Since I’ve been sewing, I’ve seen so many lovely things on the interwebs to make. Sometimes I cannot justify making them for myself as either I won’t use them, or I have heaps already. So what is one to do when you want to make lovely things but can’t justify them for yourself? You make them as gifts!

Mother’s Day was just this past Sunday and I handmade gifts for four mothers, my mum and S’s mum, step-mum & Grandma. Their gifts consisted of a tote bag, four placemats and a stuffed Babushka doll all made from free tutorials or patterns on the internet. I even made the gift tags with scrapbooking paper left over from the wedding. 🙂

So much pretty!

These pics were snapped real quick before I had to be off out to deliver two of them. The single placemat and Babushka doll is for Grandma. She’s now in a nursing home so a set of four placemats would kinda be overkill and a tote bag would be near useless to her. Also, I ran out of time and fabric! 😉

The tote bag was from a free Craftsy class called ‘Bag Making Basics: Reversible Tote & Zipper Pouch’ which is presented by Kristen Link, owner of Sew, Mama, Sew!. It is really simple to make but so lovely to have. Every time I use my Love Bird/Babushka Doll/Owl one I get comments asking if I made it and compliments on the fabric. Both mum’s that received theirs on Mother’s day were really pleased. S’s mum’s book bag is nearly dead so she was thrilled to have a replacement.

The placemats were from a tutorial by the lovely Lauren of Guthrie & Ghani and of Great British Sewing Bee fame. Seriously, watch this show if you haven’t and check out Lauren & Ayaz’s gorgeous haberdashery by following the link! The placemats seemed easy to begin with and they are but that rick rack can be a bitch!!! Especially the smaller stuff. I used two sizes. In the end it worked out pretty well and I was pleased with them. They were all slightly different sizes but following Karen’s advice (from Did You Make That blog) that the quirks (read: mistakes) are what truly makes it handmade. It shows the love. 🙂

Finally, the Babushka dolls were a free pattern from I Think Sew. They call them Matryoshka Dolls (link may or may not work, you need to sign in/up for the free patterns). They turned quite out nicely. My mum had an awesome idea to put lavender in them after assuming I had put it in and sniffing hers! 🙂

Overall pretty pleased with my presents. I think the recipients were too. 🙂 Got to make some pretty so that’s a plus!