image via Land of Nod

Over that past couple of years, so many of my friends have added bundles of joy to their beautiful families- Sarah’s adorable baby boy made his arrival this past January, my good friend Briana, over at Bifftastica, just welcomed their perfect baby girl at the beginning of the month, and Alayna is due with her bouncing boy any day now!…. to name just a few.

I love all the new little ones I get to snuggle, but with Christmas just two months away, it had me wondering what I was going to do about gifts for all these kiddos I adore!  Also on my mind lately has been my desire to learn to sew and how I never seem to have time to even learn how to do it.  Because there WILL be a learning curve.  I am a beginner.  I mean, a BE-GIN-NER.  The sewing machine that I received for Christmas a couple of years ago has sat almost untouched save for the most basic projects I crafted for another friend’s baby shower.  (And THAT baby-turned-little lady will turn 2 before I know it! So you see how time escapes me.)

Then an idea hit me!  Why not sew gifts for the baby-friends in my life?!  Not only will it give me a great reason to practice my (non-existent as of yet) sewing skills AND give me a deadline so as not to procrastinate my learning, but it will be easy on the ‘ol pocketbook.  And to ease my stress to strive for perfection – babies don’t care if you sew all wonky!

To get started, I headed to the Tulsa City-County Library to find a few books to get inspired.  I left with these two books-  One-Yard Wonders and Weekend Sewing.  I found a majority of my projects in the One-Yard Wonders.  I figured one yard projects could not be that overwhelming.

After studying each idea and difficulty level, I found a plethora of projects I wanted to try my hand at.  But alas, I narrowed it down to a few that I thought I could tackle in time for the holidays.

My living room has looked a lot like this over the past week:

And with my first steps into the adventure of sewing, I encountered my first few problems.   The borrowing of sewing library books, while economical and helpful, I quickly learned might be difficult when they include patterns… because I can’t cut them!  Well, I could, but I doubt the library or the next borrower would appreciate that very much.  So I’m improvising by overlaying the fabric on the pattern and basically free-handing the outline onto my fabric with a washable pen.  We will see how that turns out.  My second problem is my resident “helper”.  See Exhibit A:

That has been the start of my adventure into the world of sewing.  There is not much to see yet, but I will keep you posted on how the projects progress.   And I thought I’d share with you my first steps as well as many other sources of inspiration I have found, in case you want to get started on gift projects of your own!

This adorable sleeping bag for stuffed animals is high on my list of future gifts.

image via Flossie Teacakes

When I get a little more refined skills, I definitely want to whip out a table cover playhouse, inspired by this beautiful one.

image via Cool Spaces for Kids Etsy Shop

Placemats are functional and educational!

image via Punkin Patterns

Felt cookies would be a great addition to any child’s play kitchen or tea party set.

image via The Happy Housewife

Or the cutest little tooth pillow made with love!

image via The Handmade Home

I absolutely love this Wee Mouse Tin House sewing craft made to fit snugly in a discarded Altoid tin.  It would perfect for moms to throw in their purse and use for child entertainment at a restaurant!

image via mmmCrafts Etsy Shop

What are you sewing?  Do you have any other (simple) projects that would make good kid gifts?  I’d love to hear about them!