HANDMADE GIFTS

I love receiving handmade gifts, almost as much as I love giving them.  I went on and on here about how anxious I was to try out some sweater projects.  A sweet friend dropped off a bag of old sweaters that she had already felted.  If you aren't familiar with the process of felting sweaters, it's very simple.  You wash a wool sweater on high heat and then dry it on high heat.  It can then be cut up without fraying.  

I decided to make a few Christmas gifts this afternoon.

Surely by now, you've picked up on the fact that I like to drink wine. 

Well, fortunately, so do my girlfriends.

Hopefully they will like these.....

If you want to tackle this extremely easy project, here's what you will need..... 

1.  A sleeve from a felted sweater;
2.  A needle and tread
3.  Scrapbook paper
4.  Circle cutting tool (mine is from Creative Memories)

I started by sewing together the end of my sweater sleeve.  

I made large stitches all the way around the sleeve. 

I then pulled it tight.

I sewed a few more stitches to make sure it was closed snugly. 

This is how it looked with the wine bottle inside.  Not real pretty, but it's just the bottom. 

Now, on to the wine glass skirts.  I think these are so handy. 

When you are entertaining, you simply use a marker to write the name of the person on the skirt. 

Here's a step by step. 

1.  Use your circle cutting tool to cut a circle, approximately 2.5" in diameter
2.  Your first circle should look like this.
3.  Use your smallest circle cutting tool to cut another circle inside the larger circle,
     approximately 1" in diameter
4.  Your circle should now look like this.
5.  Use scissors to cut a straight line trough the circle.
6.  Presto, you now have a darling wine glass skirt.

Attach them to your wine bag if you choose.

Embellish with some twine and a gift tag and you have a lovely handmade gift. 

If you don't have the right kind of circle cutting tools, 

you can print wine glass skirts from here or here and cut them free hand. 

Don't you just love receiving handmade gifts?

Blog land is full of some great ideas for unique handmade gifts. 

Are you trying your hand at any this year? 

I had my sewing machine out for a few projects this past weekend.  I'll be sure to fill you in.

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