Christmas Stocking Tutorial

So here goes, my first EVER attempt at a tutorial... so grin, nod, applaud if you will, but more importantly bear with me whilst I iron out the kinks ;)

Personalised Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Christmas is fast approaching us, and here is a nice little Christmas craft project to fill up an afternoon.

For this project you are going to need the following:

• 1/2 m of fabric for the front (you made need at least a meter if you have a printed fabric so that the print runs the right way.) 
• 1/2 m of fabric for the back (you could either have a contrasting colour or keep it the same as the front)
• 50 cm of Ric Rac (or lace/ribbon etc) in a contrasting colour
• scrap of Calico big enough for the name plate

Step One: Cut Out Stocking

First things first, you are going to need a stocking template. I used my brothers childhood stocking because it was on top of the decoration box and also has a really nice shape. You could free hand a stocking shape or pick up a cheap stocking from your local $2.00 shop to use as a template.

Lay your fabric on your cutting surface with right sides facing each other. Pin template/pattern to fabric and cut out, making sure to also cut a seam allowance.

The green boarder you can see here is how much seam allowance I gave myself - I also add an extra few cm's to the top so that I can give it a nice hem at the end.

You should have two pieces now, a front and a back.

Step Two: Cut out name plate


Next you need to cut out a piece of calico for the name plate as wide as the stocking where it will be placed and its height can be as big as you want/need it to be. Remember to add on a seam allowance to the height so that you can hem it before attaching.

Step Three: Decorate Name Plate

Now you can decorate your name plate - I embroidered mine and the Prince chose two iron on appliqués from the local craft store., but the list is endless in what you could do. Applique, fabric paint etc. When decorating it, remember about the seam allowances and try not to decorate in that area or you will lose some of your design when you put it together.

Step Four: Hem and Attach Name Plate

Next step is to hem your name plate on the longest sides, I do this just simply by ironing over the sides.

Place your hemed name plate on the right side of the fabric you want for the front of your stocking. Lay your ric rac (or other decorative ribbon) along the top and bottom of the name plate and pin in place...

Sew along the ric rac (making sure that you are catching the name plate underneath as well) 

Step Five: Sew Stocking together

With right sides facing pin the stocking together and sew. (remember to leave to top opened, or santa won't be able to fill it up ;)

I then like to go around the edges in a zig zag stitch to give it a longer life. You could also use an overlocker, but I was to lazy to drag it out of the cubboard ;)

Step Six: Hem Opening and attach hanging string

Your stocking is almost complete. Now you need to hem the opening. I fold over the hem once and iron in place and then fold the edges under, iron and pin in place.

Sew hem in place, remembering to keep it neat because you see the hem stitch on the outside.

Next grab some of your left over ric rac, fold in half and sew to the inside seam of the stocking

Step Seven:

Turn in the right way, iron to shape and tadaa, your own personalised Christmas stocking. Now that was easy wasn't it. If you have any questions or you feel as though there is something that I need to add to this tutorial comment below. If you use my tutorial to make your own stocking, I'd love to see it.

Join us for our next Christmas tutorial in a few days until then, stay smiling :)

Slip of the finger

Oh boo hoo to me - I was changing the colour of my blog post font in the blog design part and saved changes I didn't want to save... So please bear with me while I get things back to normal.

Christmas with the Wiggins Tribe

I love Christmas, I mean, REALLY love Christmas. Even as an adult I struggle to sleep past three o'clock in the morning on Christmas day. I can't label any one particular thing that makes Christmas appeal to me so much, whether it be the yummy food or gorgeous decorations, I love it all.

Not only is it the Princess's first Christmas this year, it is also the first Christmas for The Wiggins Tribe Blog, so we are going to celebrate in big style.

Over the next few weeks in the lead up to Christmas day, I am going to be running a BIG Christmas special. With lots of sewing, craft and cooking tutorials as well as some handmade gift buying guides. First up tomorrow will be a tutorial on how to make your own personalised Christmas stocking.

Do you love Christmas as much as me? Do you have something that you would love to share in a guest post?

Fighting with a smile

Now, I must not complain, the princess is in a nice pattern of sleeping from around 7.30-8.00 until around 4.30 - 5.00 most nights. Its of a day that she fights with me to sleep, even though she is tired she is at that age where there is to much going on around to actually want to close those little eyes. So begins the fighting.

The wrapping of the arms coincides with fits of giggles - which she knows makes me giggle.

The rocking or bouncing method starts off the cooing.

The lullaby singing starts off her own attempt to sing.

An hour later, no sleep happening yet its time for another feed and then it all begins again, hopefully this round produces an exhausted princess, because it sure produces an exhausted mama.

Doesn't she get that when she sleeps well of a day,  she sleeps better of a night. Obviously no one sent her that memo!

Jumping is Hilarious

I think I'll let the video do the talking!

Love the Simple Things

One of my favourite times of the day is when the prince and princess wake up. No matter in what order they wake up in they are both equally excited when the other wakes up and I LOVE it. Its like a need they have to be close to one another, even if it only lasts a few minutes. I wonder if it will last, as the princess is growing up so fast right now she hangs on every movement and sound that comes via her brother the prince. We will see I guess as time goes on, right now I will enjoy it for what it is, a simple daily pleasure to witness.

Have a nice weekend!

go {heart} yourself #2

So another week has passed us by and I am back for the second installment of 'go {heart} yourself'. Last week in its first edition we had the lovely Tat from Mum in Search playing along, who highlighted one of my main reasons for starting this feature. We (or at least I) think that there are many things that we love about ourselves until we are asked to write them down, or talk about them. Yet we could talk for days about the things we love about others that we know, or even those that we don't. So why don't you take the time TODAY to share something that you love about yourself.

Today I am hearting my friendship and kindness. I am always there for my friends. In fact, I find it extremely easy to give every inch of my being to my friends or even people that I don't know when they are in need. I don't expect this to be returned, to be honest I find it rather difficult to accept help in return.

I know that in the past this has lead to a misuse of my kindness, but I find that most times that the word no is not in my vocabulary. I also know that it is important that I use the offers of help from people, but it is something that feels extremely uncomfortable to me, much like swearing does, it just doesn't flow from my mouth. So this week, while appreciating my own kindness and friendship that I give, I am going to step out of my comfort zone and accept some form of giving/help from someone I know.

Will you join me to go {heart} yourself? Is there something that you love about yourself, yet when on the opposite side of the fence find hard to accept. I'd love to hear about it.

"go {heart} yourself is a part of my blog where I will share with you the things that I LOVE about myself, in doing this I hope to also change or improve the things that are stopping me from being who I want to be, ME. I'd love it if you would join in with me, so come on, lets all go {heart} ourselves!"

go {heart} yourself #1

Today I am {hearting} my birthmark. A strange thing to love you may think, but mine is unique. You see, I have a strawberry birth mark on the right hand side of my nose that is in the shape of an emu. It changes with me, dark when I am tired or upset, light when I am happy. I have always felt if I were ever to have it removed that I would be taking a little part of ME away. A lot of my close friends don't even notice it until years after they have met me, my friend of 5 years asked me a few months ago 'what has happened to your nose' which sent me running to the bathroom only to discover that she was talking about my 'emu'. I often wonder if I would feel differently about it if I had of be teased as a child about it, but maybe because I am so comfortable with it on my skin that no body notices it unless it is pointed out.

What are you {heart}ing about yourself this week?

"go {heart} yourself is a part of my blog where I will share with you the things that I LOVE about myself, in doing this I hope to also change or improve the things that are stopping me from being who I want to be, ME. I'd love it if you would join in with me, so come on, lets all go {heart} ourselves!"

go {heart} yourself

When was the last time you took time to {heart} yourself? Emotionally, Physically, its time we all took a step back and got back in touch with ourselves.

go {heart} yourself is going to be a part of my blog where I will share with you the things that I LOVE about myself, in doing this I hope to also change or improve the things that are stopping me from being who I want to be, ME. I'd love it if you would join in with me, so come on, lets all go {heart} ourselves!

So, once a week I hope you will all come and share a post about something  that you love about yourself, thats 52 things a year that we can {heart} ourselves and each other.

I hope you'll come join me tomorrow so that we can all go {heart} ourselves.

Revelation:Revolution of ME

image from {here}

So, some more changes. This one is here to stay, minus a few little things here and there. I've been having a tidy up of everything in my life over the past few weeks. From physical things like the house to mental things like my life direction.

When I was younger, I was one of those stick kids, my pants were nearly always to short as my mother could never find pants that fit me in the waist area that were long enough for my chicken legs. I never really had a drama with it, except when it came to see-saw's. I LOVED to see-saw. We had an old one of my mother's and I could spend hours walking up and down it, pretending that I was an Olympic gymnast, or a pirate walking the wobbly plank. But you see, the problem I had with the see-saw is that I could never see-saw with another person, I was just way to light and would end up launching into space or worst, stuck, suspended in mid air if my cousins or friends decided to be "funny".

Now that I am an adult, my body has come a long way. I no longer have problems finding pants to fit my legs and waist, and I can see-saw my heart away with other people, yet at the same time I still get that sensation of being suspended in mid air, with no place to go except when you come crashing down to a hard ground.

So, I have been thinking that it is time to make some changes. Am I happy, yes, sometimes, but who says that I can't or shouldn't be happy ALL the time.

Today, I am starting to make things about ME, so that I can be the best person for me, for my children. I hope that you will join me on my new journey.

Almost four months...

Been a while again, I know. Its hard work this two children parenting gig. (But defiantly worth it.)!

Can you believe that I almost have a 4 month old? Wow, how fast time flies.

Ava is such a breath of girly-ness I don't think I realised how much I wanted a little girl until she came along.

She is smiling and giggling the days away, especially at Charlie, all he has to do is walk and she is in fits of giggles. She is sleeping from around 7.30 until 4.30 in the morning which is such a slice of heaven compared to the boy with who I still struggle on the sleep side of things.

Charlie is great as well, he has been doing private swimming lessons now for a few weeks and is my little fish. We have his interview for school next year tomorrow (scary!!), I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

I hope you are all well xx