(Christmas music)
- What's sewing on, friends?
I have left my Christmas gift making to the last minute.
And in case you have too,
here's a video on how to make some easy
handmade Christmas gifts.
We're going to be doing a crochet gift,
a sewing gift, and an embroidery gift.
And if you're someone who is already into craft and DIY,
which if you're watching this I assume you are,
you probably already have all the materials
that you need for these DIYs.
Which means you can avoid going anywhere near
the existential hell-hole of capitalism
that is shopping malls before Christmas.
So let's begin.
(Christmas music)
The first gift that I'm going to be making
are some crochet leaf earrings.
And I'm also going to assume
a basic knowledge of crochet here too.
If you haven't learned crochet already
and you're trying to make something for Christmas,
don't start now, you don't have time.
What you're going to need is, some yarn.
I'm using this multicolored recycled cotton,
but any on and a leaf like color,
think greens, but also rusty reds will work.
A hook size appropriate to yarn.
I'm using a four millimeter hook,
and I think that is a size G, or six in the US.
A yarn needle, two earring hooks, two findings,
some needle nose pliers or some good fingernails,
and a pair of scissors.
I will be using US crochet terminology,
but you can find a link in the description
for conversions to UK or Australian.
Okay, so first attach your yarn to your hook,
and then chain 12.
One, two.
Then in the third chain from the hook,
we're going to put a double crochet.
So that's yarn over,
slide into the space, pull through.
Yarn over, pull through two.
Then in the next space we'll be putting two treble crochets.
Which is yarn over twice,
insert into the next space, pull through,
Yarn over, pull through two.
And yarn over, pull through two.
And then we're going to do
our second treble crochet in the same space.
Then the next space, we'll get one treble crochet.
So just like before.
Yarn over twice, put it in the next space.
Yarn over, pull through two.
And then the next space we'll get a double crochet.
Then one more double crochet in the next space.
Then in the next space,
we're going to do a half double crochet,
which is yarn over,
put it through that space and pull through,
and then we're going to yarn over, and pull through all.
In the next two spaces,
we're going to do a single crochet in each.
Which is insert the hook, pull through,
yarn over, pull through.
And repeat.
And then the last two chains there
will just get slip stitches.
So insert your hook and pull through.
Insert hook and pull through.
Okay, so that is half the leaf done.
Now we're going to chain two,
and then turn the work.
So we're going to be working back this way.
Using the other side of the chain space this time
and basically the reverse of what we did before.
So that first space is going to get a slip stitch,
and then another slip stitch.
Then one single crochet in each of the two next spaces.
A half double crochet in the next space.
A double crochet in each of the next two spaces.
A treble crochet in the next space.
Two treble crochets in the next space.
And then finishing it off
with a double crochet in the very last space.
And then we're just going to join with a slip stitch
to the first part of the first double crochet.
And we've got to leaf.
Now honestly you could
make this into anything at this point.
You can make it into a broch, a hair clip,
but I'm making earrings
so I'm going to actually add two more chains.
And then I'm going to yarn over, pull through,
snip it off, and pull it through all the way,
which knots it off and stop the unraveling.
Now I've created two of these leaves.
I'm going to use a yarn needle
to just sew the ends of the yarn into the leaf
and hide them out of the way.
Yeah, this yarn needle is way too big.
(upbeat piano music)
So I'm using a cotton for my crochet
and that makes it quite easy to shape.
I like to twist them a bit.
Helps make them look like real leaves,
just by pulling on them,
pulling them into a sort of twisty shape.
Okay, next I'm going to attach the finding.
So using these pliers, I'm going to open up the finding
and then put it through the top loop of the crochet there.
Slip the earring hook on, and close it up.
Now, if you had really strong fingernails
you could probably do this without the pliers.
And these are now done.
This next one is a cute and easy DIY,
that's perfect for anybody who likes to craft.
That's where mine are going.
Custom buttons.
But even if your recipient does not craft,
they can pretty easily be used
as some decorative knickknacks.
So for this one you will need,
some embroidery floss, an embroidery needle,
and scissors, and a covered button kit.
I got this one from Dicer.
You will also need just a little bit of fabric.
Scrap fabrics are perfect for this.
Here are some scrap fabrics I pulled out of my scrap box.
I think what I'm going to use first is this plain canvas.
So firstly, got to figure out
how big an area we have to work with.
I'm going to open up the button kit
and they usually come with a template
showing you the amount of fabric you need
to make the button with.
However the surface of the button itself is only this big.
So that's the space I'm going to want to be embroidering in.
A chalk pencil or something similar
is also going to be useful here as well.
So I'm going to trace around the template
directly onto the fabric.
And then I'm going to put the button in the center
and just lightly trace around this as well.
Now you could throw this into a hoop if you wanted,
but I'm not going to worry about that.
So all I'm going to do on this is a rose.
To do that I'm going to draw another smaller circle
inside these two other circles.
I'm going to put a dot in the middle of the circle
and then I'm going to draw five lines
radiating out from the circle.
Now I'm going to thread my yeedle,
my yeedle?
And now I'm going to thread my embroidery needle
with this floss, but with only three strands.
So to make this rose, first I'm going to go up,
through the very center,
through that do we drew in the middle.
And I'm going to stitch over all five lines like this.
I kind of think of it like a wheel with spokes.
Now I'm going to bring my needle back,
as close to the center I can get.
And now, this is the part I think is really fun.
I'm going to bring my needle and thread over one stitch,
and then under the neck.
Anticlockwise around the spokes
of the wheel that I've stitched here.
And I'm going to keep on doing that,
over one stitch, under the next,
over the next stage, under the next, et cetera, et cetera.
And as I go round, and round, and round,
you can see how the thread is building up
to look like a little rose.
It will also start taking on
a bit of a three dimensional shape as well.
And keep going until all of those little spokes,
those straight line stitches, are covered,
and you can't actually get the thread in anymore.
When you're done, pass the needle through to the back
and tie up your thread.
Whoa, what happened there?
Oh, well.
Tie off your thread with whatever method you prefer.
I prefer to make a giant mess on the back of mine clearly.
I just tie the thread into knots.
Now there's actually still a little bit of room here.
So I'm just going to do
a few little French knots around the flower.
Now I'm going to cut out around the outer circle.
Now different button making kits
might be slightly different.
But in general, they will have a top part,
a bottom part, and this little presser thing,
which you make the button in.
So what I'm going to do is put this face down into here,
centering it, and then put the top of the button in there.
Then I'm going to push all this excess fabric inside it.
Put this bottom piece on next.
And then finally I'm going to use this little stamper.
Put it on top and press down on it really hard.
Now I'm just going to push it out of the mold.
And there we go.
Cute little rose button.
I made myself eight more.
For these two I used to the lazy Daisy stitch.
Which you can see how to do it in a previous video.
And then for some of these,
I actually just used a thin Sharpie and some fabric markers.
So you don't need to be able to do embroidery to make these.
Now I'm just going to make these all into buttons.
And if you're feeling particularly lazy,
you can forgo the stitching completely
and just make them entirely out of pretty fabric scraps.
Hand sew the buttons to some cute cardboard
and you've got yourself some real cute crimbo presents.
The next gift that I'm going to make
is a little lined case with a zipper.
I find these really useful myself when I'm traveling.
I actually use this one that I made some years ago
as a traveling makeup case.
And it's a good scrap buster as well.
You'll need to be at least a little bit
confident in sewing to do this one.
But if you can sew straight lines,
you can probably do this too.
What you'll need for this one is,
two pieces of fabric for the outer of the case
that are the same size as each other.
This can be any size you want,
depending on how big you want the case to be.
But if you want to make yours the same as mine,
for reference, this is 9 inches by 10 inches.
Oh, and by the way,
if these looks super scummy on the back
when you can see the wrong side of them.
That's because they are samples
from an old couch sample book
and they had stickers on the back of them
that I have to scrape off.
Two pieces of lining fabrics, that are again
the exact same size of the outer fabric and as each other.
You can see this one has a weird seam here.
That's because it's from a pair of old trousers.
And a zipper, and you want the zipper to be
as long as the edge that you're going to put the zip on.
That's usually the long edge.
But it doesn't matter if it's longer
because we can cut it shorter to fit the case.
You'll also need basic sewing accessories, scissors, ruler,
needle and thread or a sewing machine, pins, et cetera.
So let's start.
First we're going to be making a fabric zipper sandwich.
So first I lay down the lining fabric,
right sides up with pattern.
And then put the zipper up here, aligning it to the edge.
And then the main outer fabric goes on top.
And I'm making sure that all three edges
are aligned at the top here.
My lining was a bit bigger than my main fabric.
Sorted.
I'm going to pin them all together at this top edge,
or clip in my case, 'cause I'm using fabric clip.
And then I'm going to sew along this top edge.
I'm going to use a straight stitch and a zipper foot
so I can get the needle as close to the zipper as possible.
Next, I flip the outer fabric over,
and then pulling the zipper up out of the way.
I fold the lining down underneath it.
And I'm just going to clip these two in place temporarily
to keep them out of the way for the next bit.
Now I'm going to repeat essentially the same steps again.
I'm going to put down the lining fabric,
right sides up if patterned.
And then going to put the zipper
with everything else attached to it, right sides up on top.
And of this piece I'm only going to be sewing the zipper
in the next step.
So I line up the zipper
with the top edge of the lining fabric
and then I'm going to put this final outer piece
on top of it all right side down.
Lining up those top edges and clipping them in place.
And I'm going to sew along this again
with a straight stitch using my zipper foot.
A zipper foot is not strictly necessary in these steps,
but it will make things easier.
Then I'm going to unfold everything,
lining on lining, outer on outer,
and I'm going to press open the seams with an iron.
(coughing) Well, I tried to.
There's something super feral in this adhesive
that has made it smell so bad in here when I ironed it.
Okay, I'm just going to skip that step.
But you shouldn't.
You should be glad
that YouTube haven't invented smell yet.
That was so bad.
And I'm gonna have to spray this with something
before I give it as a gift.
Oh my God.
Whichever friend I've gifted this to,
I'm sorry about the bad smell,
I won't give it to you if it does smell bad.
And you can just tell me if it smells bad if it does.
So now I'm going to half unzip the zipper.
This parts really important.
And then I'm going to lay the fabrics out like this.
The outer piece with the other outer piece,
right sides together.
And the lining with the other piece of lining,
right sides together.
And now I'm going to sew all around the edges of this
is a big rectangle, leaving a small gap here
through which will pull the fabrics through
after we're done sewing this
The zipper can be a little tricky to sew here.
So I'm going to pin it,
so it's just kind of folded towards the outer pieces.
And now I'm going to sew around this
using a straight stitch and a normal presser foot.
And now at the zipper part,
I'm going to take this really slowly,
actually rotating the needle with my hand in parts,
using the dial on the side of the machine.
To make sure I don't snap my needle in half
when I go over the zipper.
And continue.
Oh, I ran out of bobbin all the way back here.
Why does this keep happening to me.
Oh, sweet bobbin,
Why must you always run out,
in the middle of sewing projects?
And why must I not realize for very long time?
Usually just after I've sewed
something a little bit difficult.
And onwards.
Then I'm going to just cut the corners is
Just outside the seam,
so they look nice and went on the right way,
and cut off the bits of zipper
that are hanging outside the seam allowance.
And now I'm going to put my hand
through the gap in the lining.
Reach in and pull everything the right way round.
Using a ruler to help me out with the corners and the edges.
Next with this gap in the lining.
I'm going to just fold the edges in like this
and then just sew across it.
Them I'm going to push the lining inside the pouch.
Do up the zipper, and I'm done.
Cute little pouch.
(Christmas music)
Hi it's Annika, coming to you from my pajamas.
I've just finished editing
and I just wanted to thank all of you
who have supported me on Patreon this year,
or on Ko-fi, or have bought some my merch.
Or have just shared my videos
or engaged in the make thrift try challenges.
This year has been tough in a number of ways,
but interacting with all of you just lights up my day,
makes my day so much better.
I hope you all have a safe and happy holidays
and I can't wait to see you all in the new year.
Stay crafty, and bye for 2019.