Printing My Own Quilt Labels

I've declared 2012 the year to finish up unfinished projects and all those little things that I call my "I'll get around to its." Shortened, that's "round to-its."

One of the things on the "round to-its"  list—make labels for the quilts I made last year, based on designs I created in Electric Quilt 7. Patterns for all of them are available for purchase as PDF downloads on my website, www.joyofsewing.com.

In this post, I'll show you the quilt labels I designed and attached to quilts this week—along with photos of the quilts to which they belong. One more "round to-it" is crossed off my list!

To make the labels, I used the Microsoft Publisher program and fabric pretreated for inkjet printing. You can purchase my favorite fabric for this purpose at www.electricquilt.com. After printing each one and treating the fabric as directed to set the ink, I trimmed the excess fabric away 1/2" from the outer edge of the printed design to allow for a turn-under allowance. Then I slipstitched each label to the backing of its quilt.

There are lots of ways to make labels. I love finding a way to incorporate photos relative to the quilt design or the quilt recipient in mine. Sometimes I make an extra block and use that as the label, but that means I have to hand-write the details on the block using a permanent ink pen. Designing my own labels and printing them on fabric makes it possible to use interesting fonts, import photos, incorporate colors, and proofread the label before it goes to the printer.

Let's Be Friends…A Friendship Sampler Quilt

Let's Be Friends© is a colorful friendship quilt, featuring twelve blocks, set with sashing rectangles and multiple borders. Use it for a lap quilt or a wall hanging. Each block features a light-colored strip so that you can have friends sign the blocks like an autograph album. Use the design to create a keepsake quilt for yourself or for a special friend. Commemorate a birthday, a special occasion, or simply friendship.  Simple rotary cutting and machine piecing techniques make it easy to create the blocks for your sampler. Two of the blocks require a simple template for the signature strip. Several blocks also feature foundation-paper-pieced sections, a great technique for ensuring accuracy without making time-consuming templates before you even begin to sew! The pattern includes fully illustrated directions for each of the 12 blocks, including full-size templates for the required foundations, plus complete directions for assembling the blocks into the finished quilt. Tips for paper-piecing are also included. The pattern has everything you need to create a truly special quilt. Perfect for a block-of-the-month project, too. Organize your friends and get stitching!
Finished Size: 56 1/2" x 66 1/2"
    

I used a Publisher label template for this design, changed the default color scheme to match the fabrics in my quilt, and imported Electric Quilt Jpgs of three of the blocks in the quilt.







Peony Garden

Cheerful “Peony Bouquets” surround a bed of “Peonies in Bloom” in this design to use as a lap quilt or wall hanging. Choose prints in two shades of pink for the peonies. You’ll also need a yellow print for the flower centers and three green prints in related shades for the stems and leaves. All floral pieces are set against a light background solid or print. The corners on the pieced setting triangles form a “garden fence” around the pretty bed of flowers. The “Peony Bouquet” block features appliquéd leaves and stems; directions are included for fusible as well as traditional methods.

The “Peony in Bloom” block is an adaptation of Nancy Cabot’s “Peony and Forget-Me-Nots” block. This new version eliminates corner intersections that were in the original piecing to make block assembly easier. I imported jpgs of both blocks into the label I made, using the same label template as for the "Let's Be Friends" quilt.
Finished Block Size: 12" square
Finished Quilt Size: Approximately 63" square in a diagonal setting

Hearts Entwined

This special quilt was designed as a gift for my newest grand niece, Abigail Marie Glennon. She lives in Beijing with her big brother, Han Thomas (you can read about his quilt in a previous post). She was born in late November to nephew Tom and his wife Cindy, who is from Beijing. Tom teaches Chinese children how to speak English.




















For this quilt, choose two prints in coordinating values or two complementary colors. Pay careful attention to the color placement of the patches in each block and when they are joined, two large hearts entwine on the surface of your quilt. Choose prints of equal value if you want both hearts to pop, but if you want one to stand out more than the other, use prints in two values--Dark and Medium against a Light background. It's but it's pretty in pink, too, for a baby quilt, or it makes a wonderful Christmas quilt in red and green. Try two red prints against white or pink for your special Valentine.  Make it for a bride in her wedding colors--or try it in cream and tans for a wedding keepsake quilt.

Foundation paper piecing makes it easy to create accurately pieced Diamond blocks without making templates. It’s also easier to accurately piece the Small Economy Patch blocks using paper foundations. The pattern includes full-size templates to copy for the paper-piecing foundations and tips on paper-piecing.

Abby's quilt label includes the national flags of her parents' homelands, just as Tommy's quilt does, along with photos taken just after her birth. I think Tommy loves his Mai Mai (Chinese for "Little Sister").

'Tis the Season…A Holiday Wall Hanging

'Tis the Season…to decorate your home for the holidays with a pretty quilted project. You'll have this colorful wall hanging done in no time with quick-and-easy fusible appliqué and simple piecing to join the blocks and sashing and finish the quilt top. For added fun, deck the tree with an assortment of buttons, gems, sequins, and trims after you’ve completed the quilting. All appliqué patterns are given full size for easy tracing and application with your favorite lightweight fusible web. Choose assorted scraps and fat eighths from your stash for the appliqués. Finished Size: 31-1/2" x 36-3/4" 

The label for this quilt is pretty straightforward.

 















I made one more quilt in 2012, but it's under wraps for now. It's being quilted by my long-arm quilter and will be photographed for a catalog, due out in March. More about that one, including a photo and its label in March when it debuts.

The Santa Chronicles: Part Six

Santa is finally dressed. We're down to the nitty gritty finishing details.

The biggest remaining challenge was deciding how to finish the bottom of Santa's body and how to stabilize his body in his sitting position. Thanks to my handy husband, I have a custom-made platform with a dowel that he made to fit inside the tube in Santa's body. The dowel is securely bolted to the platform, which I painted with black acrylic paint and finished with a coat of Dull-Cote Lacquer. It fits inside the cardboard tube in Santa's body with just a bit of "wiggle room."

The bottom of the platform was left unfinished so I could use a permanent marking pen to "sign" my work.

As for the bottom of the body, I had to find a way to encase the fiberfill. I cut a piece of lightweight faux suede and sewed it to the seamline around the bottom edge of the body, encasing the seam allowance and the upper edge of the gathered legs. That covered the hole in the tube. I felt for the tube edges and marked them with chalk. Then working from the center of the circle out, I carefully cut pie-shaped wedges, ending at the chalk mark. To hide the wedges, I put glue in between the fiberfill and the outside of the tube and then tucked the wedges into the glue and allowed to dry. The suede is nonwoven so it won't ravel. Another problem solved!

 My husband suggested I glue the dowel inside the tube, but instead, I used push pins through the upper legs and into the wooden base to secure Santa. I may decide to go the glue route later.

After I signed the base, I realized that I forgot to add the name of my finished Santa, so I designed a fabric label to sew to Santa's body under his jacket. I adapted a Christmas card design from my Microsoft Publisher program and inserted a photo of Santa's head. I added pertinent details, including his name, "Santa in Toyland." I printed the label on my inkjet printer, on specially treated fabric for the purpose.

You can order this fabric for inkjet printing  from www.electricquilt.com.

After trimming the label, leaving 1/4"-wide turn-under allowances on all four edges, I turned the edges and slipstitched the label to Santa's back underneath his jacket. In retrospect, it would have been easier to do this before sewing Santa's jacket to his body--but I hadn't named him yet. Usually names come easily, but this one didn't come to me until after I added the bag of toys (see below), so I couldn't have made the label anyway. I think it's a nice touch. How I love what the electronic age has made possible when it comes to creativity.

To finish up, I added a few embellishments to Santa—silver star buttons on his boots and little plastic wreaths from my button box on his mittens. I also tacked the mitten in place at the thumb joint to keep it in place.







Santa also needed a sack full of toys, so I cut one from black silk scrap and stitched it up, adding a plaid flannel casing with ribbon at the top. I stuffed the bag with a little polyfil fiber and drew up the ribbon drawsting. Then I tucked in a vintage toy soldier, a little tin toy locomotive, and a small teddy bear, all of which I had purchased in Missoula when I learned to sculpt my Santa head in 1999. After adjusting the ribbon to secure the toys (I didn't glue them), I tied it in a bow. I tacked I brought Santa's left arm forward and tacked his sleeve to his jacket. The bag of toys sits just in front of it.

I also used a few discreet stitches to secure Santa's right arm to his jacket in the desired position with a  and then tucked a small bisque doll, a Swiss miss, into the crook of that arm. (Her feet are tucked behind his arm in this shot (they slipped out for some of the photos I've used). I purchased the little doll in Switzerland in 2006 as a memento from my Bernina trip. She is secured to Santa's jacket with several small safety pins inside her clothing.

And now, my completed Santa is ready for his big "reveal." Drum roll please!

First, here's a closeup of his sweet face!

And, here he is in a casual mood! His soft legs can be "posed." I've also placed his left mitten on his leg. Note his spiffy belt made from a scrap of Ultrasuede and a silver buckle I found in my button box. It's been such fun to use up treasures and leftovers in my collection. Also note that I put a little polyfil fiber in his hat to give it a bit of "oomph," making it easy to put in the desired position.

And here he is in all his finery, my  finished "Santa in Toyland!"

I am so pleased with my Santa, and so proud of myself for figuring out how to finish him, all on my own, step-by-step, even it did take 13 years to do so. All things in their time, right? It took about 3 weeks for the problem-solving and execution to finish Santa, but it was well worth it, don't you think? I don't know if I'll ever sculpt another Santa head, but I certainly learned a lot and have great respect for the Santa and doll sculptors out there and appreciation of how much love and energy goes into a project like this one! Whatever they charge isn't enough. My Santa is a priceless heirloom to hand down in my family.

In some ways, I'm sorry to get to the end of this story--I had such a good time with this project. It was one of my "round to its." My goal this year is to get around to finishing my "round to its." There are several on my list and is this one has been checked off the list!

The End

The Santa Chronicles: Part Five

Santa is ready for a bright red, fur-trimmed jacket and matching hat. The fabric choice revealed itself quickly. Several years ago I bought a boiled wool jacket at my favorite outlet for $20. It fit pretty well and was trimmed with loopy red yarn around the neckline, down the front, and around the cuffs. I couldn't pass it up because the fabric was worth more than the price. However, every time I put it on, I felt like a clown. Removing the trim didn't help—I just don't wear true reds very well. I took the jacket apart by cutting along the seamlines—no need to take time removing the stitches—and thought I might fashion Christmas stockings from the pieces. That didn't happen.

While searching my stash for red velvet, it dawned on me that the jacket pieces were the perfect choice for Santa's costume! First I had to draft a pattern for the jacket. The only way I knew to draft a jacket pattern was to place Santa on paper and trace around his general torso shape, then draw oversize shapes for the jacket front and back, based on my tracing and my knowledge of basic pattern shapes. I drew the shapes on my favorite pattern-fitting tissue, gridded Perfect Pattern Paper by Pati Palmer and available at www.palmerpletsch.com. I also backed the paper with her Perfect Fuse sheer white knit fusible interfacing to make the paper more like fabric so I could pin-fit it to Santa's shape.

These are the shapes I used for the first pin fitting. Notice how the shoulder and side seams are pinned with the pins parallel to the stitching line for fitting.

I tried the pinned jacket/front back on Santa and then moved the pins until the pattern was a pretty good fit. As I worked, I trimmed away excess tissue around the neckline. Because I was using boiled wool, which doesn't ravel, and because there would be fur trim and Santa's hair and beard would cover the neckline, there was no need for a neckline or front edge seam allowance on the pieces. I allowed for an overlap at the center front, plus 1/4"-wide seam allowances at the shoulders, side seams, and center back and the cut away any excess tissue in those areas. I also adjusted the pattern so the pieces were 3/4" longer than Santa's body because by that time, my husband had made a platform for Santa from 3/4" plywood. You'll see that later.  There was no need for a hem allowance at the bottom because the fabric doesn't ravel.

Using the adjusted pattern pieces, I cut two fronts and two backs. Then I machine-basted the pieces together, ready for the fitting.

I tried the jacket on Santa wrong side out , so I could pin in any necessary adjustments. 

Because my Santa has sloping shoulders, I fashioned multi-layered shoulder pads from scraps of the boiled wool and fit them inside temporarily.

After finalizing the shoulder and side seams, I permanently stitched the shoulders and center back seams and trimmed them to 1/4" wherever necessary. They were pressed open. I marked the side seam stitching line, trimmed the seam allowances to 1/4" and then removed the basting so I could use the  armhole as a guide for drafting a sleeve pattern. I made the pattern plenty large and then cut it from the boiled wool.

After several attempts at fitting the sleeve cap into the armhole, cutting the cap flatter and flatter until it fit the armhole curve, I set the sleeve into the open armhole, like you do for a man's shirt. Then it was a simple matter to stitch the sleeve underarm and side seam in one step. Next, I tacked the little shoulder pads in place.

As I did for the boots, I cut strips of fake fur, stitched them into tubes and then sewed them to the neckline, the wrist edge of each sleeve, and the left front edge of the jacket. I also made little patch pockets for the jacket and stitched them in place.

When I tried the finished jacket on Santa, the back was just too big, so I pinned in and then stitched darts to get rid of some of the excess fabric. Also note that Santa has a belt—made from a scrap of Ultrasuede and a silver buckle from my button box.

To complete the jacket, I sewed the right front edge to Santa's body, followed by the overlapping left front.

Before I could fashion Santa's hat, his wig had to be glued in place. I used the Fast Grab Tacky glue and coated his head and the inside of the wig with it. Once positioned, I pressed down firmly to make sure it was adhered all over and set Santa to dry while I worked on his hat. It was the easiest part of the process. I cut two large triangles from the remaining boiled wool, basted them together, and turned up a wide hem that allowed for a turned-up brim. I adjusted the fit, then permanently stitched the seams and the hem and trimmed it with a  fur tube—on the turned-up brim.  Next, I fashioned a ball of fur for the tip of the hat and sewed it in place.

 Keeping the hat in place posed a challenge as I didn't want to glue it onto the mohair wig. Instead, I used small safety pins in several locations underneath the brim to keep it in place by catching some of the mohair.

Now that Santa was completely clothed, I could attach his beard with the tacky white glue. I positioned and glued only the section on the chin area and allowed it to dry thoroughly, then attached the sides in the same manner. The Fast Grab glue was a lifesaver through the entire process of assembling Santa.

I'll keep the completely dressed and finished Santa a secret until the final post, which is about the finishing touches, toys, stand, and label.

To be continued…..

The Santa Chronicles: Part Four

A quick note: I just noticed that in the previous Santa Chronicles posts, I said I decided to finish both of my Santas—the little one from a kit, and the head I sculpted in 1999--in 2010. That was a typo. I really just did the work on both Santas in 2011 and finished the large one on January 4, 2012!

Now Santa needs legs and boots! As indicated in an earlier post, I had removed the legs from the muslin doll skin and set them aside. After stuffing the foot and leg with polyfil, the next step was to create a pattern for his boots. First, I traced around the foot on paper, then added generous seam allowances all around and made the boot fairly tall so there would be plenty of room to adjust the fit and the final length later.




I used the rough pattern to cut two boot pieces from scrap fabric, then pin-fit the boot around the foot.After pin fitting, I drew stitching lines along the pins, removed the pins and then machine-basted the pieces together.

Then I tried the boot on the foot (inside out) to check and adjust the fit. When I was happy with the results, I trimmed the seam allowances to an even 1/4" all around and took the trial boot apart to use as my pattern.

I cut the boot pieces from the same soft black knit I used for the mittens. After stitching the seams and clipping the curve in the front of each boot for easier turning and smooth shaping, the boots were ready to turn right side out, but not yet ready to slip on Santa's feet.

The stuffed foot actually has a flat bottom, making it three-dimensional, but my boot was only 2-dimensional, requiring a firm shape inside the boot so the bottom of the boot would be firm and flat on the bottom. Using the bottom shape of the stuffed foot as a guide, I cut boot inserts from scrap mat board in my craft supply stash, shaping them like the bottom of the foot. These were tucked into the boots before putting the boots on the legs. The shaping took a bit of experimentation—I cut the pieces oversize and then trimmed as needed after trying them on the feet. It helped that the boot fabric was knit, making it easier to shape the boot to the insert too. This idea worked like a charm to create a smooth, flat-bottomed, more realistic-looking boot and foot.

Then for a touch of realism, I cut soles from scrap leather in my stash and glued one to the bottom of each booth with the tacky glue.

At this point, I decided how tall I wanted the boots, and cut off the excess boot and muslin leg as I had decided to make the upper portion of the leg/pant section the way it was constructed for Nicholas Little—with fabric and just a bit of stuffing. See how well the boots stand all by themselves?

In order to attach the boots to the upper legs, I had to create a "knob." This was accomplished by hand basting 1/2" below the cut edge of each boot and drawing up the gathers. After securing with stitches, I was ready for the pants/legs.

Because the legs would be soft, with a minimum of stuffing, I needed a soft fabric. Out came the box of flannel scraps. The black-and-red lumberjack check called to me. To make the legs, I cut a rectangle of a length that would finish off to the desired length of the leg and the desired fullness--just a visual guess. I included 1/4"-wide seam allowances all around the rectangle. I sewed each rectangle into a long tube, pressed the seam open, and then hand-basted around one end, 1/4" from the raw edge so I could draw up the gathers around the "boot knob" with right sides together, and sew it in place. I was careful to position the seam in the leg at the back of the boot.

Next came the addition of the white fake fur. I made "tubes" of the fur, turned them right side out and stitched them to the boots along both edges. A handful of polyfil was placed inside each leg for a little added dimension.
 
Finally, I placed the upper raw edges of each leg together with the seam in the center back and hand-basted through both layers so I could gather the legs before attaching them to the seam allowance along the front of Santa's body. I pinned them in place, adjusting the gathers as desired, and then stitched them in place. Isn't he just the cutest little guy? I think I'm falling in love!

Now Santa just needs his hat and jacket—and a bag of toys.

To be continued….

The Santa Chronicles: Part Three

Whew! Santa has a mustache, eyebrows, and a body with arms attached. His mittens are done, so what's next?

While I continued to ponder how he would be attached to a base, I decided to attempt wig making, using the curly mohair I had used for eyebrows and mustache. But, I didn't know where to start so I looked online for some basic directions—and then modified them as I went along. First, I watched a video tutorial online at http://www.dollmakersdream.com/Doll-wig-video-tutorial.html. It was quite good. This site has lots of free tutorials on dollmaking. Another site with excellent wig making visuals is http://www.fantasydollsbyd.com/New_page_72.htm. I didn't find this until after I made my wig, but the directions are quite similar to those I found first. In a nutshell, this is what I did:

1. Covered the head with plastic wrap and secured with a rubber band under Santa's chin.

2. Wrapped the head with a lightweight mesh-like fabric and secured it with a rubber band.

3. Drew the desired hairline on the fabric.

4. Coated the fabric with Tacky white fabric glue, using a small sponge paintbrush and allowed it to dry thoroughly overnight. The results feel a little rubbery and have a slightly opaque white appearance.

5. Peeled the wig away and checked to make sure it was totally dry. It was and felt a bit "rubbery." (If still damp, allow to dry thoroughly.)

6. Trimmed away the excess glue-coated fabric along the drawn hairline and then replaced the wig cap on Santa's head, over the plastic wrap. Since it didn't fit snugly, I pinned in a couple of "darts," then removed the cap and stitched them on the sewing machine before replacing it

7. Beginning in the back at the lower edge of the cap, I added small clumps of mohair and glued them in place with the tacky glue. I continued adding clumps in rows around the head from the center back to the sides. The top and front of the wig were tricky—I had to play with the positioning and the info on the video tutorial was particularly helpful. You just have to play with the clump positioning until you get it right. Allow to dry thoroutly and the wig is done! All in all, I was really pleased with the results. The first photo is shot from the inside of the finished wig, the second is a closeup of the interior, and the third is the finished wig from the right side.

For step 7, I actually grasped small clumps of mohair, which had been shorn from the goat, looked for the cut end and fluffed the strands a bit from the cut end down. Then I grouped several small clumps together and stitched them together just below the cut ends, backstitching twice (see the photo). Then I glued the stitched end to the wig cap, beginning at the back and working to the sides, following the hairline.

Next, for the beard. I couldn't find any online help, but having made a beard for the small Santa discussed in Part One, I improvised. I simply cut a piece of the same fabric I used for the wig cap, shaping it to fit under Santa's mouth over his chin and then up to the bottom of his ears. (You may need to shape it with a dart so it will fit smoothly, as I did.) It wasn't very wide—maybe an inch at most, but there was room for attaching 2 or 3 rows of mohair clumps. I was able to position and stitch the clumps in place since the fabric wasn't covered with glue like the wig cap was. I started with clumps at the lower edge of the fabric shape. For the uppermost row, I allowed about 1/2" of the mohair to extend above the edge, then flipped it to the back and glued the ends in place.

Here's Santa with his finished wig—but it's not yet attached. I waited to attach both the wig and the beard until the clothes were made and attached. Otherwise, it would have been in the way of my work!

And here's a close-up so you can see his eyelashes. 

To be continued!

The Santa Chronicles: Part Two

Unfortunately when I started the design and assembly of my very own Santa with his sculpted clay head (see Part One), I didn't think to take a "Before" photo as well as many of the process steps that I now wish I had. Midway through Santa's design and assembly, I decided I should blog about Santa, if for no other reason than to document the process--in case I might want to do it again.
Therefore, what you see here is a photo of the Santa head/breastplate unit after painting his face and adding his eyebrows and mustache (which I didn't do until the body was attached; see below).


I do have a shot of the back of the head, where I wrote my name and date in the clay before the sculpted clay head went into the oven to cure.




The next step was figuring out how to make a body of the right proportions. Using the standard of 8 head lengths, my finished Santa would be 36" tall. (My Santa head measured about 4-1/2" from top of head to bottom of chin.) But, when I did a "mock-up" of that height with his head, it seemed too tall for the proportions of the finished head. And I wanted a shorter Santa anyway.

Not long after returning from Montana, I had purchased three muslin "doll skins" for 32" dolls. I found those in one of my two tubs of Santa "accoutrement's," along with a set of sturdy cardboard tubes designed as leg inserts for the skins so the finished doll would stand. I started with one of the doll skins, and cut off most of the muslin head, leaving a few inches so I could use that to glue the muslin body to the interior of the neck/breastplate portion of the Santa head.

How to adhere the heavy clay head and support the body which would be filled with polyfil fiber was the next challenge. Since I had already decided my Santa would sit rather than stand, I commandeered one of the cardboard tubes and reshaped one end so it would fit snugly inside the breastplate cavity. My husband got out the Gorilla Glue for the task of attaching the tube. I put glue into the cavity, then snugged the tube inside and set Santa on his head to dry, propped in a wastebasket. The tube was too long, but I left it that way, to be shortened later. While the glue dried, I tackled the design of the body using the muslin skin.

First I removed the muslin legs and set them aside. They were too long so I knew I would need to cut them down and attach them later. Then I reshaped the muslin skin front and back, giving the front a bit of a belly. ( I used a Santa Elf pattern by Nancy Brenan Daniels as a guide for the tummy and back reshaping.) I also shortened the body a bit after comparing it to head and body proportions of other Santas in my collection, leaving an extra 1/2" allowance at the lower edge for the finishing seam around the bottom of the body, which would sit on a small platform.

Once the tube was dry and secure, I tucked the muslin body with the doll-head section that I had left attached inside the breastplate (but no glue yet). With the head in my lap, I stuffed the muslin body, keeping the tube as centered as possible, but not obsessing about that. I also temporarily stuffed the upper portion of each arm (not shown though in the photo). Once I was happy with the body shape and firmness, I slipped it down the tube, swabbed glue inside the breastplate and smoothed the muslin into the glue, making sure the shoulders of the arms would come up to the edge of the breastplate.  Drying time again! Patience was a virtue with this project but it gave me time to think about the next steps and experiment with ideas. I was determined to use what I had in my stash of fabrics and findings rather than buy anything and I succeeded--for the most part. This project truly was an exercise in problem solving and stash searching! I found things I forgot I had!

Throughout the project, I used Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue. It was the perfect adhesive.

Next, I re-stuffed the arms after checking the proportion of the arms to the body. They seemed to be the right length so I stuffed the hands and arms completely, only to discover they stuck out from the body—far too rigid. To fix that problem, I removed stuffing so that the hand was nicely filled but not too firm. I left only a little stuffing in the wrist area so they would bend a bit. I also stuffed the upper arm and stitched through the muslin to create a bend at the elbow so I could bend the arms into a more natural position. After stuffing the section from elbow to wrist, I whipstitched the arm opening closed. Note: The hands of the muslin doll skin had stitching for the fingers--I took it all out before stuffing the hands as the fingers wouldn't show inside Santa's mittenss--and they were very difficult to stuff!

To glue the upper section of the arms in place, I put more glue inside the shoulder area of the breastplate, pushed the stuffed section into the glue and "tied" the unstuffed arms on top of Santa's head. I sure wish I had a photo of that! Again, Santa went into the wastebasket, upside down, to dry.

To make Santa's mittens, I traced around the stuffed hand to make a pattern, then cut four pieces from a fuzzy black knit. I basted two together to check the fit, refined it as needed and then stitched permanently  the pair before tucking Santa's hands inside. To secure the gloves, I stitched them to the arms through the wrist area.
At this point, I couldn't wait to add Santa's eyebrows, mustache, and eyelashes. I purchased a set of fake eyelashes and cut them down before applying them. Getting them in place without getting glue everywhere was a real trick! The eyebrows and the mustache are tufts of curly mohair that I glued in place. I had purchased several packages of this for future Santa-making projects from Kris Crawford at Fireside Basics Doll Hair Co., 7847 Double Tree Lane, Missoula, MT 59804; 406-549-9665. Our class visited her and shopped for supplies one afternoon during our time at the workshop with Judith. I was happy to find the mohair in my "Santa" supply box, since I had forgotten all about it! At this point, I also cut off the excess tube using an X-acto Knife.

To be continued....

The Santa Chronicles: Part One

I love Christmas! Anyone who knows me well, knows that! If you visit my house during the holidays, you'll see a collection of Santas on the mantle, another in the kitchen window, more in the bookcases—and certainly on the Christmas trees. They are everywhere. Every year I waited anxiously for the Better Homes and Gardens Santa magazine and was sad when they discontinued it. One of the artists whose work was featured was Judith Klawitter, then of Missoula, MT, now residing in Idaho. I loved the realism of her sculpted heads and the clothing and accessories she made.

In 1998, when I returned to Portland, OR, after an 8-month sojourn in Williamstown, MA, recovering from major back surgery, I found an ad in the magazine for workshops with Judith. On a whim, I put myself on the waiting list and then secured a spot in the very next workshop. Off I flew to Missoula in January 1999 to take a 6-day class with 9 other students, all Santa lovers like me.

Under Judith's direction, we each sculpted a Santa head in clay, complete with sparkling glass eyes. Working in clay was a struggle for me—a foreign substance to this accomplished seamstress, but I muddled my way through with Judith's guidance and returned home with a completed head—about 5" tall.

Most of the time during the week was spent with the clay, but Judith shared lots of resources and bare bones instructions for completing the body and clothes too. She also took us shopping on the last day to her favorite spots for picking up old toys, fabric, etc., to complete our Santas.

 My intention was to finish my Santa as soon as got home, but I was intimidated by the concept of creating his body. Ultimately, I tucked my Santa head away in box and until mid December 2010, that's where he was rolling around! He's always been on my mind, but finishing him just seemed too daunting.

As I was searching through my Christmas closet, where I stash gifts that I pick up during the year, I came across a kit and paints for making a small Santa designed by Julia Rueger. This Santa, named Nicholas Little by the designer, had been in his box ever since 2003. I purchased the supplies at Quilt Market in Houston, Texas that year. Of course, I also spied the box with my Santa head. "MMM, maybe if I start small, I'll get one of these done in 2010," I thought to myself. And I did! The paint kit for the resin head, boot, and gloves included good directions. I was happy with my first attempt at painting on such a small face, so I was encouraged, especially since there was plenty of paint for my larger Santa head.

I finished my small Santa, following the hand-written directions that came with the pieces and was so pleased with the results. Here's a photo of my finished Nicholas Little.

If you like him and want to make one yourself, you can order a kit and paints and other supplies from http://www.katzdollhouse.com/

To be continued!