Handmade Christmas Gifts in No Time

The holidays are here and it's time to whip up those handmade gifts. Eeep! Hopefully, you started sewing for the holidays back in the summer but, if you're on team procrastinator, I got you. These are all quick sewing ideas and range from baby to grandpa.

Below you will find some tutorial links and free patterns. Although, I've created this list to get you brainstorming and ideas flowing. Less talking and more making.

​Get ready, get set, sew! 

Baby Items

There's always someone who's having a baby. You can whip up a bib, burp cloth, and blanket in about 30 minutes. All you need is some fabric and a snap or velcro for the bib fastener. Read my baby items post here. 

• There are tons of free bib patterns you can find online. Or make a bandana-style bib. 

• Here's a super easy burp cloth tutorial. Hint: it's just a rectangle.

• For an easy blanket, cut one square yard of flannel and one of cotton fabric. Sew them RST, leaving a gap for turning out. Topstitch the opening closed, and you're done. Sew easy!

• If you have more time, you can make a fabric alphabet set, baby outfit, fabric book, or sleeper bag. You could even add an easy-to-sew teether, pacifier clip, or mittens. Pinterest is your friend. LOL

• Fabric letters are a fun gift idea too. Print out a boxy font A-Z and use as a template. 2 layers of fabric and add a layer of fleece in between to add some bulk. Sew around and cut with pinky shears.

Toiletry Bags

Do you have a zipper and some scrap fabric? Sew a zipper pouch in less than 30 minutes. Follow this tutorial for an easy refresher on zipper installation for a makeup bag. Make them as big or little as you want. 
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Teens love these. Little kids love these. Everyone needs a zip bag for something. They work great for tools too. I’ve sewn a few for my husband’s random things he wanted to protect from rolling around inside the toolbox.

Keychains

Sew a quick keychain following Melly Sews tutorial. Grab some lip balms, lotions, and hand creams to complete a gift set. This is perfect for the babysitter, pre-teen, teacher, or neighbor. Heck, even Dad uses lip balm.
All you need is a scrap of fabric and a metal keyring. If you have a pack of key rings, batch-sew a few of these for gifts. Lip balm holders for everyone!!

Infinity Scarf

Have a yard of 60" wide stretch knit fabric? You can make one with soft flannel or even crushed velvet for a luxurious scarf.  They make great gifts for moms, aunts, teachers, etc. This length creates a single-loop scarf. 

1. Cut the yard in half, lengthwise. You can make 2 scarves from one yard.

2. Grab one piece and fold RST. Sew the long side. Use a ballpoint needle, zigzag stitch, and 1/2" seam allowance.

3. Reach your arm through and grab the other end, keeping RST (right sides together) pull the ends together, matching seams.

4. Sew around the seams, leaving a 2"-3" opening for turning. Then, hand-stitch the opening closed. Wah-la!

Use for hand warmers, aches and pains, or freeze to use as an ice pack.

Rice Bags

Your family members all spend lots of time on laptops, phones, and other devices. Their sore muscles could use a little TLC. This is another scrap-busting gift idea. Yay!!

• Cut squares or rectangle pieces from cotton fabric in any size you'd like. Add a 1/4" seam allowance. 

• Sew the pieces right sides together.  **Use cotton thread if you plan on microwaving these. 

• Leave a 2" gap for turning out. 

• Fill with rice, flaxseed, or corn. Topstitch around the whole bag, watching out for kernels. 

 Store in the freezer and use on tired eyes. Microwave for 20-second increments until you've reached the desired temperature, for sore muscles. These make great hand warmers for chilly walks, too.

Aprons

Have a baker or chef in the family? Pick a pattern style from the links below. Pick an apron that matches his or her needs. Each highlighted link leads you to a different FREE pattern.

Aprons make nice gifts for little ones and adults. They are completely customizable. Add ruffles. Make the straps longer or shorter. Sew on some extra pockets.

Some Different Styles:

• Make a simple rectangle style with pockets and make a tool apron for the person who fixes everything. The littlest mechanic would love one filled with plastic tools. Leather would work for a metal worker. Canvas can work for wood or other jobs.

• Have a gardener in the family? They could use one as well. Aprons can be so diverse with a tweak here and there. A half apron works great for gardening. Make sure to add lots of pockets.

• Egg Gathering aprons are a Godsend to folks with ducks or chickens.

Aprons usually take one yard or more of fabric so, this might require a trip to your local craft store. Oh darn! You need extra white thread anyway, make a fun trip out of it. ;)

Home Decor Baskets

          "A place for everything and everything in its place."
                                                                                               -Benjamin Franklin

We all have stuff. Lots of stuff. And the stuff needs a home. Fabric baskets make great homes for stuff! They're easy to make and versatile in size.

​Here's what you'll  need:

• Fabric for the outside and fabric for the lining 

• Interfacing: I like fusible foam for bigger sizes, fusible fleece for smaller sizes and stiff interfacing works well enough for medium sizes if you don't have foam.  *If you don't have interfacing but, have denim or canvas, use that as the lining. It acts as an interfacing. I've done this a few times in a pinch and loved the end result. It works in small  to medium sizes. You could make a large blanket basket but, it won't stand up on its own. It will be floppy.

• Decide on the size you need or just wing it. Use a template to make boxed corners or box them after the side seams are sewn. 

• Add handles for carrying or a loop to hang the basket. 

• I don't have a particular pattern to share with you because I usually wing it on sizing. But, here is my favorite tutorial on assembly. 

These are great for small toys, stuffed animals, kitchen and pantry items, craft rooms, makeup, bathroom counter organization, and keeping socks organized inside dresser drawers. The sky is the limit!

More Ideas

These things shouldn't take more than 30-45 minutes to make. You're not going for a blue ribbon here. You're going for Handmade in a Hurry! 

• Box bag for Dad's toiletries

• PJ pants for kids are easy

• Kitchen towels

• Cloth napkins (set of 4 or 6)

• Table runner

• Hair Scrunchies

• Apple watchband scrunchie 

• Eye mask 

• Head scarf ( follow my tutorial)

• Glasses Case

• Gifts for pets

• Mug rugs or a set of coasters

• Stuffed animals or pillow animals

This is a Bonbon Pet by Dana, I made using her pattern.

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Embroidery Machine Gifts

If you have an embroidery machine, you can buy towels, shirts, bags, etc., and personalize them. It's handmade in a hurry! I usually keep a few tea towels or makeup bags lying around to create a quick gift. People love personalized items. And, having your name on something is always fun.
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Here are a few ideas:

• Tea towels with funny sayings, bible quotes, holiday designs, family last name, etc. 

• Purchase large makeup bags and embroider the recipient's name or makeup designs on the front.

• Personalize luggage tags. Or, the actual luggage.

• Bathroom towels with funny sayings or monograms.

• Purchase an inexpensive blanket and embroider the family name on it.

• Buy stockings and add names to them. 

• Buy small stockings and create a name file to add to the mini stocking. We are doing this for our homeschool teacher this year. 

• Pillows are easy as well. Buy a pillow cover and embroider a design on it. 

• Toilet paper! Yes, you can embroider a funny design on a roll of toilet paper. It's easy and makes a great gift for the joker in the family.

The possibilities are endless here. I like to set up my embroidery machine to stitch out a design while I'm busy sewing other things. I'll usually make a Saturday out of gift making- a few days before Christmas. Ha! As I said, I'm team procrastinator. Face-palm!

The trick to sewing quickly is to not overthink it. Just cut and sew. Put on happy music or a fun podcast, and you'll whip out handmade gifts in no time. Make sure to eat something! Food gives you energy. ;)

Are you going to make some of these gift ideas? Share in the comments what you plan on making or other ideas that aren't on the list. We all need quick sewing gifts we can make. 

Happy Holidays,
​Annette

DIY Advent Calendar

Are you itching to do some holiday sewing? This advent calendar is a quick-ish sew if you want to whip up a fun Christmas item now! Get some stash-busting done too.

Tools needed:

• rotary cutter or scissors

• ruler

• 1/4 yard of a few different fabrics or scraps

• 1/2-3/4 yard of sturdy solid fabric for the front and back. (duck cloth, canvas, denim, etc.)

• Matching thread

• Iron on numbers, cutting machine with HTV vinyl, or template for sewing them on, if you don't embroider them. 

• All the sewing notions and a machine

• A piece of 1/2" wooden doweling and twine for hanging. 

Machine embroidered numbers on pockets

I chose Christmas fabrics similar in color, grabbed them, and started cutting. I liked the size of my phone, so I used it as a pattern. Find something around the house that is the size you want, and use that as a pattern template.

My phone roughly measured 6.5" by 3". I added 1 inch to the width and length for seam allowances to make rectangles. Fold them in half RST (right sides together) and stitch with a 1/2" seam allowance. Sew the sides only. Leave the bottom open, clip corners, turn out, and press flat. 

**If you decide to sew or embroider the numbers on, do this before sewing the pocket together. If you use vinyl or iron-on numbers, you can add the numbers after the pockets are sewn and turned.

Organize them vertically if you’d like.

After you have your pockets made, lay them out and switch around until you decide which assortment you love the best or go crazy. I liked the taller version better.

Arrange them in a horizontal way if you like that better.

I did this part backward, sorta. After laying the pockets out, I cut my fabric for them to be sewn onto. I measured the size of all the pockets and added 2" on each side. 5" to the top and 2" to the bottom. This allowed extra room for seams and the top to get turned down and stitched to create a loop for the wooden doweling.

I added length and width to the solid piece of fabric to sew the pockets onto.

I worked from the bottom up, sewing the bottom row of pockets first. You do what works best for you. :)

Measure from the bottom row of the pockets to see how much room you want.

Flip pockets the wrong side up and stitch along the open edge.

I sewed the second row 1/2" above from the top of the first row. You decide on your own spacing.

I decided to sew the bottoms of all the pockets on first. Then, I flipped them up to sew the sides. As you can see, I used pinking shears to keep the edges from unraveling. This whole project was on the fly and meant to be fun, without overthinking. Sometimes you just gotta sew something! LOL

Sewing the sides. Start from the bottom and go up, backstitch at the beginning and end.

Be sure to backstitch at the start and end of each pocket side. I also added extra stitching at the top where little hands will reach in and out to discover the treasures inside.

After you have all the pockets sewn on, it’s time to put it together.

Grab the backing fabric and pocket piece, and lay the pocket side RST on top of the backing fabric.

Pin or clip the pieces together, and sew a 1/2" seam allowance. Leave a 4"-5" gap at the top for turning. It’s a lot of fabric and layers so, you’ll want a nice size gap for turning out.

It’s starting to come together and look like an Advent calendar now.

Leave an opening for turning.

Clip the corners and trim thread tails. Turn out and top stitch around the whole calendar. 

Decide how big of a loop you need for your wood doweling to slide through, pin, and stitch to create the loop.

Fold the top over and pin in place.

Topstitch to create a tunnel.

Insert dowel, add string, and hang!

Slide the dowel through. Tie string or twine on each end with a double knot. Hang up and fill it with lots of little treasures.

You're done! Yay!!! Now, what do you fill it up with?

Filling it up

What are you going to fill the pockets with? Who is going to use the advent calendar? Little ones or big ones? I've listed some ideas below of what to put inside for all ages. Wrapping each item would make it extra fun and keep wandering eyes from peaking.

• Chapstick or lipgloss

• Fruit snacks

• Small fruits, a tiny orange

• Movie theater ticket

• Handmade coupons

• Small packs of beef jerky

• Cash

• $5 gift card

• Hair elastics or barrettes

• Small lego sets

• Candy

• Toy cars

• Earbuds

• USB stick

• SD card

• Crayons

• Package of nuts

• Hot cocoa packet

• Socks

• Soft gloves

• Squishy toys

• Stress ball

  These are just a few ideas, the sky is the limit on fun little treasures. Just think of anything that will fit in the palm of a hand.

Well, I'm off to buy some items to fill our calendar with. If you think of other ideas, please share those in the comments below. The more ideas, the merrier! Are you going to make an advent calendar? Or make one as a gift? Let me know in the comments below.

Merry Christmas,

Annette