Ten Crafty Christmas Gift Ideas | What’s on my list this year…

So it’s mid November, Bonfire Night has passed which means that it’s now perfectly acceptable to start thinking about all things Christmas (well that’s my rule anyway!). I’ve been having a little look around online, determined to be more organised this year with my gift buying instead of the usual ‘I don’t know what to get anyone’ dash that usually happens mid December. Of course, while I was looking for, ahem, the others in my life I managed to come across a couple of things that happened to make it onto my own list for Father Christmas too. Here’s a little run down of a few things I’ve found in my search…

One – Knitting Blocking Mats

Although I’ve been knitting for years now, I’ve only recently got into blocking my makes once finished and I’m not afraid to admit I’m always a bit nervous of doing so. Something just doesn’t feel quite right about dunking all of that hard work into water as soon as you’ve finished it – eek!! But I can’t deny that, like magic, blocking can make your finished knitting project really look that bit more special.  I’m a convert and feel that the time has come for me to move up from pinning to old towels with my dressmaking pins to ‘proper’ blocking mats with T pins that don’t rust.  So excited to see if Santa might bring me these 🙂

Two – (Another) Large Self Healing Cutting Mat

This is something I’ve been meaning to either buy or ask for for so long, I already have one large self healing cutting mat but one just isn’t enough when cutting a large amount of fabric.  My plan is to lay them both together on my dining table to give me a larger cutting area since I rarely cut out with anything other than my rotary cutter anymore, I’m hoping that this will make my cutting life so much easier!

Three – A Punch Needle Starter Kit

I’ve been looking for another ‘sofa craft’ to do in front of the TV for a little while now and have been eyeing up punch needling for some time.  I love the texture the wall art embroidery hoops can bring to a room and the gorgeous range of colours and designs there are available.  I’m liking the look of this one from Etsy – and I know who’ll be stealing it from me if I ever manage to make it (my animal loving daughter!) 😉

Four – Vintage Guterman Thread Tin

A little on the spendy side is this one but oh my can we take a minute to appreciate the beauty.  Look at that colour range of threads and all together in the most lovely vintage style tin.  I think this could make a really special present for that sewing lover in your life and perfect for someone like me who literally always forgets to buy matching thread for her projects and mostly goes with either white or black – the shame!!  I’ve also included this less expensive filled vintage style tin from Simplicity which would make a lovely gift too.

Five – Hemline Thimble Storage Tin

Isn’t this so cute!  It comes in rainbow and rose gold and to be honest I’m not sure which I’d choose to add to my list – maybe both ;). Perfect for storing scissors, pens or even knitting needles I think this would look perfect on your sewing table or desk.

Six – This We Are Knitters Toucan Snood and Warmers Kit

I never really used to be one for knitting kits preferring to select the pattern and yarn separately for myself but since buying a couple of knitting kits from We Are Knitters I’m kind of sold on the fact that you have everything you need all in one place.  I love lace knitting and since one of my knitting goals for this year was to be a bit braver with my pattern choices I’m eyeing up this beautiful Toucan Snood and Warmers kit, the pattern is so pretty and it’s got to be less daunting than lace working an entire garment right??

PS. You can get £10 off your next WAK purchase by using my code MGM9LRFVH at checkout.

Seven – A Makers Planner

I’ve been attempting to keep a note of everything I’ve made this year (Instagram is fab for helping with this since I tend to record everything I make here) but I love the idea of writing everything up by hand ‘old school’. What a lovely record this would be to look back on if you managed to keep it up for a year, I love the basic design of this one by Cloth Kits and the sections it includes are really helpful, there’s even squared paper for sketching out ideas and plans.

Eight – Sewing Inspired Chocolates

Perhaps not something I’d put on my own Christmas list but I came across these too good to eat sewing inspired chocolates by Choc on Choc whilst doing ‘research’ for this blog post and slyly adding more things to my own Christmas list 😉 Wouldn’t they be fab for the seamstress in your life and so realistic – I love them!!

Nine – Novelty Embroidery Scissors

Does anyone else do that thing where you try to be organised and have a pair of scissors by each machine and on the ironing board but somehow throughout the project they all end up in the same place.  That’s why you can never have enough pairs in my humble opinion.  I adore these novelty hot pink flamingo ones by Hawthorne Handmade aren’t they cute, I’d love a pair of these in my stocking, they come in other designs too and once you visit this lovely craft site you’ll be sucked into the rabbit hole of oggling all of the other pretty things just like I was…

Ten – English Paper Piecing Templates

Another ‘sofa craft’ I’ve been wanting to try out for a while now is English Paper Piecing.  I love making patchwork quilts and like so many of us I have around 100 million bags of scraps at home which I always mean to do something with one day.  My dream is to use those scraps to make an amazing huge quilt of teeny hexagons made from all of my scraps.  I’m guessing the odds of me ever completing such a hand sewn delight are slim but I can dream! I found this lovely book on Amazon and there are also ready cut paper hexagons you can buy too which would cut a few corners.

So that’s my little round up of crafty gift ideas and things that have caught my eye! Is there anything on your crafty Christmas list this year – I’d love to know?

Happy making!!

Sally xxx