do this however you want, with whatever you want. For mine I threaded the flower stems through the wreath until I had an arrangement that I was happy with.

Basically just keep adding and experimenting until you have something that looks good. 

I also had some hessian fabric that i wanted to make into a sweet bow, so I used my handy-dandy overlocker, to overlock the sides of my fabric. When I was overlocking, I tapered in the middle section of the bow so there wasn't a big bulky knot when I tied it (sorry I didn't take a photo of that part, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out).

3. Once you have everything the way you like it, get your hot-glue gun and glue it into place. I used heaps of glue on mine, as I didn't want curious fingers to be able to pluck flowers from it once it was hanging. 

4. Then using some scissors you don't care if you wreak, or a pair of wire cutting scissors, trim all the stems, putting more hot glue where needed. 

5. Put a small screw, nail or whatever takes your fancy into your front door and hang your wreath!

6. Finally, take one step backward and admire your handiwork! 

I really like this wreath. It was so much fun making it too! I may leave it up all year! It doesn't really look as Christmas-y as I was planning, but hey, its a wreath and I love it, Mr Handsome thinks its OK too, so it stays!

Jessica

(Step 7. Clean ones camera so photos don't look all smudgy....seriously, any tips would be most welcome!)

Work In Progress

I haven't finished anything for a few days, so here's what I'm currently working on....

Its a terrible photo, but the second Oliver + S family reunion dress is coming along nicely. I should finish this soon (if not tonight).

 Speaking about clothes making. Here is a lovely stack i have in my cupboard for future projects. I really want to finish the above dress so I can get started on some of this!

 

I have some cute poly-cotton on top for Little Miss E & I's next dresses, which will be the Oliver + S Ice-cream dress. Next is some lovely cream silk shantung. It was expensive at $20 a meter, but oh-so-lovely, so I decided to get some (and I had a discount voucher). I want to make the petal sleeve blouse from the Japanese sewing book 'Feminine Wardrobe'. I wont be doing that for a while yet though, as I don't want to mess it up! I will practice on the twin's clothes first :) The rest is going to be clothes as well, but I'll write more about that soon!

Another sneak preview, but shhh! This is part of Little miss E's Christmas present, and I've thus far managed to hide it from her.........

What is it? You ask, well its not finished but it will soon be this....

The picture on the pattern doesn't look terribly exciting, but I saw one made up at the Craft show in Melbourne, it was so cute! The one I saw made up was made from Sarah Jane fabric, using an out of print line. I have about 1 meter of it stashed away, and I was going to make it up exactly the same as the display, but I decided to save it. I have a quilt in mind that I want to use it for instead (and also I figured Little Miss E will probably drag this teapot set around everywhere, including outside, and the other fabric is white).

I did find a really pretty lamp-work bead to go on top though! 

And lastly, I have been thinking about making a christmas stocking for Little Mr Z. I have made one for everyone else, but I just didnt get around to making one for him last year, so I will be making one for him soon!

Here is the one I made for Little Miss E.

I really really love it. I like gold Christmas decor, so all of the stocking I made have the same gold top, and a gold patterned fabric like this one. I used a gold bead trim to line the fold-over and to put the letter on the front. I then also used some gold ribbon attached to the corner for hanging.

To attach the trim I had to hand stitch between every-single-bead! It took forever but looks really good!

The photos don't really do it justice! 
My sister asked me about my Christmas stockings, and as she lives in Queensland, (and is too far away for me to just show her) I'm going to post a tutorial of how I made them shortly!

Come back soon to see these WIP's completed :)

Jessica