Hooded Fleece Blankets - Christmas 2019 Gifts

Cousins and their hooded blankets

    I like to make a little something for the grandkids each year for Christmas.  Last year I made them reading pillows, this year I found this great idea on Designs by JuJu for hooded blankets. Following her directions I cut out all the pieces.

Rounding the corners

Fleece edges with Christmas colors thread

     Of course I did my own twist on things by rounding the corners of the fleece rectangle and then serged the edges with a fun Christmas color thread.  The only problem I had with the tutorial is that it did not say with dimension was the width and which was the length of the blanket.  As a result, on one of the blankets the snowmen were sideways.  This isn't a problem if it is not a directional print fleece.

Teddy bear blanket

Snowman blanket

Girl elf blanket

Boy elf blanket

     I had fun at JoAnn Fabrics picking out the fleece for each child.  Another problem with the tutorial us that she didn't give yardage requirements, I had to figure that out myself by looking at the measurements for the pieces.

Teddy bear applique

Snowman applique

Girl elf appliqué

Boy elf appliqué

     Then I had the fun of choosing which designs to use,  I used the Christmas Peekers 1 set for my designs.  I used the cute teddy bear for the youngest and the snowman for his big brother.  For my granddaughter and her big brother I used the elf designs.  I also used the same fabrics for the applique when possible to tie them all together.

     They seemed to really enjoy the blankets and I hope they use them while reading the books that I also gave them.

Angel Pillow: Christmas 2019 Gift

Angel pillow

     For my oldest sone and his wife I made this angel pillow.  I used some deep green wool and a plaid wool from my stash.

Detail of embroidery

     I used this simple angel design from Designs bu JuJu.  I used a metallic thread to make it sparkle.  Because the design was so simple I decided I needed to do something special with the pillow.

Circle drawn on the pillow front

Plaid frame fabric pinned and ready to sew

     This was a technique I learned in a webinar on purse making.  I determined a 10 inch circle would be a good frame for the embroidery.  I drew it on the solid fabric using my circle templates.  I then pinned the plaid fabric to the other side of the pillow fabric (the right sides together) and stitched around the circle using a shorter stitch length, 2.0 on my machine.

Circle sewn and centers cut out

Underside of front piece showing trimmed plaid fabric

     I then carefully cut out the centers, leaving about a 1/4 inch seam allowance, this is what is going to determinate size of your frame.  I then pulled the plaid fabric to the inside and pressed.  I stitched in the ditch from the right side and then trimmed the excess plaid fabric.

Pinning the angel piece in place

Detail of stitched opening

     I pinned the angel design behind the opening and then stitched close to the seam.  After that I trimmed the front to size and serged lining to the back.  I added a zipper to the back piece and made covered cord with the plaid fabric that I had cut on the bias.  Put it all together for another holiday pillow.

Bias plaid covered cord

Poinsettia Pillow: Christmas 2019 Gift

Finished poinsettia pillow

     For my youngest son and his wife I made this poinsettia pillow.  I had the gold and black poinsettia fabric in my stash along with the black crinkle fabric.

Detail of the embroidery

     The design is from Urban Threads.  I used a metallic gold thread and a regular gold colored thread fro the embroidery.  Pretty sparkle. Because the black fabric was lightweight, I ironed on a stabilizer before stitching.

Back of the front with the lining and serged edges

     Because the poinsettia fabric was just a cotton print I added a lining to the front and back to give it more body.

Finished front with trimmed corners

     After framing the embroidered piece, I then trimmed the corners to prevent 'dog-ears' and serged all around.  I but a zipper in the back piece and added covered cord to the front before putting it all together.

Detail of the covered cord

     I think this made a simple but elegant pillow.

Truck Pillow: Christmas 2019 Gift

Finished retro truck pillow

     This year for Christmas, I made Christmas throw pillows for each of my children.  For my daughter and her husband I chose this retro truck design from Embroidery Library.

Finished front showing the serged edges

     I chose a lightweight tone on tone cotton fabric for the embroidery design.  I did fuse a stabler to the back to provide it with more body.  I hooped the fabric and floated a piece of tearaway stabilizer underneath.  Even with all that I had some puckering and outlines off because of the very high stitch count.  If I would do this design again I would use a heavier fabric.

Trimming the covered cord

     For the pillow, I had some plaid wool in my stash.  When cutting the frame for the stitched piece, I made sure to line up the plaid.  That probably took longer than the rest of the pillow construction.  After piecing the front I trimmed the corners to prevent dog-ears and then serged a piece of lining to the back.  For the cord, I used deep green wool from my stash.  A zipper in the back was the last step and then I sewed front to back.

Corner detail showing the cord and matched plaid

     I was quite pleased with how it turned out, even though the embroidery wasn't perfect.  The matching of the plaid is that custom touch that you won't find in most off-the-shelf pillows.

Detail photo of the embroidery design