Christmas Gift Class

Last year for sewing class, we made tote bags, crayon roll-ups, criss-cross coasters and quilted notebook covers. This year we are have more projects but they require less sewing time. We will be working on 7 projects with a total of 15 items to make that day. The great thing about the projects chosen is that they can all be made with scraps or small amounts of fabric. These are a great way to go green and use up what you have. I don't claim to be the brainchild of these items, I'm just spend a lot of time scouring the internet for projects.

Our first project is a lingerie bag. You can use this either for traveling or for a laundry bag. The fabrics that I've chosen are a linen/cotton blend. I found these on clearance at Hancock Fabrics. We will be making a lavender sachet and lavender dryer bags out of the left over linen. The lavender is curing and smells wonderful.

We will be making a set of 4 quilted note cards. The fabric that I've chosen is charm squares by Moda. The line is Glace by 3 Sisters. We will also be using decorative threads and decorative stitches on the cards.

The potato bags really didn't meet my objectives on learning a new technique but they are so popular that we are going to make them. We will be using flannel and discussing the safety of materials for these bags. We'll make one with the potato fabric and flannel, and another bag out off two plain cottons.

The key fobs will probably be are quickest gift. These can be embellished with grosgrain ribbon or fabric. Satin ribbon is not recommended for this because satin will not withstand the amount of abuse that goes on in a woman's purse. Well at least in my purse! The key fobs should take about 10 minutes each. We are using 1.25" cotton webbing.

Our final project will be to chenille a hot pad. The chenille process works best with flannel but I have decided to use quilting cottons since this is a beginner project. The hot pads become very thick with so many layers of flannel and batting. In addition to the layer of batting, we will be working with Insul-Bright. This product is made from The Warm Company. This helps to deflect the heat back to it's energy source and away from the user. Yes, my know myhotpad looks a little wonky. I needed to square it up better. I also put the binding on differently. I won't be doing that again.

So we will be busy. There is still lots for me to do. I am working on lingerie sketches. I've got the teddy and underwear down. I still need to sketch out some pieces of Victorian lingerie. I've got to order our drawstring cord stops for the lingerie bags, cotton thread and shop for more drawstring. I took that last two rolls of it at Wal-Mart. I haven't tallied up the expenses recently. I'm hoping still to be around $20 for all supplies. I keep waiting for Hobby Lobby to put the note cards on sale. It's hard for this German to pay full price. Rest assured that I have made most of the mistakes that can happen. So I think I'm confident that I have most of the bugs worked out of these projects.