Unselfish Sewing - Christmas Planning

So sorry to mention the dreaded 'C' word in September but in order to get myself out of the sewing lull my last task has thrown me into I have been planning my Christmas sewing!

Unfortunately my Mr (Richard) lost his job just over a week ago due to no fault of his own and we have a holiday booked and for 27th December so it is just my wage until he finds something. Unfortunately my wage only just covers bills (silly London rental prices) so we are on a VERY strict budget until after Christmas now. And what is the cheapest way of doing Christmas? HANDMADE!

So plans are now queuing up in my head, meaning I am going to have to get a move on in order to make everything in time. Luckily I cannot afford to leave the house so at least I will have the time! (This is me making light of a situation that really makes me feel quite sick if think about it too long - I do not want to get into debt for a holiday, but also do not want to lose the money already spent on said holiday! Aargh)

Between us we have 17 people to buy gifts for: 2 Mums, 2 Dads, 1 Nan, 2 Grandads, 1 Sister, 1 Auntie, 5 Nieces (ages 13, 6 and triplets aged 5) and 3 Nephews (ages 3 and two 2 year olds). Oh and two friends are due to give birth the week after xmas...so basically A LOT of presents and therefore a long post ahead...

The Plan:

Richard's parents came to visit London in July and his dad was perusing a lot of bow ties in various markets we visited (for some unknown reason as never even seen him in a tie!), so I am making him some bow ties from here.

See Kate Sew free bow tie pattern and tutorial

The tutorial and pattern is really simple, I have sewn up 4 using stash material and interfacing, they aren't quite finished yet but is a really simple pattern to follow and is showing some really good results.

Richards Mum and Sister, my Auntie and eldest Niece are getting the same gift - a cotton dressing gown made from the Simple Sew Kimono Dress Pattern #010 that was free within my Love Sewing Magazine subscription. This pattern is strange because I cannot find any reference to it actually existing through either company OR anywhere else on the internet other than this Ebay seller.

Photo taken from above seller.

This is strictly a dress pattern but the outline drawing makes it look simple enough as a dressing gown. I have not bought the fabric yet but it will be a trip to Walthamstow I think for 3m each of something pretty. To keep costs down I think it will be a polycotton (so easy to sew with) or a nice drapey viscose and to keep sewing time down they will ideally be in similar colour ways so I can mass produce each robe and make it quicker. 

Youngest 4 nieces - 3 of them are identical triplets and wear similar clothes, not exactly the same as they are getting older but definitely on the same theme. I have a few patterns I already own but it will be one of these three each

Twirl Skirt  / A-Line dress / Twirl Skirt
guessing Etsy sellers are not too creative with their pattern names haha

But I have just found this pattern and LOVE it...so I will decide when fabric shopping whether I want to try something new or go back to a pattern I know is easy to sew. All these patterns take about 1m fabric each (probably much less for the skirts). Again will pick similar colour fabrics to try a production line of makes for all four. 

Sweet Pea Pajamas from Blank Slate Patterns

Through the same Melly Sews blog I have found this adorable free pattern (Pinterest is amazing for finding free patterns for kids)

My three nephews will look amazing in this, so cute! This blog has lots of amazing patterns but no fabric requirements for this, I am estimating (from looking at the comments) will need 1.5-2m of each. Again will pick similar fabrics to be able to sew as quickly as possible!

My nan really appreciates handmade presents, I have made her aprons before (she is so cute, she can't sit in the house without her 'pinny' on) and cushion covers so I am going to make her a lap quilt and have ordered this gorgeous polycotton bundle

Polycotton from eBay seller

I have a lot of blues, pinks and whites already in my craft fabric stash to bulk this out if need be but unsure of what pattern to use yet.

Two very good friends are having babies due the same week after christmas, one is having a boy, and I really hope the other is having a girl for total selfish reasons as I should have enough fabric for both then! I will need to buy batting, backing fabric and bias tape for each though (unless I am lazy and back in fleece) but will wait until finished the tops for that. 

So minimum fabric I need to buy is 21m - 4x 3m, 4x 1m and 3x 1.5m.

Wow I have a LOT of sewing to do, I can't see me being able to do much personal sewing for a while which is actually pretty sad as I want to keep up with this blog but really don't want to make it a crafty blog. We shall see how it goes but please bear with me while I am plowing through this lot! 

Do you have any unselfish sewing planned? Started to think of Christmas yet?

Hope you have a great rest of the week, and apologies for the super long post!

Kristy xx