Handmake Christmas 2011, gift 11... piece de resistance!!

As the post name suggests I am particularly happy with this last Christmas gift. It was dreamt up a number of months ago and was for my Mum. My Mum lives on a large property and LOVES to garden. She uses a wheelbarrow to transport lots of tools, manure, compost, wood chip etc. She's a very organised person and so the idea of her heaping everything into the one wheelbarrow just doesn't sit right with me. So I decided to to make her a 'wheelbarrow caddy'. I wanted something to hook over the handles of her wheelbarrow that she could store all her tools in, as well as her phone, water bottle and gloves. I wanted to choose a fabric that was both waterproof and hardy, so I chose some oilcloth. I had never used oilcloth before and have to say that it is a little tricky to work with, but I got there in the end. I got some great tips from this website.

So I designed the 'wheelbarrow caddy'. It has two sides to use all available space and the straps loop over the handles of the wheelbarrow and will have a snap closure.

Introducing... the 'wheelbarrow caddy'...




I also added some embellishment to a new set of her favourite gloves for a giggle. :) P.S Please ignore the horribly dirty table that I have stupidly taken all the photographs on... ;)

 

This side stores her phone, water bottle, gloves and has a large section for other miscellaneous stuff.

This side stores her 3 favourite gardening tools. 

So, there it is. I don't have a pic of it in action yet, but will get one and post it when I can. :)

Ok, that's it!! That's all 11 Christmas gifts done... phew... it was quite an effort... now to put my feet up and relax... NOT! I've got 2 baby showers and a gazillion birthdays in January. Not to mention the skirt and 2 dresses that I want to make myself!! back to the sewing machine I go... ;)

See ya...

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 8,9 & 10... PJ pants

I know I've already posted about these fun men's PJ pants before, but I thought I give you a quick review. I made these for the special men in my family. They are super fun and each fabric was chosen specifically for the recipient. They were very well received. :)

I know this is a big call, but I am pretty confident in saying that this is my favourite fabric of all time! 80's mixed tapes!!! AWESOME!!!

It's a bit tricky to see but this is pac man fabric... ummmm... awesome!! :)

organic cotton featuring some super bright planes

I absolutely LOVE all the fabrics, they are super fun!! Most of the time it's only the ladies that get handmade goods... so it was fun spending some time on the boys!!

Tomorrow is the last of my Christmas gifts and I've left one of my favourites till last. ;)

Till then, happy crafting!

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011, Gift 7... dress up clothes on steroids...

Ok, I know this post has a slightly weird name, but let me explain... I wanted to make my little 3 year old niece some dress up clothes for her Christmas gift. I had seen this absolutely divine dress from the icandy handmade blog. It was stuck in my mind as one of the most beautiful dresses I had ever seen. I wanted to take the gorgeous petal design, use some fabulous, sparkly fabric add a sash, wand and crown... and... tada... whip up some awesome kids dress up clothes!!

Problem... the skirt took FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once I'd finished the skirt and attached it to the tshirt (bought from target) I simply didn't have the time for the wand and crown. So it's halfway between dress up clothes and halfway between party clothes. I've affectionately named the outfit 'dress up clothes on steroids'.

Ok, blah blah blah... here it is...

without the sash

the shiny little petal skirt

pretty little flower on the tshirt

So, there it is... :)

I did a little, girly squeal when it all came together. I really enjoyed making something a little bit fun for my niece. So often we dress our kids in serious, adult style clothing. So this outfit is just for fun! :) And who knows... I might get the crown and wand made one day. :)

Until tomorrow...

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 6... the last handbag!!

Ok, ok... so I made a few handbags. I've been sewing less than a year and handbags are something that I feel are lovely gifts, can be matched to the different tastes/personalities of each recipient and are achievable for a beginner like me. :)

This one was for my Mother-in-law. I nearly fell over when I saw the fabric.  Have you every had one of those 'gift finding' moments where you just want to scream "IT. IS. SO. PERFECT!!!!!" and then run to the counter and buy it, no matter the cost??? No??? Well, I have! When I walked past this gorgeous decorator weight fabric and saw the beautiful black and caramel stripes I knew it was for her and then i opened up the bolt of fabric and noticed that it had a wide decorative edge... I nearly fell over, the colours were perfect for her! So, the decorative edge became the lining for her bag. PER-FEC-TION!!!

Ok, before I get too carried away...

here it is...

Hello gorgeous lining fabric!! Could you be any more perfect?!?!?

So... there it is... the last of my Christmas handbags...

Stay tuned for more handmade goodness tomorrow.

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 5... little dress #2

A few days ago I shared some pics of a dress I made for one of my precious nieces. I made the same dress for the cheekiest member in the gorgeous trio of cousins. When i saw the fabric I knew straight away it was for her. Like the other little dress, I am super happy with the results. :)

Here it is...

As with the other dress, I really wish I ironed it before taking this photograph!!

How sweet is the fabric?!?!?! LOVE!!!

Gorgeous little fabric covered button at the back. :)





Ok, that's it. :)

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 4... my very first skirt!!

I was chatting with my sister-in-law about my plan to handmake all my Christmas gifts and she said "just DON'T make me a handbag". Hmmm... I had planned on making her a handbag, so I'm glad I found out her request before I started on her bag. So I got to thinking... adult clothing... surely it's not that hard!?!?! Right?!?!? So I got one of her skirts for sizing and gave it a shot... I'm pleased to say that it worked out really well. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the skirt I used for sizing was a little too small for her... this is the downside of using some one's clothes as sizing without their knowledge. She loves it though as she can wear it above her waist for a bit of extra shaping (not that she needs it).

So... here it is...

Isn't the fabric gorgeous!! The main fabric is decorator weight. I like using thicker fabrics for this style of skirt and was happy to find this fabric for my SIL.

  

I am super happy to say that I used piping for the first time. I made it using piping cord. it was super easy and added interest to the skirt.

I put in a zipper up the side and a hook up the top. Because of the piping it sits a bit funny around the zip when it's on a hanger but sits perfectly when being worn. Yay!!! :)

  Ok, that's all for today.

See you tomorrow,

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 3... another handbag

Ok, so a few days ago I showed you pics of a bag I made for my younger sister. I also made a handbag for my other sister. I had already made her a handbag previously but I wanted to change the pattern slightly and use a more neutral outer fabric to make it more usable for her.

So here it is...

The outer fabric is a gorgeous thick weave linen. I've used it before and LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

This is a really crap pic of the inside of the bag. The fabric is a beautiful; geometric pattern made out of decor weight cotton. It's also LOVELY!!

How lovely is this button!! And look at the fabric... sigh... pure love!! :)

Ok... that's all for today...

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 2... little girls dress

Our sweet Adele is lucky to have two equally sweet cousins in my Husbands side of our family. One was born 8 weeks before Adele and the other was born 8 weeks after Adele was born!! It is such a joy to watch them grow and play together. :) I wanted to make these two girls classic little dresses for Christmas.

The younger of the cousins has gorgeous red hair and light skin colour so I wanted to get the fabric just right. After seeing the dress on her I am so happy with my fabric choice. :)

Here it is...

Ahhhh... I wish I ironed before taking the photograph!!!

Cute little fabric covered button... LOVE! :)

I am so happy with this little beauty... it matches my precious little niece perfectly. A gorgeous dress for a gorgeous girl!! :)

I'll be back tomorrow for another Christmas gift reveal... ;)

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 1... Handbag

If you've noticed a lack of blog activity over the last month it's because every spare minute has been devoted to completing my goal of handmaking all my Christmas gifts. I'm excited to say that I came pretty close to completing my goal!! I ended up making 11 gifts!! :)

Today I'm going to show you a gift I made for my precious little sister 'Dids'. She loves purple and loves fine details and little flowers. I found her fabric REALLY easily and knew that she would love it!

Here it is...

I made her a little flower brooch that she can leave on the bag or put of her top when she uses the bag. :)

So, there it is... Gift number 1. Stay tuned for gift number 2. :)

Kerryn

The inside of the bag has a cute little pocket and a magnetic snap.

Lachie's first Christmas tree

My precious Lachie is 3.5 and is now old enough to have a Christmas tree without destroying it. Unfortunately Adele is too young so we are not putting up a big Christmas tree this year. We didn't want Lachie to miss out though, so we went out last Saturday and bought him a super cheap small tree to put on top of his toy cupboard in his room. He was super excited to decorate it because we had been making our own decorations the week before. So... here it is...

Lachie's very first Christmas tree. :) I absolutely love it! It's jam packed full of special stuff that he has made and chosen. LOVE my boy! :)

These are pipe cleaner and bead wreaths... super easy to make.

Laminated Christmas trees 'decorated' with paper baubles. :)

laminated stars. Tip: before laminating write your child's name and the year on the back so that you have a record in years to come of which child made the ornament and how old they were. :)

We let Lachie choose a few decorations from Kmart. He chose these cute little mushroom ornaments. :)

He also chose this super fantastic tinsel!!

Lachie and Tim decorating the tree

Look at the concentration on his face. :)

I wanted lachie to make a star for the top of the tree. So I bought a gorgeous cardboard star ornament from a craft store for him to paint...

Then he added some star sequins on one side and some cut up tinsel (I didn't have any glitter so cut up tinsel was my best option ;) on the other side. I cut off the cord and poked a hole in the bottom so that I could stick some wire into the star. I used a wire coat hanger...

... I left a straight section that was long enough to go from my hole all the way to the top of the star and then used two pairs of pliers to bend the wire into a spiral.

Tada!! A little 'rustic' but it serves our purpose perfectly!

And here it is!! :)

And the reverse side. :)

 I am so loving sharing the joy of Christmas with Lachie this year. We've got stacks more ornaments to make, I'll post some pics when they're done. :)

Ok, that's all for today...

Kerryn