Christmas Creations Round-Up

Ok, this is the final round-up of the self-made Christmas creations I gave to my loved ones this year. I've already documented most of the clothing I made for friends, but there's still a bunch of accessories and other things I'd like to lay down in blog-post form. There's quite a few so I'd best just get on with it!

The bag pictured above is one of my favourite gifts I gave this year. Mainly because it is for my mum and I don't think I make her enough stuff, though she'd probably appreciate Zoe-made things more than anyone else. It's a fairly simple tote bag made from grey wool with a leather base and lined with furnishing fabric with a waterproof layer. I made it for Mum to take up to London when she goes there to work a couple of days a week. She often has heaps of files, a diary and her lunch that won't fit into her other bag. I deliberately made it quite plain, she has some bright coloured coats and this should go with pretty much anything she's likely to wear. The leather for the bottom section came from an old leather coat, which meant I had to get over my fear of the industrial leather machine at work. The leather should mean she is able to happily dump it on the floor of dirty trains and underground carriages without a second thought.

I made the mittens above for my friend Umi. It can be tricky when you don't see someone regularly to know what kind of gift they would like or are currently into, so I opted to make some mittens from recycled cashmere jumpers that I hope she will find useful.

The crazy square of fabric pictured above is actually a snood made using the technique I explained in my cowl neck scarf tutorial. I made it for my extremely stylish friend Silvia who is known for her sharp eye for accessories. Making something for such a woman was a bit daunting, but she seemed to love it and said that a new scarf is like getting a new dress, because you can dress up plain clothes into entirely new outfits. I should make a note to myself about that one, I must be such a failure to Silvia when it comes to accessorising!

As you may know, I'm a recovering pants-making addict. The methods I've developed have assisted me in making my own undies draw so stuffed it's difficult to close. So until my own pants start to disintegrate and I can justify making more for myself, I must get my pants-making fix by making them for friends (close friends like Michelle who don't think it's wierd that I make them pants!).


Next up are two shoulder bags made from African Wax fabric, one for my boyfriend's mum and the other for one of his sisters. Hopefully the laydeez will get some use from them come summer time. I developed this bag pattern years ago and have made so many that I could probably whip one up in my sleep, but I love seeing what the pattern looks like in a new, different fabric so I still really enjoy making them.


Last but not least: a couple of pairs of oven mitts for a couple of couples (Anna and Marcus, and Ben and Sophie). I used this pattern from Burdastyle but had to buy it after losing the original copy I downloaded for free years ago.

Thanks for your patience in letting me whisk through the rest of my creations. I find it a little wierd toiling away for literally months to create a hefty pile of presents, and then within a couple of weeks, they've all disappeared! Of course, I loved giving them to my friends and relatives, but still it's nice to have the results of my time and effort documented in one place. When I look back at all the clothing, accessories and home things I made for everyone this year, it makes me feel a bit exhausting. As is the thought of doing it all again next year. But giving homemade stuff that's filled with good juju will always be my first choice where appropriate. Plus, the total cost of all the things I made to give this Christmas was £000!!!! Everything came from my stash (excluding a couple of bits of fabric that I 'appropriated' from work). There's no way I could afford to give gifts to all the people I did if I had to go shopping and buy every single gift. I'm just glad next Christmas is quite far away!