What a happy day.

Here we go -
Using a seam ripper, I ripped the remaining seam through the blow out, beginning from about 1cm beyond on either side.

I measured the new hole. Cut matching fabric about 1/2 inch longer than the hole. Most piping requires a 1 inch wide piece of fabric cut to 1/2 inch beyond the length of the hole.
So, no, purple velvet doesn’t match the faded cushion cover, but it was as close as I could get, had it on hand, and in natural light it blends.

Overlapping the 1cm old edge, I folded the raw ends of my patch fabric back to make clean edges, then pinned in place. The piping rope seats in the apex of this swatch – when folded across the width – so once secured, I tested that when folded over the rope, the raw edges across the length matched. I sewed one side of the patch to the old fabric, following the original sewing line.

With my fingers, I pressed the piping rope into the swatch, folded the swatch over, and pinned the rope as tightly into the apex of the fold as possible. Sewed closed. I made two passes to get the piping tight – the first was basically tacking so that I could remove the pins and focus on sewing against the rope. It would have been smart to use my zipper foot – duh.

Finally, I sewed the hole closed (right side of sofa cushion fabric to seam of piping).

Voila! Tres victorian!

For the school card exchange, we made stamps the old fashioned way – with potatoes we bought at the farmer’s market. [eye roll] Will helped me stamp the construction paper, and then hot glue hearts in place. Delusional, I thought he might actually enjoy writing his name on each of the 60 cards. I came to my senses by the third card when he began drawing smiley faces and other designs “because they might like it, mom.” It was only midway through the kiss gluing that it occurred to me we’d created a visual pun. Duh.

Twig Snowflakes. I’d love to have a full tree of these handmade by the family. More pictures and instructions can be found at Pretty Ditty.

On the gift front, we gave out beeswax candles to the neighbors last year that we rolled from sheets of beeswax. It was a great project for a 3 year-old, but I think now that the kids are a little older we may be ready to attempt making drip candles. Instructions for making both drip and poured candles.

If I were sure we could transport vanilla extract over state lines, I’d be making homemade vanilla for the family. The project is super easy – cover 6 vanilla beans in 16oz of vodka in a pretty, sterile, sealed bottle. Let the concoction steap for 6 weeks before using. (Thanks to Design Mom for the picture, instructions and inspiration. She has downloadable labels like the one on the pictured bottle at her site.)

And finally, I think people are giving terrariums this year. But, why not? They are easy to make, easy to care for, and they bring a little of the outside indoors. Here are a few I find inspiring:

(from All Dressed in Blue)

(from ohdeedoh)

And very Christmassy, there’s an ornament terrarium at Cottage Living.

While Sylvie was sleeping, I tried to make life even by whipping up a pair of brown velveteen pants for Will, but I misjudged his size and he now has a great pair of cowboy pants awaiting his 5th or 6th birthday. Bummer. Couldn’t even take a picture it was so sad.

For the more mature neighbors, I made candied citrus peel from our meyer lemons and a few navel oranges using Martha Stewart’s recipe. If you try this, I’d suggest making all meyer lemon. Even the lemon hater in the family loved the meyer lemon peel. The navel orange peel is also addictive, but just not quite as complex and also not quite what I was expecting.

To cap off the weekend, I whipped up two pair of slippers – a pair per boy – out of a sweater Doug accidentally felted and an old yoga mat. Talk about warm and cozy! I used Doug’s flip-flops and Will’s feet as my models. I hand-sewed the tops to the footbeds, then using a hot glue gun, I attached the soles. I didn’t have high expectations for this experiment, but the sweater was particularly thick – with the added spring of the yoga mat bottom, these have the pleasant rebound of a new pair of sneakers. Oh, and as long as your feet are firmly on the ground, you can’t see that they are bottomed in the astro-turf colored green yoga mat. Here are Will’s (sorry for the typical crummy picture… Santa, I want a photographer, please.):

Now the family wants me to sew flames on all their stuff. Need to teach these guys to work a needle!

The how-to:
- A few sheets of wool felt – I bought a few colorways at Joann’s one year, but Purl sells quarters
- A similarly sized sheet of stitch witchery
- A sewing machine laced up with coordinating thread
- Ribbon/string + an upholstery or yarn needle for making the hanger

Make a sandwich of wool felt, stitch witchery, wool felt. Iron until the stitch witchery has melted, fusing the pieces together. Start sewing parallel lines using your machine’s fancy stitches. Press a cookie cutter or glass into the felt to leave a pattern or freehand the shape you desire. Poke your ribbon hanger through the top, and voila!

I struggled to get the stitch witchery to melt, as the felt I used was pretty thick. Ultimately, just setting the iron on the felt for eternity fused the pieces. If my felt were a little thicker, I think these might be nice with a piece of fabric on one side. The process also works well for bookmarks.

Christmas stocking swaps are in the mail. A sampling of what I made:
Pinwheels for the littles -

These were quite a pain to pack. My fingers are crossed that my final solution will get them to their stockings without smushing.

An octopus (on a t-shirt) for another little:

A jet plane (on t-shirt) for an older boy:

A bowling set for some older kiddos:

And finally, a pencil roll for one of the older kids:

Next up on the sewing machine will probably be a boa’d slip or skirt with boa’d under pinnings for my niece – inspired by the feather trimmed slip a 5 year old was wearing under her cotton sun dress at the bagel store. There is no reason a girl can’t be both wild and chaste. Besides, God would not have made boas if he didn’t intend for us to wear them. Perhaps some plain, warm wool ponchos out of recycled sweaters… And, although I appreciate they are about as done as swallows were months ago, I think Sylvie needs an owl appliqued on her yet to be sewn red corduroy winter dress. Thinking maybe the village frock pattern from Sugar City for the dress. What’s with all the winter sewing? The weather just turned. Our entire day was foggy and cold.

The girls definitely need interesting stockings.