· Deck the Halls Skirt Tutorial ·

For my post this week, I'm joining in the Riley Blake Fabrics' Christmas Stitch 'n' Kitchen Blog Tour!  I had such a fun time picking out which fabrics I wanted to use for a project, and of course I couldn't resist going in a quirky, mid-century direction. ;-)  This is now the second "novelty" Christmas outfit I've made... I sense a trend coming on...

Without further ado, here's my tutorial for making your own!

"Deck the Halls" Christmas Ornament Appliqués

Prep time: 10 minutes

Making time: 45-60 minutes (per appliqué)

Ingredients:

• Printable Ornaments pdf
• Fat quarters in fabric of choice (I used the Red Dot and Red Stripe from the Santa Express collection and the Cream Stars from the La Vie Boheme collection)
• Remnant of tissue lamé
• Gold cord

I adore the 1950s, so naturally I used my appliqués on a 1950s style circle skirt!  The appliqué design is so versatile and it could be used on just about anything.  Tea towels, tote bags, other clothing items- the list goes on! :-)

Step 1- Cut out appliqués, adding extra if appliquéing by hand.  The pattern is for the finished size, so I added 1/4" to the perimeter of mine.

Step 2- Mark the finished size on the wrong side of the fabric for an accurate finished result.  I used a blue water-soluble pen, but it's a bit harder to see the marks in photos than real life. ;-)

Step 3- Staystitch along the marked line by machine, then use the stitched line as a guide for folding in the excess.  Iron smooth.  I found that the circles and the curved edges of the onion shape benefited from a single line of basting near the raw edge.

*Step 3 1/2* If you're making a circle skirt, now is the time to choose your placement of the appliqués!  This is the trickiest part of the project- I just adjusted them until I was happy and measured accordingly for the rest.  The amount of appliqués you use is highly dependent upon the width of your skirt.  Mine ended up having 34 appliqués.  But that makes for some weird math to duplicate it!

Step 4- Hand appliqué the ornaments in place.  I love how much control hand-sewing affords as well as being a great way to take some time to relax and enjoy the process!  This isn't a "quick and easy" project, but especially in a season that can get hectic and stressful, I enjoy having a project that forces me to step back and savor the season. :-)

Step 5- Apply the tops!  I used tissue lamé for mine and they were made from 2 pieces of fabric and sewn on the machine.  Since tissue lame loves to fray, I traced the shape on a doubled piece of fabric.  I sewed along the top and side edges leaving the bottom free, and trimmed around the stitching.  Then I turned it inside out and tucked the free edges in.

I prick-stitched the tops on as I was afraid traditional appliquéing would mar the structural integrity of the tissue lamé.

Step 6- The final step is connecting all the ornaments with gold cord!  Enjoy!

(see more pics of the finished skirt here!)

For my recipe to share with this blog tour, I knew I had to share our family's longest-standing Christmas: gingerbread men!  I remember making them with my Grandma when I was just 3, and I'm planning on making a batch this Sunday. :-)

Gingerbread Men

1 c. molasses

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

6 c. flour

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 1/2 c. hot water

Simmer molasses and butter together for 15 minutes.  Cream egg, sugar, and vanilla.  Add baking soda and water.  Mix in dry ingredients and molasses mixture.  Chill.  Roll 1/4 in. thick and cut out.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.