Crafty Christmas

This year for Christmas, I realized that I'd probably enjoy shopping and gift giving much more if instead of buying everyone's gifts, I made them. This is certainly easier said than done, but at least I started thinking about Christmas way early, like back in October. Hopefully that means that by the time Christmas actually rolls around in a few weeks, I'll have been hard at work for 2 full months making most of my/our gifts and will have come up with things everyone will enjoy and maybe remember a little better.

I started down this path after browsing around on Pinterest, where I love to spend spare minutes. Between that website and my usual favorite blogs, I found the book that started the ball rolling: Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love by Hillary Lang. I managed to check it out from the library and immediately was inspired. The first project I decided on was the "Margot" doll, a topsy turvy doll that is basically two dolls in one: Flip the skirt of the doll over her head and turn her around, and there's another doll in a completely different outfit!

I remember having a doll like this when I was a little girl, so my thoughts immediately went to Ruthie. I've never in my life attempted to make a doll from scratch, but I figured my 3 year old niece wouldn't notice minor imperfections and would hopefully enjoy her, so I went with it.

Because I still consider myself a novice sewer, reading through the pattern and directions a few times left me rather confused. I decided to just start, and once I got into the project, each step made a lot more sense. Although she was by far the most time consuming gift, I think I had the most fun with it, as watching each step come together was incredibly gratifying.

The pattern called for a "dressed up" side and a "dressed down" side. I was amazed at how much my skills grew once I had completed each step in making the doll, so one side was definitely easier and better crafted than the other. I also became much more comfortable working with patterns after making "Margot!"

The same book also inspired my gifts for Claire and Benton, as it had a whimsical stuffed giraffe. I made both giraffes right after finishing the doll, and they came together in a few hours, rather than days, which was a nice change. I had more issues with the pattern, however, and am somewhat convinced that either I didn't follow it accurately or the pattern pieces were drawn somewhat wrong, so I had to improvise a little with each. I opted to leave off the eyes and nose, knowing that I wouldn't be able to secure them as well as the tail and horns, and didn't want them to turn into choking hazards.

I also added some tissue paper inside the giraffes' necks to make a crinkly sound when they are held, just for fun. I had plenty of fabric left over, so I opted to make matching onesies for each baby. That  tested my skills even more as I had to freehand the giraffe head, and then figure out the best way to secure the ric-rac along the neck. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Ethan's gift took a totally different spin, but I knew I was going to make something like this for months. I first saw the Cozy Car Caddy on Homemade by Jill's blog months ago and filed it away in my file of fun ideas for little boys. With Christmas coming and the popularity of the Cars movies, I opted to steer away from trains, a no-brainer for Ethan, and try this out. I wanted to test my skills before making Ethan's, so I made one almost identical to Jill's for Joseph, just altering the size of the pockets to fit a group of larger wooden cars I found in the Target Dollar Bins. Confident that I could sucessfully make the caddy, I went ahead and added a few changes that I thought would be a little more fun.

Instead of a straight line road, I opted for a slightly curvy road, which gave me the necessary space to add a small forest of trees and pond with ducks. Also, because I had bought a "'Mater" truck and it wasn't going to fit in the standard pockets, I opted to combine two so that he could still fit, just sideways in the pocket.  The caddy folds up quite small, so that it can be stashed in a purse or diaper bag and ready to travel whenever a relatively small, quiet toy is needed.

I had a lot of fun making the car caddy, and Joseph's experience with his told me that he'd have fun playing with it in the car. The only problem is that his lap isn't very big, and we don't have a tray for his seat. Well, we didn't have one, at least, until the weekend before our trip to Detroit.

I had been looking online for a travel tray, but most were either too expensive, or got reviews that they were acceptable for older kids, but too big for 2 year olds. So I figured I'd try to make my own. I started with an old foam contoured pillow I found at a garage sale earlier this fall and had bought with this project in mind. I used the scraps from the diaper bag I made myself earlier this year to shape the tray, and bought a kids' placemat, complete with Joseph's name on it, to use as a flat, wipeable surface.

Because I didn't have a pattern or even a finished project to look at, I had to completely wing it. I started by chiseling out sections of the foam to reduce its height, and cut off pieces around the edges until I had a surface that would rest on either wing of Joseph's car seat, and not extend past his knees. Using the scraps, I built edge pieces that would help to hold cars, trains, crayons, etc on the tray and not roll off the side or forward.

I ended up making pattern pieces for most of the edges just to make sure I had the dimensions right, as I had just enough fabric to cut out each piece, with next to nothing left over. My seam ripper got plenty of use, too, but in the end I managed to get it finished in just a day and it fit Joseph's lap and car seat perfectly! I sewed canvas webbing on each side, so that I could secure the tray to the latch bars on his car seat, and used velcro so that I could pull the tray off quickly, if necessary. I also made sure that the placemat can slide out to be washed, but it helps to give the tray a bit more structure when it's in place.

 Turns out that while it was a great idea, Joseph wasn't really a fan of having it sit in his lap for very long. He colored on it for about 2 minutes and played cars for maybe 10 minutes total. Oh well. I'm hoping it'll get more use as he gets older, but even if it doesn't, it was a great experience in crafting something completely from scratch, using just my own ideas and no patterns or pictures to guide me!

Next up, the Parsonage side of the family's presents!