Make your own Christmas presents

Are you having trouble finding something for friends and family for Christmas? Or perhaps you just want some new ideas of things to make. It may sound like a bit of a palaver making your own presents if you haven't done it before, but so is trudging round the shops not knowing quite what you are going to get or finding it all sold out already.
There is still a week to go and all of these ideas are easily managed in that time, and you don't have to be an artistic genius either!

Tin of biscuits.

OK, sounds a bit boring but if you paint the tin yourself or even better get the children to do it and make the biscuits it really is a wonderful, personal present.
You will need a plain tin, some paints suitable for painting on metal, paintbrushes, newspaper or plastic sheet to protect the table and then ingredients for your biscuits - I'll leave that bit up to you!

If you are an artistic genius then you could paint a wonderful scene on the tin. If not then you could make a spotty tin, paint on stripes, have an attempt at snowflakes or stars or even paint the name of the recipient on the lid. If the children are doing it then they will no doubt come up with something great. At the moment the tins we do are quite abstract but my 6 year old has been doing great reindeer on our Christmas cards.

Make a soft toy!

Now if you are making something for a young child they won't care that it is all wonky and has lopsided eyes. In fact just tell them it is a monster and they will be thrilled. There are more detailed instructions with photos on our website but here is what you need to do.
You need two pieces of fabric and some scraps for a face. Needle and thread or a sewing maching. Place your fabric pieces one on top of the other right sides together and cut out your toy shape. If you want a doll then just do a very basic person shape but you can't go wrong with a monster as it really doesn't matter how they turn out. Sew all the way round the outside but leave a gap at the end so you can turn it the right way out. Stuff it and sew up the hole. Then cut out some shapes for the eyes and mouth and any other motifs you want to add and sew them on. Use bold fabrics or bright colours for a really funky look.
Children can make these too. My 6 year old is just learning to sew and made one of her friends a tiny pillow for a doll. It didn't take her long and it was the first thing she had ever sewed. Of course she was really proud of it and made a great gift.

Paint a T-shirt.

You will need a T-shirt or you could use an apron, cushion cover, cotton bag etc. and some fabric paints. You can either get the children to paint a design on or make hand or footprints on the front or the back. Read the instructions for the paint carefully as some need to be ironed afterwards to fix. One year we bought a whole lot of T-shirts, bags and aprons. We dyed them different colours with dye suitable for the washing machine and then painted, foot-printed and wrote names on them afterwards.

Make your own calendar.

If you can get a blank calendar then half your work is done. If not simply collect 12 or 13 (depending on whether you want a cover or not) thick pieces of paper together, punch holes in the top and tie together. Then you can write the month and dates at the bottom leaving a big area at the top to stick family photographs on or draw or paint, or cut out drawings your child has done during the year to stick on.

Artwork.

All you need is a special drawing your child has done and a frame. If you like you can stick the drawing onto a bigger piece of coloured paper. Choose a colour to compliment the drawing. This makes a lovely present for close relatives who probably don't have as many of your children's drawings on their walls as you do!

DVD.

Now we are getting a bit technical here, but if you have a computer and a digital camera you could make either a little film or a slideshow of still images. I am making slideshow of photographs of the children throughout this year for my Granny who has Alzheimers, adding lots of captions of course so she knows who everyone is. This is great if you have family who live in another country or just too far to be able to travel often.
You might find you already have a programme on your computer to do this, otherwise there are quite a few good programmes out there that don't cost the world and are easily downloadable. A good investment if you think you might make more slideshows in the future.

Give your time.

This might sound a bit boring but will be very much appreciated by people who have little time to themselves or don't get out much. Make up a beautiful gift certificate offering your services as a babysitter, chef for the evening, gardening help or any other skill that might be appreciated by the recipient.
Some friends of ours did this recently for my husband's birthday. They presented us with an amazing certificate offering to babysit one evening and even included some money for us to buy tickets to the cinema or theatre. It was fantastic for us as it was the first time we had been out together on our own since our now 2 year old was born!

Hope this has given you some ideas. If you have any ideas of your own then please leave a comment.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and, as they say here in Switzerland, a good slide into the New Year!

Happy poggling!

Mairi

Recycling clothes

In our increasingly consumerist society we seem to buy an awful lot of clothes, especially when it comes to our children. Before clothes became so cheap and easy to get hold of it was natural to keep clothes from one child to the next. Dresses and trousers were made with large hems which could be lowered when the children grew, socks were darned and rips and tears were mended with patches. Now it is much easier for many people to go out and buy new ones, especially for families with larger disposable incomes and little spare time to do the mending. There was a question posted on a parenting forum recently asking how many people kept the clothes from their first child for the next one. I was astounded to see that most of the respondents bought a whole new set of clothes for their next baby. Even if the first set were sold it would still mean a considerable outlay to clothe the next child from scratch. Plus we have to consider the energy, water and raw materials used to make all of these new clothes. This all adds up to create waste of one sort or another.

Whether you make do and mend or buy new clothes, there will come a point when even the youngest child outgrows them, or they become too stained or too full of holes to be wearable any more. You cannot sell these ones or give them away to charity, but there are some things that you can do with them.

• Duvet covers and sheets: if you are replacing these big items there are many things that you can do with them. Often the fabric at the edges will be the best preserved even if the centre is wearing very thin, and because the items are so big you will be able to make an outfit or two from them for children. Even with very little sewing experience you can make great elasticated skirts and trousers.
  
• Jeans: jeans and other trousers are great because they are made with thick material. I have two pairs which are just wearing through on the bum and crotch, but the material on the legs is still in very good condition. This sort of fabric lends itself very well to bags which need to be quite sturdy. For a small bag simply cut off a section of leg and sew one end together, turn the edge under on the other end and then add handles. For a larger one use pieces from two legs. Cut each piece open down the outside leg seam, lay them on top of each other (right sides together) and sew them together at the raw edges down three sides. Turn the seam down at the top and sew in place. Add handles. When you turn it the right way round you will have the inside leg seam running down the middle of the bag which looks quite funky.
  
• Tops and shirts: a large man's shirt will give you enough fabric to make something for a young child if you are careful with cutting out. Alternatively mix and match fabrics from two or more shirts to make some really funky clothes for little ones. Either make each piece of your pattern from a different fabric (four colour trousers!) or if you have time cut into squares and sew together to make on big piece of patchwork fabric and use this to cut your pattern from. Unless you spend a long time zig-zagging all the edges though you would be best to make something with a lining to prevent the raw edges from fraying.
• Stained baby clothes: these will be small and light fabrics can have some nasty looking brown stains on. You can either turn these into little toys and sew the eyes and mouth over the worst of the stains or cut them up to use as bottom wipes if you have a child in nappies or general cleaning cloths for around the house or kitchen. Have a look at my How to Make a Monster page on Pogglers for instructions on making a toy.
• Other bits and pieces of fabric: you can make little draw string bags for gym or dancing shoes or party bags. Instructions here on Pogglers. Pencil cases out of an oblong of fabric with a zip to close. Even the smallest baby clothes can be turned into even smaller doll's clothes and your children will still be thrilled if your sewing skills only allow you to make a scarf for their favourite toy. I made a teeny tiny hat out of a couple of very small offcuts for my daughter's favoured Eeyore nearly two years ago and he still gets to wear it to bed from time to time!
• Off cuts: you can use your off cuts from various projects to add details to bigger items. Cut out simple motifs like flowers or stars to sew on to bags or even the middle of a childs top to cover up the stains!
  
• Fleece jackets: cut out the best bits to make children's mittens. To make a template simply draw around their hands leaving a gap of about 1-2 cms all around in order to give their hands room to move inside the glove. Make sure to draw right down to their wrist or else they will be too short. Use the template to cut out four pieces from your fabric leaving another 1.5 cms all around for your seam allowance. Sew two pieces together for each mitten, stopping short of the edge on the thumb side so that they can get their hand in.
  

If you have a favourite item of clothing that you want to keep but know will not get used again then turning it into a toy is a great way to preserve the fabric and give continued joy and fun to the child who receives it. If you are not confident with doing this yourself then I can do it for you. Simply send me the item/s of clothing and I will contact you to discuss what sort of toy, doll or monster you would like before proceeding. This is a really great way of preserving those precious items without leaving them languishing in the cupboard or a box in the attic. To order a Pogglers Recycled Doll click here.

I hope you find these suggestions useful. If you have any of your own ideas then please add a comment.

Eco Friendly Party Ideas

I have just added a new page to Pogglers for Eco Friendly Party Ideas.

To start with I have put up full illustrated instructions on how to make your own fabric draw string party bags instead of using plastic ones.

I will also be putting up some ideas for what to put in them as well as activities to do at the party and other ways to make your party a bit more eco friendly.