Christmas Gift Making

Each year I have an impressive list of Christmas sewing I want to complete.  This time I kept it to an achievable list.  Courteney had picked some fabric for an Ogden Cami months ago which was top of my list.  I  had my aunt visiting for Christmas for the first time so I wanted to make her a gift and I always make something for my Mum because she is a grateful recipient.

To start my Christmas sewing list, I found a couple of nice pieces of merino in my scrap bag and made up a reversible beanie using my self drafted pattern that I shared here.  I have made so many of these that this was one of those projects knocked up in a little over an hour.  My  aunt who is a keen walker was the recipient of this.

 Next on my list was my Mum.  The first gift I made her was quite by accident.  I happened to be making myself a tee using Tessuti Aexa and accidentally cut it out a size too small so this was added to Mum's gift.  

The second item I made my mother was actually planned.  I had a remnant of Liberty Tana Lawn in Monet's Garden that I picked up at Fabric Vision.  I already had a blouse in this fabric and really didn't need a second in such a statement print.  I decided to make up Hey June Cheyenne Tunic.   I printed the pattern at 94% because my Mum is tiny and even the smallest size would be proportionately too large.  Because I have made a heavily modified version of this pattern for myself, it was a pretty quick sew, even taking into account making a cheap and cheerful fit muslin.  Mum loves her new blouse.  It is lovely and light and cool and offers good sun coverage so will get worn a lot.

On my list was an True Bias Ogden Cami using some gorgeous but quite sheer silk cotton from The Fabric Store.  This fabric was sheer enough so as to be see through, so for this version I decided to make a full lining instead of the part lining in the pattern.  I used a piece of green poplin that I bought for the project at Back Street Bargains.  The green is not identical but as an under layer it doesn't matter.   Once again, I have made so many of these over the years that this project was super quick.  I just borrowed one of Courteney's other Ogden's to mark the strap placement.

My next Christmas project was also for Courteney.  She works in a temperature controlled Laboratory and the dress code is smart casual.  She has a lack of summer shorts/pants to wear to work.  I made her a pair of Closet Case Pietra Shorts when I was trialing the pattern out of a light weight bengaline.  She really loves these because they require no ironing which is perfect when you are away from home for 12 hours on a weekday.  

I had some odd lengths of grey/black bengaline in my stash that I had no real use for which became an unplanned Christmas gift.  Since my first pair of Pietra Shorts were such a success I decided to use my odd lengths of bengaline to make another pair.  I had to piece the pocket on this pair but that is at the back and not visible anyway.  I left the zip off this pair of shorts because the bengaline has a lot of stretch and I could get a neat fit without the need of a zip to get them over Courteney's hips.  These were pretty quick to put together because of minimal fitting.

Finally, on Christmas Eve I had some time to spare (she says rolling her eyes) so I decided to make one more unexpected gift for Courteney.  Courteney is a big fan of Jalie 3247 as a bikini top.  I used this and McCall's 5400 to whip up a bikini using a failed tankini top, some bra cups harvested from and old bra and a small remnant of fabric.  I didn't have quite enough to make the bikini bottoms out of my scraps so made the back of the pants plain black using another lycra scrap from my stash.  My one metre of fabric has yielded 3 swimsuits in this fabric so I am pretty happy with that.  Giving this one to Courteney did however mean we had to compare notes before heading to the beach while on  holiday.