Info: The Wednesday Weekly is the Scandinotions newsletter that goes out, you guessed it, every Wednesday. I love my subscribers and they get all the news first – always. Newsletters are published on my website 5 weeks after my subscribers receive them. Scroll down to read a previous one or sign up to get the next one.
5 Tips for sewing smarter, not harder, this holiday season – PLUS a festive freebie!
You’re right!! It IS Thanksgiving tomorrow, and I hope all of my US Lovelies have a wonderful holiday. But the buzz on this side of the pond is the countdown to Christmas!
Without a doubt, getting organized is the key to reducing pressure, and getting ahead with our gift sewing. Planning is absolutely the path to a less stressful time. Now, I am lucky to have family who love the bags and pouches I sew for them. But… if I didn’t put together a little schedule and gather supplies in advance, I would almost definitely come to begrudge the expectation that I will sew gifts for people for Christmas.
Of course, they don’t expect it, but that is how I would feel if I was getting stressed by the idea of not having enough time to do it!
I really believe that trying to make Christmas perfect is a fools errand. That’s waaaaaay too much pressure! But I do love to give presents, and any excuse to make bags is welcome, right?!
Here are my 5 top tips for keeping my hobby my happy place, and keeping my love of gifting going through the holidays.
Fabric choices. I have so much fabric in my stash that choosing which one to use is not a problem. You might have chosen the perfect fabric for your giftee, but have you considered complimentary fabrics? Sorting out some plain or coordinating fabric for linings, pockets, etc might seem obvious, but it is amazing how many times my abundant stash lets me down when it comes to plain fabrics! So, make sure you have all the fabrics you need for each project ahead of time.
It’s not just about the fabric. If we are planning a bag project requiring hardware, make sure you have a full set of it in good time. We all know that it can be difficult to get a complete set of the hardware from one place (with one delivery charge!) and which we know will match properly in colour/finish. This one might take a little bit of planning so don’t be afraid to be flexible with your project or hardware choices.
Batch sewing. Consider making gifts which are similar to each other and choose a pattern you can sew more than one of at the same time. Batch sewing involves performing the same operation on each of the bags before moving onto the next step – rather than making one bag then starting on the next – and can save you quite a bit of time. Some tips for batching include…
- layering your fabrics on top of each other so you can cut several of each pattern panel (for each bag) in one go instead of separately.
- fusing interfacings to a length of fabric before cutting out your pieces.
- selecting fabrics for which you can use the same colour thread across all bags during the same instruction step.
Don’t stretch yourself. If you are running out of time, think twice about committing to a project requiring skills you haven’t practiced before or that you find particularly challenging. A pattern you are familiar with can save you a lot of time and avoid putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.
Get a jump on time. It might sound obvious, but you should start well in advance. Longer delivery times and stock shortages can be the pit falls of starting Christmas sewing a bit too late if there is something particular you have in mind. Also consider that you might not see your giftee during Christmas, which means you might have to finish your gift a lot earlier so you can post it or take it to a pre-Christmas meet up.
I hope there is something in there that will set you up for the win. But most of all I wish you a very merry sewing period. It’s wonderful to have a hobby we can use to show people how much they mean to us and I hope you get the chance to do that.
However, if you know you won’t have time to sew or complete large projects, you might want to have a look at my FREE Astrid Scandinavian Heart gift bag tutorial. Perfect for using up scraps for decorating your tree, home or as teacher gifts. Simply whip one up and fill with sweet goodies, or something you know your giftee will love! You can go directly to the tutorial here, or go directly to the free downloadable templates here.
Elsewhere in the Scandinotions world…
Can you believe it will already be December?! On Sunday the daily Lives in the group will begin!! I’ll be opening the 24 Days of Bagmaking box from Studio 7t7 and I can’t wait to see what goodies will pop up!! Don’t forget to come along live or catch up on replay. I’d love to hear what you think of the bag making goodies!
Editing and a little more filming on the new bag pattern continues. I am very hopeful it will launch next week at the latest! The pattern requires no hardware, and It’s perfect for batch sewing. Wink wink 😉
A little update on Nelly the Scandinotions dog. The growth she had removed has been confirmed as nothing to worry about. She has recovered well from the anesthetic and the wound is healing very well. She’s 11 and a huge part of my life. So, I’m thankful for another while with her, and the chance to see her well into being a grand old dame of a dog!
There is a poll out in the group, so head over and have your say in setting the time for the NYE hang out. It’s not a party – rather a chilled free-sewing hangout with like-minded sewey types who would like to, well, hang out on NYE. Get involved by clicking here to go to the poll.
Zoey 😀
Click the green link to join our fun and supportive FB group Scandinotions Creative Sewing. It will always be FREE to join 😀
The holiday can be a lot – more so for some than others. If you need to talk to someone, please do. If you are in the UK, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or click here to go to their website.
If you are in the US, you can visit 998lifeline.org by clicking here.
If you are elsewhere in the world, you can visit findahelpline.org by clicking here.
Please take care of yourself and others. A kind word costs nothing.
