Christmas is coming…

Posted on 8th October 2016 by emilycarlill

…And Emily is getting fat (but that’s mainly due to all the cake I consume during The Bake Off!). But aside from that…Christmas requests are starting to flood in!

The ever popular appliqué and patchwork stockings are underway. Last year was a record year, I did more of these than ever before.

And, of course, the Santa sack…

New to my Christmas ‘to do’ list last year was these super cute Christmas bags – I made these for all the children in my life and filled them up with goodies. (The blue Santa being my favourite).

For more pictures of my past Christmas makes, check out the following posts:

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
More Chistmassy Makes
Chistmas is coming…now taking orders!

The most wonderful time of the year…

Posted on 1st December 2015 by emilycarlill

So here it is…the 1st of December! Whilst I am, as every year, like ‘woahhh how did that get here?’, this year I’m embracing it and have, in fact been Christmassing it up for the past few weeks.

My attic room has turned into santa’s workshop, the dog is covered in red and green thread, and there are a herd of reindeer and choir of angels in the form of Christmas stockings dispatched and making their way across the country.

I have been making stockings now for the past few years and seem to get more popular every year! However, in addition to the stockings I’ve made an extra Christmassy item this year which I’m pretty pleased with so I thought I’d share, and to decorate my not-very-festive blog.

And, what is more fitting for the 1st of December than an advent calendar…

All that’s needed now are the choccies!

More Christmassy makes

Posted on 16th December 2013 by emilycarlill

So I’ve mostly been busy with personalised Christmas stockings over the past couple of weeks since posting my first lot and then the patchwork ones.

However, these next few have been a bit more bespoke…

After seeing the first few with the reindeer, angel and gingerbread man design, I was asked if I could make a similar one but swap the fabrics so the main stocking was red and spotty. I was asked to make this for a little 8 month old girl: Mared (which means ‘Pearl’ in Welsh I’ve now learnt!) by her mum, Jessica.

I was also asked if I could use a ‘M’ as well as her full name for the personalisation and a simple picture such as a snowflake.

‘I’ve just opened your gorgeous parcel to find the most beautiful stocking inside. It is just perfect and something that both Mared and I shall treasure for a very long time to come … Thank you so much.’ Jessica, Mared’s mum.

Unlike my own designs, another stocking I have recently made was not from my own creation – I was sent a picture and asked to make a similar design. I did make a few small changes, however, and still thought the finished item was pretty cute!

Again, this stocking was for a little lady: Ada. I emailed Ada’s mum, Natalie, a pic once I had posted the stocking and she loved it but was waiting to collect the parcel from the post office. I received a lovely email once Natalie had collected the stocking…

‘It was the stocking and of course I love it even more in the flesh, I actually felt quite emotional when I saw it. My daughter is only 1 but this will be her forever stocking (my mum still does mine at 33!!!) so it will be treasured for a long time to come.

Thank you so much for fitting our brief perfectly and with such beautiful craftsmanship.’ Natalie, Ada’s mum.

I’ve also made a Santa Sack for my nephew, Jacob. It’s nice a big for all his pressies!

I decorated the bag with a felt Santa, fabric applique presents which have hand-embroidered ribbons and the words: ‘Ho ho ho’. Plus his name which again is appliqued fabric and i’ve hand-sewn a running stitch around the letters for a bit of extra detail.

The main sack is made from a medium weight red checked linen, and lined for extra strength.

The bag has a drawstring ribbon tie which I added small felt Christmas trees to the ends.

And finally (apart from a few Christmas presents) I’ve done some free-hand machine embroidered Christmas cards.

Plus, if you haven’t seen my Christmas napkin tutorial over on Boho Wedding blog yet…pop on over and get Christmas craftin’!

Stockings or Sleeping Bags.

Posted on 31st December 2011 by emilycarlill

Before Christmas I had quite a large order for six stockings. I decided not to use Christmas-themed fabric, as I sometimes think it can look a bit on the cheap side, instead I choose fabrics I had little bits of, remnants I guess, all in red or green colours to make patchwork stockings. Not only do I love patchwork, and the brilliant effect a total random mix of fabrics (some that totally clash) can make; it is so satisfying to get use out of some gorgeous fabrics that have been left over from making a larger item – I hate wasting anything!

So, even though the pattern and style for each stocking was the same, they all still looked different, and each one is totally unique. Again, as many of my Christmas pressy items, these were personalised with the little person’s name; the four girls: Myla, Jessica, Annabel and Phoebe and two boys: George and Caelan. As well as embroidering their names I added a little Christmassy themed picture including a Christmas tree, holly, and a little bird with mistletoe.

The girl’s stockings were easy; floral prints are a great addition to the red checks, spots, and stripes, and I used ric rac, crochet trim and pom poms for the trimmings. The little boys stockings were slightly trickier trying to avoid florals, so instead I replaced these with some not-very-Christmas-related-but-still-really-cute green elephants, and the other cowboys, and limited the trim to ric rac and pom poms – which make anything look fun!