Making Unique Christmas Gifts
Oct 14th, 2008 by admin
When Money is Tight
This uncertain economic climate means money could be tight for us all, so instead of spending a lot of money on Christmas gifts this year, you can make something special for your friends and family.
Gift Ideas
Here are some lovely original gifts that won’t cost much, and if you start now, you could very quickly have several gifts for different family members.
Hand Made with Love
Hand made gifts are always a pleasure to receive because the receiver knows that the gift is original, and that a lot of thought and time has gone into the making.
Christmas Cushion
This Christmas cushion for example, it would make a lovely gift, it costs next to nothing to create and it is an original design.
This was a lot of fun to make.
I started by cutting a square and then appliqueing a different Christmas picture in each corner, a candlestick, snowflake, star, tree etc. I then attached a check strip length ways and width ways to divide up the cushion.
I cut two pieces for the back to create a simple envelope opening.
I made some bias strips and encased the piping cord. Because I didn’t want ugly seams inside my cushion cover, I made French seams, (sewing wrong sides together first, then turning and sewing right sides together, making sure I encased the piping.
All I had to do then was to pop a cushion pad inside the newly constructed cover.
Baby Books
If you have a baby in your family then a padded fabric book would make a lovely present!
This was also very simple to construct.
I used Paddington bear for this book , but you could use any lovely children’s fabric. cut out several pictures all the same size to create pages. sandwich some wadding between each set of pages and join right sides together leaving an opening for turning. Press. slip stitch opening closed.
Construct four sets of double pages, three inner pages and one outer. lay the inner pages inside the outer page and stitch through the centre thus creating a baby’s soft book that will keep through the generations. It won’t tear or break and it can go in the washing machine.
Watch for More Gift Ideas
There are lots of other gifts you can create in time for Christmas and over the next few weeks I will be writing more about them.
