Christmas Stitching

I don't seem to be getting a whole lot of time for sewing right now, so in those few moments I do snatch I've been working on a couple of small, easy to stop/start makes. Happily, they are also Christmas makes.

First up is some very boring sewing - fabric bags for wrapping. We have quite a lot I've made over the past couple of years, but I'm hoping to make enough this year so we have no paper wrapping to do. They're very easy to make. Any kind of 'bag' shape - mixtures of large, small, long, thin, short, fat - with a good length of ribbon sewn on. I'm using lots of repurposed fabric which is in itself creating a variety of shapes - sleeves or trouser legs, for instance, lend themselves perfectly to fairly narrow bags. Here's an example of how I sew on the ribbon... 

Just in one continuous length on one side of the opening. It can then wrap around the opening, closing it up, then go around the present again in the opposite way before tying.

At the moment I'm sticking to quite Christmassy colours and they're looking lovely all together.

But it is, as I said, very boring sewing! So my other make is a little more interesting. I'm planning on making a set of 'Christmas' napkins as a present for someone. I say 'Christmas' napkins, but I wanted something that could be used for a little longer than just Christmas. I decided on 'snowflakes' as a theme for them. I have a big soft spot for snowflakes! I thought I'd machine embroider a snowflake, each one different of course, in the corner of each napkin.



I drew a design on first and then just stitched over it in a variegated, grey thread.

You can't really see that it's 'variegated' in the photos, it's very subtle.

But I need some help with them. We are extremely uncouth here and do not use napkins, and so I'm not sure how 'thick' I should make them. The fabric is from a very old and very lovely white, cotton sheet. It's a really good weight cotton, the kind that got starched and was all crisp and beautiful. So, for those of you who aren't as uncouth as we are, is that sort of 'weight' good enough for elegant napkins? Could I just double hem around the edges and leave it as a single layer? Or should I perhaps be adding a 'back', right sides together with a little opening, and then turning it out and sewing closed? All advice gratefully received!

I'm linking up with 'Ho, Ho, Ho and On We Sew' again today, can't believe it's a whole month since I last linked up!

Sally.