12/06/2011

guest post::dixie diy!

Hey, I'm Dixie from Dixie DIY and I'm really excited that Mandi asked me to be apart of Holiday Time Tuesday! I mostly sew clothing but come Christmas time I like making all sorts of holiday crafts. I love red and white as a color scheme for Christmas and those little round mints are a favorite treat of mine this time of year. Peppermint just smells like Christmas to me!

This idea came from a need to use up some fleece leftover from another project. The white is a blizzard fleece but the red is some kind of soft, fuzzy fleece that sheds when you cut it. The tulle I bought because I liked the flecks of glitter in the fabric. The ribbon was in my stash. Using a sewing machine is quickest but hand sewing works, too.

You will need: About 1/2 yard of white fleece, 1/4 yard of red fleece, 1/2 yard of tulle or other sheer fabric, a 14in round pillow, ribbon, scissors, red and white thread and a sewing needle.


First, cut two circles from the white fleece 15in in diameter. With a
14in round pillow this will give you 1/2in seam allowances. The easiest way would be to draw a circle on paper as a template but since I couldn't find my paper cutting scissors I just marked a central point on my fleece and used a ruler and pins to make my circle.


Next, free hand draw your red swirls on a piece of paper. They should
be 7 1/2in in length. Cut out your swirl template and use that to cut 10 swirls, 5 for either side. Evenly space your swirls on your circles and pin. Here's a tip - sometimes fleece can stretch while sewing so start at the tip of the swirl (at the center of the circle) and stitch along the side down to the outer edge of the circle. This way the center of the circle will always look nice and neat even if the bottoms of the swirls stretch over the edges.


Now it's time to sew the circles together. Pin them right sides
together and stitch all the way around leaving about a 10" long opening to insert the pillow.


Stuff the pillow in the opening. Then,
using a needle and thread, slip stitch the opening closed. What's nice about fleece is that the texture of the fabric helps to conceal your stitches if you're not very good at hand sewing.


For the wrapping all you need to do is lay the candy round in the
center of the tulle, wrap the raw edges over the back side, twist the ends and tie with ribbon. If your tulle ends are too long you can easily trim them. You could also sew the tulle together to make a tube, rather than just overlapping, but it isn't necessary.


Use the pillow to add some holiday cheer to a bedroom, on a sofa or in a kid's room!

-Dixie

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for inviting me to join the fun! I've loved all the DIYs!

    ReplyDelete