Monday, July 16, 2012

Christmas in July - Stacking Gifts Wall Hanging


This afternoon's Christmas in July post is brought to you by Kelsey. She just finished up this bright bit of quilting, and I love love love her On a Whim quilt. She was also part of the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop, and wrote up a great tutorial on how to upcycle dress shirts into a dish mat, which is so useful [I love useful sewing, it makes Stephen less grumpy about thread all over the house!]
________________________________________________________________________

Hi Everyone!  Are you feeling festive?!  I’m Kelsey from Kelsey Sews and when Rebecca asked me to join the Christmas in July event I was so excited!  I’ve had the idea for this wall hanging bouncing around in my head for a while and this was the perfect chance to make it happen.

Stacking Gifts Wall Hanging

Materials:
  • White (or other neutral background/sashing fabric) – 1/4 Yard
      Cut into 3 strips 2.5” x WOF, then subcut as follows:
      • 2 Strips 32.5" x 2.5”  *I left mine 2.5" x WOF and trimmed after attaching*
      • 3 Pieces 4” x 2.5”
      • 3 Pieces 2.75” x 2.5"
  • Prints – There are three gifts which you can choose to make from one, two or three prints.  This fabric is the “wrapping” on the gifts.  I used two prints for my sample in the pictures.  I won’t quote yardage since it depends on your choice (and you don’t need much!) but you’ll need the following pieces for each gift block
    • 2 Pieces 6.5” x 3.75”
  • Coordinating Print (or Solid) – This will be for the ribbon & bow of the gifts.  You will need 1 Fat Quarter or 1/8 Yard.  Cut into the following pieces:
    • 3 Pieces 6.5” x 2”
    • 6 Pieces 2.5” x 2.5”
  • Backing1/2 Yard or a piece approximately 35 x 15 (allows for overages when basting)
  • Binding1/4 Yard or 100 inches of 2.5” strips

* I used 1 Fat Quarter for my solid pieces as well as my binding and I had exactly enough, so that’s an option*
Fabric Pieces

Instructions:
**All seams are a scant 1/4” and all seams are pressed open**

1. First we will make the body of the gift.  You’ll need your print pieces and the 6.5” x 2.5” piece of your coordinating print/solid.  Pin the 6.5” side of the thin strip, right sides together, to the 6.5” right hand side of one of the print pieces.  

Step #1

2. Sew and press seams open.  Attach the second print piece to the other side of the thin strip.  You will end up with a piece that looks like this: 

Step #2

3. Next we’ll make the bow for the top.  You’ll need:
      • 2 of the 2.5” x 2.5” pieces of your coordinating print/solid
      • 1 of the 4” x 2.5” pieces of white/background
      • 2 of the 2.5” x 2.75” pieces of white/background
Start by drawing a diagonal line across the back of each of the 2.5” x 2.5” squares. 


4. Take one square and match it, right sides together, to one side of the 4” x 2.5” piece.  Pin, and sew on the line you’ve drawn.


5. Then, using your ruler & rotary cutter trim the outer corner off, 1/4” out from your sewn line.  Press seam open. 


6. Once you’ve pressed the seam open you can place the other square on the other side (opposite edge of where you just attached to) and pin.


7. Sew on the line, trim and press.  This will resemble a flying geese piece but the point is more than 1/4” away from the edge.  It should look this way – you didn’t mess up!


 8. Now attach the 2.75”x 2.5” white pieces to each side of the bow you made in step #2, matching the 2.5” sides together.  You should now have a strip 2.5” x 8.5” (trim if necessary).



9. Attach the bow to the top of the gift so that the point of the white triangle is closest to the gift.  Your block should look like this:


10. Repeat steps #1-9 to make the remaining two blocks

11. Once you’ve made all three blocks we’ll need to sash them together.  I didn’t take any pictures of this but here’s how I did mine.
  1. Lay your blocks in the order you want them.  Top, Middle and Bottom. 
  2. For the top block take 2 of the 2.5” x 8.5” white strips.  Attach one to the top and bottom of the block
  3. Then attach the middle block to the sashing strip on the bottom of the top block
  4. Next add an 8.5" x 2.5"  sashing strip to the bottom of the middle block
  5. Add the top of the bottom block to the sashing strip on the bottom of the middle block
  6. Finish by adding an 8.5" x 2.5" sashing strip to the bottom of the bottom block
*A Tip – I cut my strips longer than 8.5” (probably closer to 10), attach them all, and then trim down the whole side at once.

12. Now that the blocks are all sashed together into one long strip you can add the 32.5” x 2.5” strips to each side. Use the same tip as above if you’d like.



Yay!  A finished wall hanging top.  Now you can baste, quilt and bind however you’d like.  I quilted mine with some all over loops and used the same solid as my ribbon/bows for the binding. 

When attaching the binding you may want to add a sleeve or some tabs so you can hang your project.


I used this excellent tutorial to make little corner pockets on mine.

I hope you make one of these this year!  They’d make a great gift (or a present for yourself!).  You can adjust the pattern to suit your needs as well.  Make a few more gift blocks to increase the length, make one block and turn it into a potholder, or sash the blocks together along their sides and turn it into a table runner.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!
Kelsey 
______________________________________________________________________________________________

So, so, so cute! And I love the retro fabric! I think I'll make one and have the presents running horizontally and hang it over my couch. How adorable would it be to make the presents as individual blocks and sew them into reusable gift bags? Get it, a present on the outside and a present on the inside? I kill myself sometimes.

Thank you so much Kelsey, this is a fabulous project that I'm sure many people are adding to their to-do lists!

 We only have one Monday left of tutorials, and 2 weeks until the linky opens up for you to show off your holiday sewing! For a little extra incentive, today's giveaway is a quick project that you can totally finish in 2 weeks:


The winner will receive one PDF copy of the Thimble Blossoms stocking pattern pictured above. Awesome! I had a handmade cross-stitched stocking growing up and loved it, so make your family some stockings of their own!



Requirements to enter:
  • You have until 12 pm EST on Monday July 23rd to enter. I will announce the winner on Tuesday the 24th.
  • This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere
  • You must have a valid email address, and if it's not listed in your profile then it must be listed in your comment
So how about this time you tell us the best present you've given or received. Good luck!




 

19 comments:

  1. Such cute a cute stocking pattern and I love your present blocks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love making stocking for all my kiddos. I have too, they keep taking the stockings home full. LOL Judith, Texas

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this project -- such a cute wall hanging! My best Christmas present was almost seven years ago. My husband and I got married right before Christmas. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute project, thanks! One of my best presents was the first edition of Anne of Green Gables that my hubby gave me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ooo I love this wall hanging - I have the perfect spot for it in our new place. Best gift ever received would have been salt dough Christmas ornaments made for me by my sister children. They added sparkles, glitter, paint and everything else they could find on these crazy puffed up dough shapes and I treasure them! The dog likes them though so I hang them VERY high!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is such a cute wall hanging! And the stockings are adorable! My favorite gift I've ever received was a handmade blanket from my boyfriend. He's not super crafty so it meant a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ooo! lovely! i'll be making this one!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and my best christmas gift was horsebackriding lessons! when I was in middle school. I rode for years after and loved it! wish I still did it.

      Delete
  8. The best gift ever? That's an easy one - my Bernina sewing machine!
    Linda F. LLFas (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  9. The best gift I ever received was in 1970, my Singer sewing machine. I learned so much and my 2 little girls received some really cute outfits!

    ReplyDelete
  10. My husband and I gave up gift giving and now treat ourselves to a nice Chinese dinner every Christmas Eve, that's my favorite. Littlemissmollymae@gmail

    ReplyDelete
  11. woohoo, great tutorial and great series rebecca!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unknowingly creating a quilting monster, my husband gave me my first sewing machine for my birthday two years ago - best gift ever.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great tutorial! The best present I ever gave was a GPS to our oldest son (and I know it was the best present because he told us so LOL!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is a very cute wall hanging! It would work for so many different tastes too, depending on the fabric you choose (I'm always on the lookout for something to make for my mom, but she's decidedly not modern in her tastes! This would totally work with more traditional Christmas fabrics too though.) It could be a table runner too!

    The best present I ever got was my Kitchen Aid stand mixer! I love that thing!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I would love to make new stockings this year! We are so in need.
    Such a cute wall hanging too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My best present was our son, orn just 4 days before Christmas! Such a joy in our lives every day :0)

      Delete
  16. My husband gave me the first pair of left handed scissors I ever had. It was the most thoughtful present ever. I stopped getting blisters every time I cut something out.

    ReplyDelete
  17. My husband built a GIANT bookcase for me, by copying a mid-century modern one from a tiny picture in an Atomic Ranch magazine. No blueprints, measurements or anything... just from a tiny picture!

    ReplyDelete

Messages from friends :)