Handmade Christmas-Family Sewing

I may have gone a little overboard with Christmas present sewing this year-but boy was it fun!  I worked on my handmade Christmas gifts for my family for a good month and made:  4 Lounge Pants, 12 Stowe bags, and 3 Jackets!  Plus I posted last week everything I made for my kids.

My mom gave me my Christmas gift early to help out: a wonderful Coverstitch Machine!  It sure helped speed up those last projects.  I received the Brother 2340CV Pacesetter and wow-I love it!  It took a little getting used too but after some trial and error its super easy to use.  The only negative about this machine is that it doesn’t have a wider space on the right of the needles-no free arm.  But the price tag of this machine (which is so much less than the next entry-level CS) makes that totally acceptable.  This is a great starter CS machine and really helps to give a nice professional finish.  Plus I can now do a hem in record time!  Okay…on to the sewing!

Below you can see my sewing setup for my Christmas sewing:

We’re in a 2 bedroom condo so space is at a premium.  I keep all my machines covered on my bookshelves in the Living room when they’re not in use.  The kitchen table is my workspace on the weekends.  I setup all three machines-My Singer Stylist, Brother 1034D Serger and my new Brother 2340CV Coverstitch machines.  The ironing board goes behind me by the counter to keep everything close at hand.  I made most everything this year assembly line style.  I had those Stowe bags down to an art by the end!

I made 4 Pairs of Lounge Pants using New Look 6233.  The first three were in flannel from Joann’s for my dad, my father in law and my nephew. I wish I had gotten pictures of everything but in the Holiday rush I totally forgot.  The pair you see below I made for my father the day after Christmas (I was waiting for this fabric since I ordered it last minute!)  My parents lived in NYC for the longest time before retiring down to FL so I was super excited to find this NYC subway fabric in Linen.  I altered the pattern to make this pair larger using M6252 (mine goes up to XL) and then altering a bit based on his first pair of pants.  My dad is 6’4″ so he was thrilled to have pants that fit well.  These have an enclosed drawstring waist with a flannel tie. Super easy make that I made more time-consuming by enclosing all of the interior seams and topstitching using my CS.

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I made my husband Vic a fleece pullover jacket using M6252. He rarely asks me to sew for him so I was happy to have something I knew he wanted that I could make for him! I used the same Polartec fleece I used for my son’s jacket from Rockywoods.   I made this in the size large but it’s a bit tight through the shoulders and he needs a  bit more length in the sleeves.  I ‘ll be making a new one for him soon!  Sorry for the low quality pics- I kept forgetting to take pics and I took these last night.  Plus Ami kept trying to get in all the shots.

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Here are some examples of the many Stowe bags I made this Christmas.   This pattern release was so timely!  It’s the new bag pattern from Grainline Studio and Fringe Supply & Co.  This is my favorite knitting bag-though you can use it for anything.  It’s easily customizable too.  The Star Wars bag below in the small size was altered for my Nephew.  He loves drawing comics so I made a larger pocket for his sketchbook and extra pencil/pen dividers.

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I used up a ton of my leftover fabric remnants and unworn clothing to make the majority of my bags.  I love seeing my creations reused!  All the links below lead to my original makes that were repurposed. I made 2 bags for my Mom, Diane(1 Large Red and Gold Floral and 1 Small Blue Linen-both pictured below), 1 Large Ikat bag in Red, White and Black for my MIL Diane, a small refashioned denim jeans bag for my SIL Nicola, a madder dyed  refashioned small bag for my niece Kelsey, a Large Gold Bag for my other niece Skyler, The Star Wars small bag(pictured above) for my nephew Koan, a small gold bag for my niece Veda, a small grey scuba bag for my son Nigel, a Large custom knitting Star Wars Bag(same fabric I used for Nigel’s Star Wars Shirt) for my bro Adrian(he’s a fab knitter!) and a Blue Tweed leftover from my Francoise Dress made a small bag for his girlfriend Courtney(pictured below).   The blue linen bag with coral stitching below is from my Navy Linen Capri’s that wore out (not the best quality of linen) with added decorative stitching and the red floral was an old tablecloth I don’t use but love the print.

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I even made a bag for myself!  I use it everyday when I knit at the playground. This one is also made from an old tablecloth-I love repurposing! Perfect bag!

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And here are my mom Diane and my niece Skyler on Christmas with their gifts!

Do you make you’re Christmas gifts too?  I think next year I’ll have to scale it back a bit…. but it’s so much fun to create for my family.  Happy Sewing!