Some festive sewing

 It is almost December, the last of our 'ber' months & the pace of things is picking up. You know how things suddenly pick up. 

I do love to do some hand sewn things to go with friends cards or something for home. 

This was beaded Christmas trees I did previously.

Last years ones were lovely too & I also did some little Christmas stockings to pop in to cards & they were well received. 

It has been one of those times when it doesn't always go to plan & the thoughts don't translate to something you like. 

It was like that with my robins, I had high hopes for them & used a stencil I had ordered to cut around & for the wings. I just don't love them.

 I might have time to have another go, any suggestions to get me on my way with the robins?  

However, I saw some of the most beautiful green fabric at a local haberdashery shop I frequent & do courses at. I immediately knew it was right for some bauble decorations for cards. 

I drew the round shape on felt then cut out the whole circle in the fabric. I do like to add a bit of bead bling but not too much or the cards will be too bulky in the post. 

I did some trees on some with beads (they will be hand delivered) and then added some beads on the 'wave' of the pattern on others.  The fabric is just gorgeous as a bauble so they do not need too much I think to look charming. 

They were backed with a pale green felt & handstitched with a blanket stitch to finish them off. 

I recently bought these stitching markers (seen above) that you put your thumb in to get your stitches even & I thought it time to use them. They were tricky to use on curves & over beads but they do make you aware of keeping stitches more even. I will have another go on other things in time. 

I had a small fat quarter of special London landmarks fabric I bought from an ebay seller connected to the British Museum & I had it in my mind to do baubles for family with connections to specific parts of London. 

Cookie cutters are fabulous things for sewing & I used a large & medium elongated bauble shape for these. 

 Because the printed fabric was thin, I mistakenly thought once it was against the dark blue felt it would sew fine - it didn't! 

The threads puckered & pulled & it had to be cut loose. I was annoyed at myself for cutting corners & not adding a fabric stabiliser. The first one had to be unpicked because I didn't have a second piece of fabric with the landmarks I needed. I ironed stabiliser on each shape, then backed it with blue felt before it was  resewn. It worked fine the second time.  I sewed a dark blue thin cord to the top of each one as it was machine stitched. I am pleased with the four I completed & they are special family gifts. 

I have seen several Instagram  sewers who do house shaped decorations. 

 I had a thought to do one as a gift for a recent house move.  I am not good at drawing buildings but did several pencil drawings until I was happy that it looked like their real house, traced over with a dark pen, then traced it on to white felt with a light box. 

The ones I had seen online are sewn free motion but my test one put paid to that idea & I did it with normal machine settings, needle in & turning at all the corners, windows etc. I handstitched in just a few details & made the name plate with the lettering on my Brother sewing machine. 

I am ok with the end result, it is another one of those things that looks so much easier when others do it but they have practised on hundreds of ones over time. 

A start with some festive sewing.  I do need to make a few more for friends I am meeting with in the next few weeks. 

Do you do anything that you send on with a card? Tell all ... Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee