Using Fat Quarters to Make Gifts

Sewing and Crafts Using Fat Quarters 

What do you do when you are offered five pieces of a new fabric line to test drive? If it’s fall, you may  be like me and decide to make Christmas gifts! The last few weeks I have been reacquainting myself with my sewing machine. I have enjoyed the quality of the fabric from Andover Fabrics Little House on the Prairie Collection. Using the fat quarters to make gifts has been inspiring and I have so many more ideas for the near future! Using the fat quarters from five patterns in the Little House on the Prairie collection, I was able to make quite a few gifts and some little extras. Not all the projects required sewing! The quality of these fabrics is second to none. I did actually make one small quilted project using fat quarters and I know these fabrics would be amazing to work with on a larger project. 

 

 

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What did I make using fat quarters? Well let me show you the various projects I have been working on.  

Christmas Stockings Using Fat Quarters

First, I started by using a few of the fabric patterns to make toppers for the canvas Christmas stockings I like to make. I added the top cuff and a gift card holder pocket to the outside. Embellishments such as lace and other edge treatments are fun to add when personalizing the Christmas Stockings. For the Complete Instructions on making a Christmas Stocking go to this post. 

A Large Quilted Hot Pad Made Using Fat Quarters

Since the fabrics are quilting quality, I thought it would be interesting to see how they handle when cutting small patchwork pieces. I did a large casserole hot pad in a 2 inch charm quilt pattern. Using fat quarters in five different patterns, I was able to vary the squares and come up with a very pleasing pattern.

 

Mixing Patterns for Toys From Fat Quarters 

I saw this pattern for a cute stuffed elephant a couple years ago and pinned the pattern to my Pinterest board. I really don’t know why I thought of the pattern when deciding on a toy to make with the fabrics. I loved how the different variations came together to make this cute herd of soft elephants! Stuffed with a washable poly filling, they are washable and a baby safe toy. For the tail I braided three strands of bakers twine and sewed it securely into the back seam. In order to make them baby safe, I did not attach any eyes to the elephants but for decorative purposes or for an older child, the elephants could sport button eyes or sewn on eyes with embroidery thread. 

No Sew Gift Tags Using Fat Quarters Scraps 

Last, I wanted to try to use as many pieces of the scraps as I could and I made up some rustic gift tags. These were very simple and this would be a great idea for a kid’s craft. I used a tag shape cut from lightweight cardboard. A cereal box would be a good weight of cardboard for this project, but really any cardboard will work. Punch the hole in the top for the string first before adding the glue and fabric. Trim the fabric to the edge of the cardboard. If you like the effect, leave the bottom fabric a little too long and fold up over the bottom of the tag.

 

Not Much Fabric Left!

The last thing I want to make using the very limited amount of scraps left is this very awesome fabric twine. It uses pieces over a couple of inches long. These can be thin strips and even using the selvage edge is fine. I didn’t get too far yet on my twine but you can see here where I found the idea. Can’t you just imagine the way a package would look tied up with this very cool and frugal “ribbon”!

 

I hope you are inspired to make your own handmade gifts this season.

If you are wondering where to purchase the Little House on the Prairie Collection from Andover Fabrics, they have this convenient shopping locator here.

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