Make a Doll Sized Shopping Bag

It's coming down to the wire, Christmas is almost upon us.  Time to get that last minute shopping done.  To help with that shopping, I've created this doll sized shopping bag to share with you.  Never fear, this is an quick and easy sewing project.  An added bonus for this project is that today, I'm sharing with you my pattern along with the tutorial to help you make this darling doll accessory.  

These are so easy to sew together, you can make a bunch in very little time.  After you're done making your doll shopping bags, wrap a mini present or two and add them to your shopping bag.

These shopping bags also make a cute container to put a gift card into or a small piece of jewelry.   I'm sure you'll think of other creative ways to use these mini shopping bags.

Supplies needed:

2 beige felt squares,

18" of jute

Beige thread to match felt

Accent pieces of felt to decorate the bags

Mini red pom poms, optional

Contrasting embroidery thread

Free Pattern:  Download the pattern here.

Instructions:

1. Cut out beige felt using this pattern.  Pin the sides together and sew using a 1/4" seam.
2. Sew the bottom seam together using a 1/4" seam.
3. Fold the fabric together and punch small holes in the felt at marking.  (I used a tool called a Crop-a-dile to punch my holes.)
4. Pinch bottom seams on both sides of the bag together and pin.
5. Sew the bottom seams together with 1/4" seams.
6. Cut jute into two, 9" pieces.
7. Thread jute from the middle of the bag to the outside of the bag.  Tie a knot into the end of the jute.
8. Now the fun part, decorate the bag with small felt items like holly leaves and berries or mini red pom poms.

Have fun making this doll shopping bag.  Once you've made one, I'm sure you'll want to make more.  How are you planning to decorate your bags?  xoxo Grandma

Linked to:  Craft Gossip

Twenty-two Favorite Handmade Toys

One of my favorite things to sew are toys.  I just love creating a little treasure to take with me on a trip and give to my grandchildren.  Below is a list of some of my favorite toys that I've made, along with links to all the details of how you can make it too.  And BONUS: most of these little creations include a free pattern.  So, if you're in the mood to get your creative juices flowing, dig right in! This list is for you. 

1.  Miniature Stuffed Owl, free pattern and tutorial found here. 

2.  Long Legged Santa, a free pattern found here.

3.  Long Legged Rabbit, here.

4.  Seahorse toy, free pattern and tutorial found here.

5.  Teepee, big enough for an adult to stand up inside.  Link to the post here.

6.  Stick Pony from a sock tutorial, found here.

7.  Snowmen from scraps of fabric. Check out this post.

8.  Nativity Finger Puppets, here.

9.  Franklin the frog, here.

10.  A little miniature doll and some doll clothes too, found here.

11.  A fabric fairy house made from an old sweater (or felt). Go to this link.

12.  A fairy cottage made from an old sweater (or felt), here.

13.  This little toy elephant is found here

14.  A toy fish, perfect for a young child. Learn how to use a toy rattle to put inside a toy for pennies, here.

15.  Stuffed monsters, free pattern and full instructions here.

16.  How to create more stuffed monster toys with ideas on how to vary the pattern here.

17.  Stuffed Monkey, link to the free pattern and ideas on how to make a girl or boy monkey. Go to this post.

18.  30 Minute Stuffed Animal, complete directions on upcycling a tee-shirt found here.

19.  Make a mini beaver, link to the pattern found here.

20.  Doll sized 1950's poodle skirt found here.

21.  Doll sized travel suitcase tutorial.

22.  Make a few bendable fairies.  For inspiration, go to this post.

The best thing about this list is that most of these posts offer a simple tutorial that you can use to create your own ideas. Go ahead and make a new toy for someone you love or better yet for a charity that you love. It might be fun to incorporate some of these creations into a New Year's resolution! 

Merry Christmas to everyone!    xoxo Grandma

Brother & Sister Penguin Pajamas

Via Facetime, I let my grandson choose the fabric for his and his sister's Christmas pajamas.  As you may have already guessed, he choice this penguin fabric.  Who doesn't love penguins? 

I sewed the coordinating brother & sister pants using this flannel. To my granddaughter's pants, I added a 5" ruffle from a contrasting flannel to the bottom of each leg. 

To jazz up the white pre-made tee shirts I purchased for these pajamas, I added a penguin applique.  To download your free penguin applique pattern go here.

After you've downloaded the pattern, cut out the pattern pieces from any scrap fabric you may have on hand.  I just happened to have fleece scraps that I used for these penguins.

Use temporary adhesive to attach the pieces onto a pre-made, pre-washed tee shirt.  Next place a piece of temporary tear away interfacing under the back side of the image.  (Tissue paper also works great.)  Now, using a narrow zig zag stitch and coordinating thread, machine embroider around the penguin.

Here's how the penguin will look from the wrong side of the fabric:

When you're done your penguin should look similar to this one.  Have fun using my new penguin pattern to make penguin Christmas pajamas for your little ones!  xoxo Grandma

Handmade Christmas - Christmas Tree Hot Pads

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Whenever Christmas time rolls around, I am always stumped over what to give my neighbors. If you have a similar problem, then I have a simple solution for you. Ever heard of "A Handcrafted Christmas?" It's a group of creative bloggers who have joined together for a monthly Christmas Blog Hop where one of us will be making a fabulous handcrafted Christmas gift to inspire and re-create each month.  Our goal is to make a gift a month so that by the time Christmas rolls around we'll have at least 12 gifts ready for the holiday season.  

This is my month to host "A Handcrafted Christmas," and my gift is Christmas tree hot pads -- perfect for neighbor gifts.  You can use scraps of fabric and ribbon to make these because no two hot pads need to look exactly the same. One added bonus to this post is that The Warm Company has agreed to give one lucky winner a yard of their "Insul-bright" lining. Simply follow this blog and leave a comment below and you'll be entered.

1. Gather your supplies:  background & backing fabric 2) 9" x 9" (round all but the top left corner), lace and/or ribbon, Double fold quilt binding bias tape (cut in half) or extra wide double fold bias tape, Insulated lining like Insul-Bright,  tree trunk fabric: 1" x 2",  thin cotton batting is optional, thread, scissors and the free tree pattern found here.  For the tree pattern, make an rectangle 6 3/8" x 6 3/4" x 6 3/4" and cut out your trees.
2. Position the tree trunk and then layer the tree shape slightly on top of the trunk and onto the background fabric. 
3. Cut ribbon or lace and pin onto the tree, tucking the raw edges under the tree shape.
4. With a straight stitch, sew the ribbon and or lace onto the tree shape.
   
5. Change your stitch to a blanket stitch.  This is what it looks like on my sewing machine.
6. Starting at the top of the tree, stitch all the way around the tree's shape.  Make sure to pivot around all the turns.
7. Now you'll layer your hot pad.  The first layer is the tree, then the Insul-bright (insulated fabric), then a thin layer of batting, then the backing.  The backing is "sandwiched" between all the layers and the right side of the fabric will be facing out.  To keep my layers from shifting, I found that temporary spray glue worked the best and was the quickest way to keep those layers together.
8. Take your seam tape and measure 4.25".  This piece will be sewn together first to create the hang tab.  Starting with the top left corner, at 4.25" open up the bias tape and pin one edge of the tape all around the back side of the hot pad.
   
9. Sew the bias tape through all the layers.
10. Wrap the bias tape around the front side and pin in place.  
11. Fold the tab over until it touches the hot pad's edge and sew a square to hold the tab in place.
12. When finished sewing the tab, it will look like this.  Sew close to the edge of the bias tape and all around the hot pad.

Your Christmas tree hot pad should look something like this:

Now, I hate to ruin any Christmas surprises, but if you're lucky enough you'll be getting one of these along with some melt in your mouth homemade rolls. Now that those Christmas gifts are already out of the way, I can rest a little easier come December. 

To enter the contest for free insulated lining to make hot pads, join this blog as a "follower" and then leave a comment.  

The Prize: One yard of Insul-Bright shipped directly to your home. Thank you to The Warm Company for sponsoring this prize!  This product can be purchased at your favorite fabric/craft store.  Just ask for it by it's name. 

The winner, Suzi who personally contacted me.  I love it when someone takes the time to let me know what they think.  xoxo Grandma 

Insul-Bright can be purchased from here:

Felt Christmas Stockings for your Doll

Since getting ready for the holidays means getting your doll ready too... I mean, if you're a little girl... we had to whip out some mini Christmas stockings.

I discovered that all my doll loving friends thought they were too cute. Since most of these friends don't sew, I made a bunch of these cute little felt stockings for their dolls.

If you sew, you'll want to download this Free Pattern to make your own doll sized Christmas stockings for all your doll loving friends.  Remember to download this pattern "full size" then have fun creating these little stockings for a doll or even to decorate a Christmas tree.  Don't want to make one?  You can find this cute stocking here.

Materials needed:

• Red felt
• White felt
• Star buttons (for the tree stocking)
• White, orange and brown thread

Directions:

1. Cut out felt using the pattern.
2. Machine stitch the top to the stocking.  Machine stitch the mini snowman or tree to the stocking using an embroidery stitch.
3. Sew rick rack along the bottom of the white stocking top.
4. Add 2 1/2" of ribbon by folding the ribbon in half and tucking under the raw edges before sewing next to the top left corner of the stocking. 
5. Hand embroider the details onto the snowman. (Nose, Eyes and stick hands.) If you embroidered the tree, just sew a star button onto the top of the tree and with brown thread add a trunk about 1/4" wide.
6. Pin the stockings together and sew 1/4" from the edge with a contrasting thread color.

When you're finished with step #6, your stocking should look like this: 

or this if you added a tree to the stocking:

Now, even if you're not, your doll should be ready for Christmas morning. 

xoxo Grandma

Make a Christmas Fairy Cottage

It's time for another fun project, but this time with a Christmas twist. I've joined with bloggers around the world to bring you a few weeks worth of Christmas fairy projects (see the complete list at the end of this post).  

Today, I'm sharing with you how to make a Christmas fairy cottage.  This makes a cute decoration or toy or it can easily be turned into a night light by adding an LED light.

Do you want to join in the fun?  To begin this project, download this free Christmas fairy cottage pattern here. You'll also want to go to this post for additional free patterns and instruction to make this and other snugly fairy abodes.

Supplies needed:

• 4) .875" (2.22 cm) bells
• Embroidery floss:  green (several shades), brown, white
• Felt scraps, green(s) and white
• Pipe cleaners, any color
• Scissors
• Needle
• 1 wool sweater or felt
• Scrap of netting or tulle
• Batting
• Heavy pellon interfacing
• Empty salt container

If you're using an old sweater, you'll need to shrink it in hot water and then dry it using a hot dryer setting. A wool sweater work best. Now, cut off one of the sleeves.  I cut my sleeve down to 17 inches long.  This sleeve will be the basis for your Christmas fairy house. If you're using felt, cut a rectangle the width of your container and the height of your container plus 8 inches to wrap all the way around the container. 

Cut out 2 pieces of your felt scraps and one of interfacing to make a door.  Sandwich the interfacing between the felt and sew using a blanket stitch, either by hand or with a machine, all around the door.  Stitch by hand around felt leaves (I used 7 leaves) and cover the door by slip stitching these leaves in place.

Cut out two windows and sew some tulle onto the wrong side of the openings.  To hide the stitching, hand embroider around the windows using a blanket stitch.

Embroider around the door frame using a blanket stitch.  Now pin the door in place.  Sew the leaf door to the door frame.  Add a bead door knob and a latch because a fairy needs to keep the cold out of their house in the winter.

Decorate your cottage with additional felt and embroidered leaves, snowflakes and at least one felt Christmas stocking.

At the top of the sleeve, cut four even stripes 8 inches long by around two inches wide. Sew pipe cleaners into the top stripes making a tube.  The pipe cleaners allow the top pieces to curl and take shape.

Take your empty salt container and with the tip of a seam ripper or large needle, poke holes around the Windows and door opening.  Using an exacto knife, cut out the openings.

Slide the decorated sleeve/felt onto the prepared salt container matching up the openings and glue or stitch these two items together.

For the base, layer one piece of heavy pellon between two layers of batting.  Sew around the edges using white thread.  Now, sew the cottage to the base, tucking the raw edges of the sweater (or felt) under the salt container.

Fairy cottages are just so much fun to make because there's no right or wrong way to do it.  If you make one, make sure you leave the door open at night so a fairy can have a warm place to spend a winter's night.  

 xoxo Grandma