Runup to Christmas: Holiday sewing projects!

I'm so excited that I got an early start on Christmas projects this year! Don't you love hand-made gifts? After years of buying and gifting things I'm never sure my loved ones want, I've finally determined the things they want most are gifts I make myself. So fun, but best if you plan ahead. Let me tell you, staying up till after midnight sewing and crafting for the entire week before the Big Day takes some of the sparkle out of the accomplishment. I know; I've done it. Whew!

So this year I got started in October. I can hardly believe it. Here's what I'm making, with enough mystery that the recipients might not immediately recognize their gift in advance, should they read this post :-)

• One set of all cotton king-size pillowcases (COMPLETED and boxed for gifting)
• A winter dress in the style and fabric of the period for a loved one who volunteers at an early-20th century home (cut out, marked, and ready to sew)
• A tablecloth for a 10-foot picnic table (just try finding a narrow 10+-foot tablecloth in the store!)
• Cushions for some very sweet patio chairs
• If there is time, two, maybe three, adorable small purses from this Martha article

King pillowcases

I've got my work cut out for me, no?! I'll keep you posted on my progress. Here's a photo of the already-finished (yay!!!) pillowcases:

And another of the 5 yards of cotton corduroy (these 1900-ish ladies used A LOT of fabric in their skirts!) for the winter dress, which I now have all cut out and marked - ready to start sewing today. Speaking of history, did you know corduroy has been around in one form or another as a clothing fabric since the time of the ancient Egyptians? It was called "fustian" for most of its history until the 18th century when it was re-named "cord du roi" or "cloth of the king", probably a marketing ploy. And corduroy hasn't changed much since then, except today we sometimes add a little stretch to it.

Sage green cotton corduroy

Making progress! Let the Holiday season begin!

Hand made cocktail napkins

My friend Berta has moved to a new home, and I'm going over there to see it (and her) next week. Of course I want to bring a "Happy New Home" present, and not just a bottle of wine.

One of my favorite things that I found among my mother's store of linens was a little pile of small napkins.

We would call them "cocktail napkins" because they're much smaller than dinner napkins. I think they were my grandmother's, and I'm guessing she called them "luncheon napkins," because no decent woman would admit to any knowledge of cocktails in her day. They are obviously hand made - they are not a uniform size and they have that delicate pulled-thread decoration around the hemmed edges that women did a hundred years ago. No one has the time or knowledge for it today, which is a pity.

I decided Berta would like some hand made cocktail napkins in her new home. She and I definitely admit to cocktails, or at least wine, so let's call them what they are. And I would be willing to make them, although I'm not willing to start pulling threads.

I shopped around in my stash of fabric and found this fun dotted cotton I used a while ago to make pillow cases. It's a really nice fabric with a good cottony feel to it, and would make very cute cocktail napkins. I had enough left to make a set of six and, even better, I had already washed the fabric before I used it the last time. One less thing to do.

Using a paper cocktail napkin as a template, I cut 6 identical pieces from the fabric, each 11 inches square. This will leave me a 10-inch square napkin after hemming, which is the size of the paper napkin.

Then I started ironing. Yes, it's true - most of the process of making these little napkins involves the steam iron, and only near the last did I touch my sewing machine. This is fortunate for me, because I'm still running my sewing machine with my left foot, my right foot firmly encased in a big space boot because of my healing broken ankle. However, the future looks bright, because next week I'm supposed to try to fit, finally, into a shoe. My shoe. Here's hoping I find one that fits.

The process
Take one of the 11-inch squares and press a 1/4-inch hem on all four sides. Then work your way around and turn the hem a second time 1/4 inches and press each side, using steam to set the folds. Then, to make mitred corners, cut across each corner like this.

Holding the first fold in place, fold the corner up and join the edges of the folds to make the mitre.

This takes some bulk out of the corner's doubled double fold and leaves a nicely finished corner.

Next, press all the folds once again on the wrong side, and sidle on over to your sewing machine. I like to sew on the right side when it shows, because I'm convinced the stitch is more attractive on the top side. You can stitch on the other side if you want to, because it's easier to see that you're catching the fold. Either way will work fine.

I like to open up the length of my stitch a bit, so I set my length at 2.8. It makes for a prettier stitch and a little less bunching.

Sew the hem, whether on the right side or the other side, all the way around, pivoting at the corners. Then press both back and front again, and press into a 5-inch square.

Here's the finished result of the stitching, front and back

And here's the final stack of napkins, ready to be gifted! Hope Berta likes them!