Sewing Catch-up, end of 2019

I think the last time I showed off my sewing was in September. I have a lot to catch up on! I’ll just go through the end of December for now.

I’ll start off with Halloween costumes.

My oldest wanted to be a “galactic sorceress.” I found the galaxy fabric from So Sew English fabrics. The pattern is the Monterey Dress from Phat Quarters Patterns. I used a silver fabric under the cutouts for a warmer dress and fun look. For my son, I bought some cotton yellow fabric and attached it to his turquoise hoodie (that I actually made him last year for a Bulbasaur costume). I also covered his turtle shell (used both last year for Bulbasaur and two years ago for a turtle) with brown fabric to finish off his Squirtle costume. My younger daughter rewore her black dress from last year and her sister’s cape from last year to be a Vampire Queen. My toddler wore a store-bought Pikachu costume that he got from his birthday.

I made several Christmas gifts this year. All of my older children got new coordinated bedding. I bought them each a sheet set on Amazon and a couple of yards of minky. I used the flat sheet from each set as the back (or top) of the blanket. I used a slightly different method to make each one. My struggle was that I wanted them to have batting, but didn’t want to make it like a quilt with binding. After four of these blankets, my last one was the most successful with the least amount of wrinkles. All my kids love them. I also made blankets for my three nephews. These are made with sweatshirt fabric on one side and a soft fleecey fabric on the other, serged around the edges. I wasn’t sure if they would like them, but they all (ages 7-13) loved them!

My sister-in-law asked me to make purses for my nieces for Christmas. They are both young adults and love fantasy—I actually have a lot of similar interests to them. The fabric she chose is a hard to find fabric. One of my testers used it in testing and my sister-in-law loved it. I used the Mercury Messenger Bag pattern. They turned out so well.

Here are some miscellaneous projects. A sleepsack for my toddler with feet, fingerless mittens for my daughter and her friend as a gift, embroidered teacher gifts, Christmas dresses for my daughters, spool dolls for my niece (that my son kept getting into! Fortunately I was able to repair his additions), and more fingerless mittens for my son.

Finally, I had a number of stocking orders.

Altogether I had a great year and look forward to 2020!