Hand-made gifts

I remember the Christmas that my mother locked herself in her room for days sewing gifts for me and my little brothers and sister.We impatiently laid on the floor trying to peek under her door. I don't know how she managed to accomplish anything much less four masterpieces! We constantly knocked,whined, begged and asked "What are you doing in there? Why can't we come in?" But eventually we were gifted with the creations of love from our mother.She had chosen each gift with each child in mind and had worked many hours to make cute little stuffed animal pillows for us. She used the fabric scraps from garments that she had previously made for us. My brother's animal was an elephant,which if my memory is correct, was named Ellie. My sister's gift was an navy blue corduroy owl named Ollie and her twin brother's turtle was made out of the strangest fabric that can be imagined for a turtle, but he absolutely loved it! The weird cowboy fabric turtle was soon given the unique name of Turdy! (He still has Turdy!) But my gift from Mama was the best of all.She had worked the hardest on it. It was an olive green velvet frog filled with beans instead of the stuffing that she had used to make the other animals so he was squishy and floppy and divine! But guess what happened to Freddy the frog...I gave him away. I think it really hurt my mother's feelings. As an adult I can understand why but as a little second grade child that was listening to the daily pleadings of teachers for toys for the poor little kids who didn't have any money to pay Santa therefore would not get anything, I made the best decision that I hope has shaped the rest of my life. The teacher said," don't bring any old toy that is broken or dirty that you don't want anymore." She said "Be sure that you bring the best that you can.Bring something that you would love to keep for yourself." So all day I sat in my desk thinking about my possessions and asking myself, "what is the best that I have and would love to keep for myself?"  I rushed home and tried to explain to my mother. I didn't realize that she might not understand why I wanted to give it away.I tried to tell her about the "poor children." My mother is just as generous as any other mother so I am sure that she wasn't trying to deprive some poor child. I now look back on my childhood and realize that we were far from wealthy ourselves, especially at that time. But she allowed me to take my dear Freddy to school and proudly place him on the shelf with all of the other donations.Freddy was the BEST gift of all! I could just imagine how dear he would be to the little child that was lucky enough to get him.I almost cried and tried to take him back but the teacher said that once the toy was on the shelf that we couldn't have it back.She said that those toys weren't for us and were for the poor children.She said that we could get our parents to get us one of whatever it was that we had donated. I thought that Mama could always just make me another one. So with a few shy tears I comforted myself in knowing how happy the other child would be and I'd wait until Mama could make me another one..Sadly that was not how it turned out.
There have been many times that I have wished that I had kept Freddy. I missed him for a long time. I see the  happiness that it brings to my mother's face each time that anyone mentions that my brother still has Turdy after all these years.I always look at her with shame and embarrassment about what I did with poor Freddy.  But I have over the years given things away that people can't imagine giving away if it belonged to them because it brings me joy to think of the happiness that it brings to the person who receives it.Life isn't about what you have but rather what you do with what you have. I have a testimony that life isn't about material possessions but about people. BUT Mama, if you read this,know that the one thing that I would like for a gift one day is a green velvet frog filled with beans that is made by you.I have never been given anything that meant more to me than Freddy! Just wanted you to know.

So that is why I think I love hand-made gifts so much. I have been busy all day making my youngest grand-daughter a cover for her scriptures since I had already made some for my other two grand-daughters when they were baptized.I wanted to give them to her for Christmas but since she spied on me in the craft room and already knows about them, I will probably go on and let her have them.Little sneaky stinker!I should have remembered Mama and the locked door!

Anyway, here are the other two girls scripture covers and then I'll show you what I made the new ones out of :

 I used a wide strip of velcro to close these with.

The inside is done in co-ordinating fabrics.

Grand-daughter #3 didn't want to get rid of these shorts even though they no longer fit her so I decided to recycle them.They have really cute embroidered flowers inserted in the frayed areas.

 So here is how I cut them up for the project.

I took an 18 inch piece of the bottom of the leg of a pair of men's jeans for the main fabric to use. 

 cut the inside seam and open up fabric.

Lay the open scriptures or book to be covered in the center of the fabric to determine the size that will be needed.The seam in the jean scrap of fabric is vertically placed along the spine of the book and will give added detail to the finished bag.

 I measured a 5/8 inch seam allowance and used chalk to draw it off.

 cut on chalk outline. (normally I just "eyeball" things like this but I am trying to give directions so that it will be easier to understand how to make a pattern)

I cut the belt loops where they were sewn to the bottom so that I could cut the band into a neater strap and it also made it easier to add a contrasting fabric (or you could use a ribbon for trim)

 I used one of the pockets that I cut from the shorts. I cut them off by cutting around the pocket.(so that the pocket had a "back") I also left a bit of the decorative seam from the top of the waist of the shorts.This made a "double pocket" for the back of the scripture cover. I cut around one of the appliqued pieces and stitched it to the front of the new piece.

Fold the waistband(that was cut from the shorts) in half and cut

 These two pieces will become the handle straps for the scripture carrier.

 Cut a piece of your contrasting fabric. Fold in half wrong sides together and stitch.

This is much easier that trying to turn a tiny little tube of fabric or trying to iron the seam to the middle and it still works just fine so don't worry about the little "short cut" that I use for this part)

 Flip your piece of contrast fabric with the ironed raw edge down and right side up on your band so the seam is hidden  and stitch close to the edges( after placing it under the belt loops that were previously cut loose at the bottom of the band.)Then stitch the belt loops across the bottom to reattach them to the band.See how they look in the photo below.Here are the two straps,the outside of the bag and the inside piece.

 I cut  a 4 1/2 x 9 piece of the remaining piece of denim from the men's jean leg to make a pocket for the inside of the bag.You will need 2 of these for the flaps where the front and back covers of the book will be inserted.

The LDS scriptures that I used needed the outside piece and the contrasting inside piece to be 

13 1/2 x 9

I only stitched one side of the strap to each side of the bag because I wanted the "raw cut" end inside the side seam and the end with the metal button to show on the outside of the finished bag. Hopefully, this will make sense in the following photos.Stitch one strap at the bottom left corner and the other at the top right corner. If I were making the straps out of the contrast fabric like the bags I made for the other girls, then I would not do it this way. I would attach one strap to the left upper and lower corners and the other strap to the right upper and lower corners like a "loop" on the left and a "loop" or handle on the right. I hope that makes sense.

 This is the inside with the decorative pocket that I added to the left flap.

I used a strip of the trim from the shorts to make her initial and stitched it to the right side before sewing the flaps to the inside contrast piece of fabric.Remember to leave the inside finished seam of the flap open to insert the books cover!

I cut a piece of the waistband from the men's jeans strap and a smaller piece from the button side of the waistband and attached them as shown below.These will form the strap to close the bag with when the scriptures are carried. All of the straps are stitched in place at the side seam and then the front of the bag and the inside section with the flaps will be placed right sides together and sewn leaving an opening for turning right side out.

This is the 6 inch buttonhole piece cut from the waist band of the men's jeans. Remember that the waistband from the child's jeans is being used for the handles.The other piece is just the piece where the button is attached to the men's jeans allowing a big enough piece that your sewing machine presser foot can go around it and you can stitch without hitting the big metal button. Stitch the raw edges in the side seam when you stitch the inside and outside covers together.

 Here is the front of the finished scripture carrier. Notice how only one side of the handle was enclosed in the top seam and the buttonhole side is just stitched on the outside of the bag with a decorative pink button stitched or glued on top?

Here is the bag!. The beaded pen says "Jesus Loves Me." This is on the back with the pocket.Notice how the strap is attached on the side that wasn't enclosed in the seam so that the original metal button from her shorts is now a decorative accent?

Here it is! All buttoned and ready to wrap!

even though the stinker girl already has seen it. She's not sure that it is hers! Merry Christmas! Now to get busy on presents for all the others.