Personalised Christening Gifts

Hello Everybody,

I was lucky enough to be invited to two christenings recently. Both were children of my friends, one a 6 month old boy and the other a 2 year old girl. As I was hunting around for a gift to give them, I decided I wanted to give them something a bit more personal. I thought I would make them each a picture that they could hang in their room.

After a bit of trawling around the internet, I found some inspiration for my little boy gift. I can't find a working link to the original artist at present but I'll link it if I find it. I totally pinched the idea but I'm not  selling it or anything. I decided to go with a nautical theme, all boys like that surely?

Here is the finished product:

It was quite simple to make. My biggest challenge was that I am not very familiar with my sewing machine so I got into a bit of a mess at times. I should probably have also bought the frame before I started the project, but you live and learn. 

I chose a cream coloured fabric for the background (I think it's actually old curtain lining!) and some pretty fabric for the boat and sail. You probably can't tell from the picture, but the sea is made from denim (offcuts from hemming my jeans). I used white felt for the cloud and a little bit of red felt for the flag. I ironed some interfacing onto the back of the background, to stiffen it a bit and make it easier to work with. I then backed my other fabrics with bondaweb and cut out the shapes before ironing them in position. Next, I just machined around the outlines of the shapes to create definition and to make the mast. I also machined the name in the cloud - it looks rather "rustic", but I quite like the effect of machine writing. My machine has no freehand foot, so it was easier said than done. After I finished, I ironed it again to smooth it over, before popping it in a frame I bought. 

Inspired by my first attempt at a hand-sewn gift, I decided to have another go for the next christening. This time, it was for a little girl. After another inspiration hunt, I found these simple designs by this lady - who sells them in her Folksy store.

Here is my finished product:

I chose some white material for the background. I then adhered bondaweb to various scraps of fabric and cut out the letters and the flags for the bunting. I ironed it all on, then machine stitched the top of the bunting before hand sewing around the edges of all the flags and the letters. I added a little birdie to finish it off. Hope she likes it. I learned from my previous error and bought the frame before I started to make the picture this time. It makes measurements a lot easier!

Thistle Girl x