Sew Simple Christmas Wrapping

The first #Christmas gift packed in a #sawn #reusable #fabric packaging #handmade #sewing #christmascraft #handmadeChristmas

Et billede slået op af Maria Lind (@mariafurya) den 22. Nov 2015 kl. 3:34 PST

This year, my Christmas crafts are pretty limitted. It is mostly because we're visiting my family and so there is no Christmas tree and much Christmas decorations this year. But also, I am going a little bit crazy with sewing and knitting project for our bundle of joy coming in March. There will be a whole other post about sewing for our future baby but for now, you can have a quick look over here.

There is however one Christmas project that I jumped into and that is reusable wrapping for the gifts.

I am not the most environment-conscious person ever but there are many small things I like to do in my life to make our everyday life a bit more ecological and a bit less wastefull. My husband is vegetarian and I eat little meat, we compost our organic waste and try to plan our dinners and freeze leftovers so that we don't throw away food.

So this little project just felt like a great idea. Fabric wrapping is super easy so it's a great beginner's project. It looks lovely and gives your Christmas gifts that extra personal touch. And of course, the wrapping can be reused and so it keeps your holidays a bit more environment-friendly.

Instructions

So here is what you do:

• Measure the height and width of your gift. Remember to add the depth of the gift to both height and width if it is of any significance.
• Add 5 cm to the height and 2 cm to the width of the gift to figure out the measuremants of the frabric piece, you're going to need. Remember that you will have to cut double the height. The extra 5 cm are used making tube for the ribbon and leaving space for gathering the sack. The extra 2 cm are for seam allowance (see the pattern below).  

Christmas wrapping pattern

Et billede slået op af Maria Lind (@mariafurya) den 5. Dec 2015 kl. 7:32 PST

• Cut the piece of fabric, fold it evenly, right side in and sew them together along the long edges, on the 1cm seam allowence mark.
• Cut about 4 cm of the fabric on the outside of the seam from the top of the wrapping. This will allow you to wrap the top of the fabric to the outside, producing the ribbon tube. You can decide yourself, how broad the tube needs to be. It will depend on the size of the ribbon you want to use. I am folding about 3 cm and sewing 1 cm from the edge to leave 2 cm tube.
• Sew a seam all around the tube, fastening it's outer edge to the fabric.
• Turn the sack right side out and cut the tube in the middle of one side making and opening for the ribbon. Make sure you don't cut the bottom seam though!
• Use a safety pin to pull the ribbon through the tube.
• Et voila! The wrapping is ready.

This is the simplest possible wrapping type, the sack. If you are feeling brave you can look for other types like this lovely bottle package.

Enjoy your crafting and have yourself a Merry Christmas!

Christmas wrapping

Et billede slået op af Maria Lind (@mariafurya) den 5. Dec 2015 kl. 7:28 PST

Happy 2012 (and some photos)

First and foremost, I wish all of you a happy 2012. May the year be active and bring you challenges and the joy that comes from a job well done.

I wish this to you, my dear readers, but also to myself. 2012 looks like there might be a few opportunities and challenges ahead of me but I am spoiling for a fight so that's good. I hope you feel the same about the coming year.

And as a bonus, a few quick (mobile) photos of Christmas decorations I made this year.

What Goes Around Comes Around...

I hope that your Christmas were as lovely as mine were. Have a look below to see some of the handmade gifts that I made for my family and friends and handmade and handmade-related presents that waited for me under the tree.

What goes around...
1. Crochet doilies, 2. Snowflake, 3. Bracelets, 4. Gloves, 5. Crochet hat, 6. Snowflake, 7. snowflakes, 8. Crochet hat with a snowflake


















...comes around.
1. Shot Glasses from Etsy, 2. Jewellery Set from Etsy, 3. Books, 4. Photos from Bieszczady, 5. Fused Glass Plater, 6. Supplies

Paper Craft: Christmas Decorations

Now, ordinarily I am not the biggest fan of paper crafts. They just seem...temporary...to me. But, when you think about this, what better time to create temporary pieces of arts, than Christmas.

There is a long tradition in Poland of cutting shapes out of paper (see: here and here) and so every kid at school gets to do at least a couple around various holidays. So I sat down yesterday and, willing my brains to remember the school times, I made these snowflakes:

They look lovely in the window, unfortunately the weather outside is not very Christmas-y (grey skies and rain) and so the picture is nowhere near pretty enough.

I thought I will also take the time and show you how I made it (especially since it is not very difficult).

1. Take a piece of paper and fold one corner to the side.






2. Cut off the outstanding piece of paper so that you are left with a square.






3. Fold square along the diagonal line (now you have a triangle).








4. Fold it 2 more times, every time joining the 2 furthest corners.







5. Now you can start cutting. Many minute cuts make for the most intricate shapes.








6. Unfold and voila!
7. To straighten the folds, you can iron your snowflakes or keep them overnight in a thick book.
8. Connect snowflakes with white thread. You can hang them on the window frame or use as garlands.

Note: You can fold the triangles more times, it's all up to you. You can also use any symmetrical shapes (circles, hexagon etc.)

Christmas sneak a peak

Ok, so it is finally December and so it's time for my first truly Christmas post. The only problem is that for that I cannot blog about the projects I worked on for the last three weeks! Why? Real Santa doesn't give and tell...at least not in advance.

And so I suffered in silence with so many lovely items in front of me. And I so wanted to share it with you.

And finally today I snapped. Here is a sneak peak into two beautiful projects. You cannot see the entire item but at least you can enjoy the lovely crisp blues. I am also particularly proud of the texture of both items. The yarn feels soft under your fingers, but the way it is knotted provides for a very interesting, 3D effect.

Working on the projects, I have also discovered an interesting thing about my creativity. Namely, I am much more inspired and work faster when the item, I am making, is for a person I know. Not only my creative juices flow in abundance but I am also more motivated to work. Very rewarding.

Maybe this is the trick for the future. Always work with a person in mind.