Merry and Rudolf

This is little Merry and her friend Rudolf. At the North pole, Merry doesn't have many friends of the human sort. Yes, there are the elves, but they're always busy working. When they do find time to play with Merry, they always want to play hide and seek. Which is totally unfair, because they have really good hearing and can always hear where she's hiding.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

and

Happy Festivus to the rest of us!

Jamie

New fabric and end of year fabric sale!

Finally my shipment of Micheal Miller fabric is up in the shop. Above are a few fabrics from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet fabric line. I've already cut into the Paper Snowflake fabric for a Christmas gift I made. Click here to preview the rest of the Meadowsweet fabrics in stock.

More Micheal Miller fabric ...

Birds, huevos, and a damask print... they all work so well together! Here's the link.

And a sweet corduroy floral print fabric called Mod Blooms (link).


Lastly, Phat Fabric is having an end of the year fabric sale. The sale includes Tanya Whelan fabrics at 30% off, all Alexander Henry fabric 15% off, sewing patterns, and more. Also, more fabrics have been added to the 40% off clearance section. Here is the link.

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season thus far. I believe I'm all caught up with my handmade gifts and managed to make a Christmas peg doll (I'll show you soon). However, I have this funny feeling that I've forgotten someone. I keep going over my list and it all looks good, but I just can't shake that... feeling... intuition, or is it premonition? Yes, it's premonition and I should listen to it and make a couple of extra gender neutral gifts. Maybe I'll just buy them. That's what I'll do! Buy a couple of what nots and all will be good. Thanks for letting me work that out.

Blessings,

Jamie

A twiggy star tute

I had some bundled twigs/sticks lying around from my fall decorations, so I decided to try to turn them into a Christmas star type of decoration. To my surprise it worked!

Below is a tutorial for how to make the twiggy star.

Materials

• Bundled twigs/sticks. I purchased mine at Michaels. I believe they are available at Joanns too. You could bundle twigs yourself; however, I imagine this would be quite time consuming. Though, on the other hand, you may be an amazing twig bundler and in this case my imagining would be wrong.
• Berry garland - also at Michaels, or any craft store.
• Floral wire that looks like brown rope. (What is the correct title of that stuff anyways???)
• Wire cutters
• Bird - My mom gave me that sweet little woodland bird. However, any bird will work.

Instructions
I recommend uncoiling the bundled twigs and let them relax for a couple of hours before you begin. I didn't let mine relax and I felt as though I was wrestling with an anaconda. It just wanted to coil up on me, thus making this crafting experience quite intense. Anyways, you get the point.

Also, the instruction pics were taken after the star was made. I think we all know why... anaconda and all. So, just ignore the berries that are already woven into the star, because that's what you will do last.

1. Form a triangle. Notice the direction of the arrows and where to begin. Be sure to leave enough twig tail for the bottom right portion of the star.

2. With the rope wire, tie the first intersection together .



3. Tie the second intersection together. Make sure your twigs have formed the right side of the star.
4. Bring the twigs across the top and tie the next two intersections together just as you did the first two. The left side of the star should now be formed.

5. Angle the twigs diagonally down towards the bottom and tie together. Bottom left side of star should now be formed.

6. Now take the twig tail and curve it up to form the bottom right side of the star. Tie it off.
7. Cut off any excess twigs.

8. Cut off berries from the garland and weave them into the star.

9. Nestle your sweet little bird into the star.

Lastly, find that perfect place for it in your home.


Enjoy!

Jamie

New Little Folks fabric and more...

It's like butter! The new voile fabric by Anna Maria Horner is lovely indeed. To be quite honest, I'm not that familiar with voile fabric. However judging by the drape of the fabric, it is going to be wonderful to sew with. I already have a project in mind for the fabric. You can click here to view the fabrics. There are a couple of voile solids too!

Another new addition to the Phat Fabric family is Paintbrush Studio.

Above is a 36 pc fat quarter bundle. All of the fabrics are 1920's - 1930's reproduction prints on 100% cotton fabric. The prints were reproduced from an antique quilt. Click here to view the Paintbrush Studio fabrics.

Lastly, there are two new Mingle fabrics in stock by Monaluna.

Tangerine

and Aqua.
A taste of Spring colors to keep us warm and motivated =)

That concludes today's fabric update. I should have another fabric update any day now for Sandi Henderson's new line. So stay tuned!

Cheers,

Jamie

Songbird apron

One Christmas gift down, many more to go.

pattern - Pretty Ditty apron pattern
fabric - Echino Songbird in blue and Echino Dot Dot Dot in raspberry

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to sew I go...

Jamie

A staple story

I went silent there for a wee bit. When one tries to make this year's holidays a "handmade" one, and runs a business that is of the handmade nature, things get pretty busy with handmade stuff.

To make my week even busier, I had a few unexpected kids type stuff happen last week. It all started mid week when I received a phone call from the school nurse that my 8 year old had gotten sick at school. After a visit to the Doctor's it turned out he had a double ear infection. Nothing a little antibiotics can't help. And it did! The next day he was well enough to go back to school. However at about noon, I received another phone call from the school nurse telling me that once again she had my son in her office, but this time his head was bleeding. Apparently, he and another boy were playing Transformers and collided on the play ground. When I went into the office, there stood the two boys with big crocodile tears rolling down their sweet little plump cheeks. Both had ice packs - My son with one on his head and the other boy with one on his chin. I looked at the two of them and with a stern voice said, "I just want to know one thing... Who was Optimus Prime?" They both chuckled, but then quickly remembered they were injured and resumed crying. As I comforted my son, he looked up at me while still sobbing and managed to say, " I really want to go on my field trip mom." That particular day was a field trip day. After a few explanations of what had happened I began to understand that what was making my son most upset was not the gaping hole in his head, but a field trip that he was definitely going to miss. The really crazy thing is this...guess where they were going??? THE POST OFFICE! As in the same place my kids and I go to at least twice a week. My kids complain every time we go there! I looked at my son and told him that he was not going to make the field trip, which led him into another episode of major hysterics.

Anywho, when we went to the ER, the Doctor decided one staple should do the trick. I have never had, nor seen, anyone get staples before. And to my surprise they use a staple gun. I was expecting something more doctor-like and less Home Depot-ish. So, with a squeeze of the staple gun trigger... BAMO! A staple repaired the hole. Poor little guy. They didn't even numb the area, because all he needed was 1 staple. According to the doctor, the pain involved in numbing the area was determined to be about the same as one staple in the head. After the fact, I question this assumption. Not fun at all :(

There is a happy ending to this story. We stopped by the post office on the way home, because I needed to drop off some packages. All we were missing was the buddy system.

***

The above picture is of the Irvine Spectrum Ferris wheel. I went there this past Sunday with my family. I enjoy taking pictures of Ferris wheels, but not riding them.

Have a great day!

Jamie

The Bibury Capelet e-pattern

Oh happiness! The Bibury Capelet Pattern is finally here and available as a PDF pattern. The e-pattern comes with complete instructions, illustrations, shirring instructions, and full size pattern pieces. There is no need to enlarge any pieces. It's all there ready to be made as soon as it's printed from your printer. Super easy!

The Bibury Capelet pattern can be made in 3 sizes: small (sizes 2 - 6), medium (sizes 8 - 12), and large (sizes 14 - 18). Materials needed to complete a capelet are...

• Capelet fabric* (Small - 2 yards) (Medium - 2 1/4 yards) (Large 2 1/4 yards)
• Lining fabric* (Small - 2 yards) (Medium - 2 1/4 yards) (Large 2 1/4 yards)
• 1/4 yard of fusible interfacing
• Elastic thread. Dark for dark fabric and light for light fabric.
• 4 sets of hooks and eyes. Preferably size 3.
• 1 sew on snap. Preferably size 4.
• Buttons. The size of the buttons and how many is up to you, because the buttons are purely aesthetic. The hooks & eyes are used for "buttoning up" the capelet.
• Non-permanent fabric marker for marking shirr lines.
• Pins & Scissors.

* Recommended capelet fabrics are: light to medium weight cotton, corduroy, flannel, light to medium decor weight, and other light to medium weight woven fabrics. For lining fabrics, light weight woven fabrics work best.

The e-pattern is available for a limited time. I have 2 more patterns to complete before I make all of the patterns available in paper form. Once the Bibury Capelet is available in paper form, the e-pattern will no longer be available. So until then, you can find the e-pattern in my etsy shop, Phat Fabric, and here.

The cost is $7.50 and zero shipping charges!
To order the pattern, simply click on the add to cart button. You will then be directed to the shopping cart where you can purchase the pattern. After you purchase the pattern you will receive an email with the link to download the pattern. If you choose to purchase the pattern through my etsy shop, I will email the link to you after payment is received. As always, you can email me at customerservice@jamiechristina.com with any questions.

Happy creating,

Jamie

Yarn Christmas trees tutorial

I love these Christmas trees! They are so soft and peaceful to the eyes. And very fast to make! I just may make a whole forest of these and set them on top of my hutch. Or at least give them away to friends =)

Here is my mom's version...

So cute!

Below is the tutorial on how to make these yarn Christmas trees.

Materials:

All of the materials should be available at your local craft store. I purchased mine from Joan fabrics.

• 1 skein of a thick yarn. I used a Red Heart brand.
• 1 skein of a fuzzy yarn.
• 3 foam cones (usually found in the floral section) or however many trees you want to make.
• Pins
• Accessories of your choice for decorating the trees. I used fake red berries, bird, nest, and stars made of stem floral wire (directions for making the stars are below as well).
• Christmas music (preferably something along the lines of Last Christmas by Wham).
  

Directions

1. Beginning at the base of the cone, pin both yarns together to the base. Continue to wrap the strands around the base, pinning every 2" or so.


2. Once you have wrapped the yarns around the base, continue to wrap the yarns around the cone working your way up to the top. There is no need to continue to pin the yarn. Just the base needs to be pinned for now.


3. Once you have reached the top, pin the yarns around the top of the cone. Work your way around the top of the cone in a circular direction until the top is covered with yarn. Pin where needed at the top. Be sure to cover all of the cone (the pic doesn't show this).
   


4. Now begin to wrap the yarn back down the cone.
5. At the bottom of the cone, cut the strands and secure in place with a pin (pic doesn't show yarn cut...DANG!).


6. You can leave your tree as is or you can accessorize. To add red berries, simply cut off the berries from the berry cluster. Be sure to leave the wire stem attached to the berry.


7. Poke the berry into the tree. If the berry is not going into the tree foam easily, simply weave the stem into the yarn. Continue to poke as many berries as needed in the tree.
   

For my mom's tree, she pinned the ornaments to the tree.

* Star Topper *

Materials

• Floral stem wire
• wire cutters
  
• glitter
• craft glue
• 3" of a 16 or 20 gauge wire (not shown in material pic... oops)
  

Instructions

1. Bend the wire like so...

2. Cut off the end and wrap it around the beginning point.
3. Lightly spray the star with craft glue.
4. Lightly sprinkle some glitter on the star.
5. Wrap the star with the end of the 3" wire. Leave the other end straight.

6. Poke the end through the top of the tree.

The bird and nest are from Joann fabrics. I pinned the nest to the tree top and nestled the bird into it's home.

Here are the trees without the stars and with a different bird.

I love handmade Christmas decorations!
Please feel free to share on the Pretty Ditty Show and Tell flickr group. There's plenty of eggnog to go around.

Peace and joy,

Jamie