Advent Calendar Updates

Happy Monday Evening!

As promised here is the latest on the Advent Calendar......

I hope cutting everything out went well! Alissa put me to work this weekend and to be honest...I am not great at the hand sewing part- but we survived :) Her ornaments look better than mine- but I love the homemade look and feel of each one, even the ones I made!

This weeks plan:

Begin hand stitching 10 ornaments(sounds like a lot but they only take about 15 minutes each...so maybe consider doing one or two a day...) This week you will make the following:

Angel Wing #14
Baby Jesus #10
Gift #20
Cross #5
Star of David #7
Lion #9
Drum #3
Gift #6
Bow #2
Peace Sign #11


You will want to stitch around each ornament using the blanket stitch. Below is a tutorial that shows how to sew the two layers of each ornament together. You will want to leave a half inch opening before you complete the sewing, in order to stuff some batting inside. Then continue to sew the opening closed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGbMop12Rg

For the ornaments that have embellishments (the peace sign, the baby Jesus, gifts, lion), you will use this stitch to sew the embellishments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cskRye7RFQ&feature=related

***if the ornament has an embellishment, always sew on the embellishment BEFORE you sew the back and front of your ornament together.


****for the bow:
the widest piece is the main part of the bow.
fold that piece in half and sew the open ends together. now it should be in a ring. using the shorter piece of the 2 pieces that are left, wrap it around the sewn together ring to make a bow shape. hand sew this on to secure it. lastly, slip the last piece in through the securing band to form the ribbons that hang from the bow.

*****for the gifts--the long strip gets hand sewn onto the package itself as shown below. the shorter piece is the bow on top of the gift. i simply tied a knot in the middle of the strip and stitched it on top of the finished ornament.

Happy Sewing! :)


Here are example pictures of the ornaments you will complete this week.