New fleece PJ pants

Of course Thing 2 was going to need new PJ pants also! He's been growing, so some of his prior PJ pants are getting into the "wader" category. Plus, he just loves PJ pants and wears them around the house all day. I also used S8022 for these.

The first pair is a Blackhawks fleece print, which I bought online early in the year and then promptly forgot about. This is child size L, the same as last Christmas's Blackhawks fleece PJ pants. They still fit well, with possibly a little room left for growth.

This next pair is a Star Wars fleece print that I found randomly on clearance at JAF. I was there for something else entirely and happened to walk by the section and just had to grab it. (They only charged me $2.37/yd! I should have taken all of it!) I made this one teen/adult size XS to give some more growth room.

And a closer look at the print - designed to look like a Christmas sweater. 😎

 

New PJ pants for Christmas

Thing 2 really liked his lounge pants that I made last year for Christmas with the gamer flannel, even more than I had hoped! So I figured he needed another pair. We had actually shopped online together back in the spring for fabric for the next pair, but then I hadn't gotten as far as sewing them up before the weather turned much warmer. So I saved these for Christmas. These are S8022.

At his request, I had added patch pockets on the last pair (never blogged, apparently). They were based on the pockets on my yoga pants. Then, after adding them and having him wear them for a bit, I got feedback on changes he would like to have made (which was like pulling teeth! I had to convince him that custom means you can get these to be perfect for you.), which I used on this pair. So these pockets are two inches longer and were moved a bit further to the sides. I hope he thinks they're exactly what he wanted!

 To make it easier on me to get the pockets finished well, I lined them with muslin and left the slanted edge open, then added a facing to close the pocket.

Christmas boxers

As is "tradition," I made new boxers to go in the stockings this year. This is the usual S9958, in three different sizes for the three males in my house.

Size Men's S in a coffee print for The Husband

Size Men's XS in an underwater print for Thing 1

Size Boys' XL in a takeout print for Thing 2

They turned out very well, and my family members were quite pleased.

Some dog accessories

A friend is adopting a little dog for her daughter for Christmas. (I arranged the match!) She planned to put a big Christmas bow on the collar on Christmas day to give to her daughter, then asked if I could make her a bow. Well.....I decided to give it a whirl.

Because I've been using the Made for Mermaids Madison pattern lately for my niece's twirly dress, I happened to notice that there are instructions at the end for making an optional fabric bow. I decided to see how that went!

I didn't have any plain red fabric or enough of the red snowflake fabric in my stash, but I ran across this peppermint fabric. I used it a few years ago to make my niece a skirt at Christmas, but apparently I never blogged it. Anyway, I think it turned out super cute!

Originally I was making the "collar" for the bow and planning to attach them together as specified in the Made for Mermaids  Layered Bow Tie Tutorial, and then I thought it'd be a great idea to make a bow tie, as well, but to make them interchangeable. Because, honestly, how often is this dog going to need to wear a giant bow that's as big as he is??? So I used sparkly gingerbread fabric from a prior twirly skirt for my niece to make the bow tie part, then made the center with peppermint to tie them together. And instead of sewing the whole thing on to the collar, I put a snap on both the bow and the bow tie and the opposite snap on the collar. Now either piece can snap on!

Definitely going to do this again!

Oversized Hanging Towels

So I made hanging towels for my clinic to hang near the sinks, and looking back on the blog, it's been 6 years now, since they were a Christmas project posted way late! No wonder they were getting a bit ratty!

Time for some new ones for sure. These were intended last year, but I only got as far as prepping the towels then. A few months ago, I started putting the toppers together, and I'm not sure why it took me so long to finally stitch them in place! Of course, as I say that, I have to add that there are only two showing up on the blog today, because the other six don't have snaps installed yet. Maybe this weekend?

Not sure why I can't get these pictures to line up next to one another, but there you have the wonders of technology.  These are made with a standard sized bath towel cut in half.

Star Wars Christmas!

I bought this fabric I believe 2-3 years ago. My only regret is not buying enough of the Star Wars Christmas ornament print to make myself PJ pants with it. But it was the right thing to sacrifice it for my niece, as intended. And I love how the purple scroll print goes with the Star Wars.

This is the Madison/Dolly Madison pattern from Made for Mermaids.

Since I just made her the Nemo dresses over the summer, I knew for sure which size would work. (I also asked my sister-in-law how much room she had in them, since I really want this to work for next Christmas as well!) This is a size 10, roughly tea length (because I didn't have enough fabric), with a wider ruffle to make up a little of the length. I used the purple print for straps, waist piping (I make my own, obviously), and bottom ruffle. 

I think you can see the waistline piping detail a little better in this progress photo....

The doll dress is maxi length.

 I love how it turned out, and I know she will, too! My only quibble is that I think the purple print blends a little much with the waist piping. In this particular case, it might have been a little better to use a different fabric for the piping or do a waist ruffle instead. But I do think it's more obvious in person.

More stockings - completing a family set

 

Back in 2017, I blogged about making a stocking for my new niece, to go with the stockings for her parents (wedding gift) and her big brother. This year, there are two new additions to the family, so I had to whip up stockings for them. (As an aside, why is JAF sold out of tobacco hopsack linen, and will they get more in?!? I got lucky and got The Last to be had in my area.)

And even better, I got them done in plenty of time for Christmas! Now to get them out of my house.....

Winter!

 I think this is pretty adorable! It is another tiny stitch-along from Armada Designs, and obviously it is Winter. Just like with Fall, I didn't stitch it during the actual stitch-along time. I don't think I even knew about it then, but after doing the Christmas stitch-along a couple of years ago, I hunted up all the tiny stitch-alongs by the designer and have sloooowly been working on them.

I still need to decide on paint colors for the hoops for this one and Fall, so they're not truly completely done yet, but the stitching is definitely done!