Practical gift for a guy…

So I’ve made my husband something that I think he will really be pleased with…a car organizer.  He goes crazy when things get unorganized and since we’re going to have two kids soon I figured our car may start being more chaotic so this is one of the gifts I’m giving him for Christmas this year.  I took a picture so that he’d figure out what it is!  I hope he likes it!

sea-shell bracelet

This year in our Christmas drawing, my son picked my cousin, who is a teenager’s name.  I was really excited to give to a girl so that I could give her something fun that is homemade!

Here’s what I came up with!  I really hope she likes it.  It’s understated though fun especially with all of the colors from these beautiful natural shells.

Lavender Little Girl Dress with a Little Detail

A year after my back surgery, I told Jared that if he wanted to have kids, I would need a sewing machine.  I just felt like if I was ever to have a little girl I would want to make dresses for her.  So he took me over to this special they were having at Big Lots on Necchi sewing machines with all metal parts and bought me one.  I love my sewing machine and I’m so excited that now I am actually going to have a little girl to sew for!  I decided to practice my sewing skills and made this little dress for my friend’s daughter since she’s in a bit bigger size and sometimes bigger is easier than smaller.  My favorite thing about this dress is are the little fux pearls I added to the already darling trim.

 

It’s all in the details!

Darling Baby Bibs!

I love these baby bibs…These are some more things that I made using ideas from the the book “Sewing Projects in an Afternoon” by Susan Mickey.  These are nice because they are actually thick enough to ensure that what the baby is spilling on themselves is not going to soak through (if you can bear for your baby to wear these while eating).  The bunny is probably the best for eating in because it is actually all made of terry cloth in the front which will keep it nice when washed.  I’m not sure how the fleece on the bear and duck will do.  Next time I hope to find a larger variety of terry cloth colors…or I’m just going to have to buy towels to make these with!

    

White bunny on yellow

   

Yellow duck on white

Brown bear on purple

Sleep Mask and Neck Pillow

One of the best books I’ve ever found to help the beginning sewer advance their skills at a quick pace is called “Sewing Projects in an Afternoon” by Susan Mickey.  This book is incredible and I love, love, love it!

 

The instructions are straight forward and the projects are pretty much classy things that you wouldn’t mind having…rather than some of the what I call “country cottage” projects that some books have that just are not very elegant let alone functional.  Once you’ve done a few of the projects in it working from beginner and up your skills will have advanced to a much higher level.  The glossary in the back is wonderful and has all kinds of tips and how-to instructions such as “How to Make your own Biased Tape”.  Which I had a difficult time finding anywhere else.

  

 

I spent maybe two hours all together on this project but I think it’s a lovely gift for someone that you know needs to relax but you don’t want to give them yet another lotion or body butter set that is going to be placed in a drawer and never used.  The best thing is that you get to choose the materials that you think best suit the person that you’re making it for to match their taste and personality.

Monogrammed Handkerchiefs

The question of what a good homemade gift would be for a man would be.  I really enjoy the process of making a gift for people that I love and care about… Usually it gives me a lot of time where that particular person is on my mind for quiet a chunk of time.  Men in general are the most difficult people to create things for unless you are very intimate with them and happen to know their size and have some idea of something they may need (such as a shirt).  However, I figured out that monogrammed handkerchiefs are quiet a classy gift and also don’t take up to much time.  Besides they’re one size fits all which is even better!  I made some for my FIL one year for Christmas while he and my MIL were on their mission to the Freiberg Temple.  He told me a while ago that he still uses them all the time. Here is an example of set that I made for my younger brother recently that I intend to gift him (among other things) for Christmas.  It cracks me up that his initials spell “Mr. B”.

How I made it was to first find a font I liked from my word processing program and printed them out in the size and spacing that I wanted.  Then I placed the paper under the hankie in the location I wanted the letters and took a disappearing ink pen and traced the letters (the great think about these pens is if you make a mistake you can wait for a while (about 24-48 hours) for the marks to disappear or just wash the item with a little water and voila it’s off).  Then I did a trailing stitch because it’s more raised than some of the others.  This stitch is accomplished by split stitching along the lines and then working in a line of closely spaced satin stitches over them.

I personally think these look quite nice…I hope my brother does too.