CHRISTMAS GIFTS

QUICK AND EASY CHRISTMAS GIFTS

With little and no time to sew, I did manage to whip out a couple Christmas gifts.

 

My experience with making men's shirts has been an ongoing process.  Not exactly successful as each new shirt came together, but maybe, just maybe, this one is correct at long last.

 

     My first attempt I put the buttonholes on the right side of the front, which made my husband absolutely refuse to wear it.

     My second attempt I got the buttonholes on the correct side, but had the buttonholes going horizontally, instead of vertical.  My husband wears it, but complains.

     My third attempt I got the front panel and buttonholes all correct, but got the buttonhole on the wrong side of one cuff so that it buttoned backwards.  I offered to take that apart and fix it, but my husband said he could deal with it; however, the way he deals with it is to have me button it, because he can't figure out how.

     Do you get the picture that I somehow have a problem with buttonholes?

 

     The third shirt is above.  It's not for my husband (I hope that is not the winning trick).  It is for a skiing friend of mine and was inspired, or I was motivated to make it only because I saw the fabric print of skiers everywhere.   Since he has spent a great deal of time attempting to make me a better skier (he is an instructor), I made it for him as a gift.  The buttonholes are on the right side, the right direction, and so are the cuffs.  Success at last!

 

     We won't tell my husband, but I also found a fabric with cars all over it at the same time I found the skiers.  Since my husband's business is used auto parts, cars, etc., I purchased that fabric for him, and have made a shirt for him for Christmas.  I think it is all correct, but won't know for sure until he inspects it Christmas morning.

 

     Now, I couldn't give my skiing friend a shirt without giving his wife something.  She had admired a sweatshirt jacket I had made for myself a long time ago, so I made a sweatshirt jacket for her.

 

     I cut off the cuffs and lower band and replaced them with a polyester silk print (not a fabric I like to work with, but when you live where I live, you use what you can find if you are doing something on the spur of the moment.) .  Then I sewed panels of the print in stips up both side fronts and both side backs, as well as along the sleeves. 

     Next I made horizontal sewn lines across the stips 6 inches apart, and cut the fleece along each side inside the now sewn rectangles.  DO NOT cut across the top of each rectangle.

     I gathered the loose piece of fleece in the center and wrapped thread around it to hold it gathered up, and sewed a medium size pearl in the center.

     I made a waistband of the silk print, as well as bound the sleeves with the print.

    I finished the gift by making an infinity scarf out of the leftover silk print.