Home-made gifts are often the most memorable and cherished gifts one receives. The time and thought that goes into these types of gifts make them special. The following article was published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1885 to help gift givers with ideas on what to give those special people in their lives.
Some Home-Made Holiday Gifts
At this season there arises in many minds the sometimes troublesome, and yet pleasant, questions, “What shall I make for Christmas?”
To the masculine members of society this is not a disturbing thought, since they have, in any case, no resource but to buy, and seem usually to enjoy a Christmas Eve onslaught upon the shops rather than a more deliberate selection.
But the larger proportion of womankind everywhere, from grandmamma down to the little eight-year-old, prefer to make at least a few of their Christmas gifts, and to these the following suggestions may not be unacceptable. The range of articles described is wide enough to enable every one to select the style of work best suited to her capacity and taste; and if the directions are followed exactly, there should be no difficulty in obtaining a satisfactory result.
The Pitcher Pincushion
this costs but a trifle, as it can be made of small odds and ends of silk or satin (satin is the prettier), or of either one of these combined with velvet. It is made usually in two colors, but if the pieces to be used are not large enough to admit of having the entire pin-cushion in this style, make a harlequin pitcher, with every piece different; if taste is used in combining the colors, this is often prettier than the others. The one described is of pink and blue.
Click on picture to see more detail.
Out of thick writing-paper, or card-board so thin that it will bend without cracking, cut six pieces the exact shape of Figure 1. Cover three of these with pink satin and three with blue, simply basting them smoothly as for patchwork.
Cut four pieces like Fig. 2 (above), and two pieces like Fig. 3 (below), covering them in the same way, an even number of each color.
Now overhand the large pieces neatly together, with the right sides laid next to each other, using the color of sewing silk that will show least. Put first a pink, then a blue, and so on, and when each two are joined, push them right side out into shape
Leave the last side open, that you may work more easily upon the rest of the pitcher.
Sew the two forms of Fig 3 together at the sides marked A, and overhand them on to whichever end of Fig. 1 you may select for the top. Put them on so that the pink comes above the blue and the blue above the pink; they form the spout of the pitcher Sew the forms of Fig. 2 on in the same way, alternately, and join all the se upper pieces at the sides also. When this is done the pitcher begins to take shape.
Cut one piece of card-board like fig. 4, cover with pink satin, and overhand it on to the lower edges of Fig. 1 to form a bottom. This and the open side, which can now be closed, have to be overhanded on the right side as neatly as possible.
When card-board is used for the foundation, do not run your needle through it in covering the pieces, as the holes will lump up afterward and look badly; Catch the satin together with threads at the back.
Now fill the pitcher with bran, packing it down as tightly as possible, and when full, cover the top with a piece of blue satin cut roughly to fit the shape. Leave open a little corner of this top covering, and at the last stuff in as much bran as possible with the end of your finger, so that it will round prettily over the top.
Sew pink chenille around the top for a little finish, and have the joining come at the seam opposite the spout, so that the handle will cover it.
The handle is made of ribbon wire doubled together (the single is not strong enough) to form a strip about ten inches long, Cover this first with old silk or muslin, and then twist around it pink and blue chenille so as to give a striped appearance. Then bend the wire into the shape of a handle, and fasten one end at the top edge exactly opposite the spout, and the other just above the curve of the lower part of the pitcher
Tie pink and blue bows of narrow satin ribbon at top and bottom of the handle. Fill the top quite closely with pins driven in to the heads, and stick a tow of them around the middle of the pitcher where the sides and top pieces join.
The success of this novel little cushion depends upon the accuracy with which the shapes are cut, the neatness of the joining, and the thoroughness with which the pitcher is stuffed.
Here is the templates all of one page for ease of use. Enjoy!
Click on picture to see more detail.
A Round Silk Bag
Take half a yard of orange-colored surah or China silk, and cut from it as large a circular piece as possible. Hem this neatly all around, and edge it with “Oriental” or some other delicate white lace about a finder wide. Then, two inches above the hem on the right side, sew around the circle a thin ribbon or silk braid, to serve as a casing for the drawing-strings. These may be either of white silk braid or ribbon, and an opening should be made in the casing at opposite sides of the circle, so that the strings may be double. When the strings are drawn up, the outer rim of surah, with its edging of lace, will fall outside the bag, making a pretty finish. This is an extremely dainty bag, and very easily and quickly made.
For the young lady or gentleman who plays lawn tennis, no more acceptable or appropriate gift can be found than the
Racquet Case
this requires three-eights of a yard of double-wide felt, and any desired color may be used. To avoid mistake, first cut out in paper a pattern the exact shape and size of your racquet, but half an inch larger all around, and a trifle longer in the handle to allow for shrinkage in working.
Then cut two similar shapes from the felt – one for the back, which is plain, and the other, upon which the design is to be worked, for the front. Any design may be stamped or transferred upon this. Many such are published in various papers, which may be transferred with impression-paper, and only part of them used if desired. A pretty one represents a net spreading across the racquet and down the handle, and upon this are grouped four racquets and balls. An ingenious person might draw such a design for herself.
The net is outlined in light gray linen carpet thread. The racquets are in shades of gold and dark brown embroidery silk, worked solidly in Kensington stitch; and the gut strings are of dull yellow button-hole twist, waxed. The best way is to copy colors of the racquet. The alls are worked also in solid Kensington stitch with white embroidery silk.
When this or any other design you may select is completed, press it smooth and flat on the wrong side upon a blanket. Use a moderately hot iron, and if necessary a damp cloth, with a dry one between it and the felt. Cut a strip of felt long enough to go all around the racquet case, about an inch and a half wide where it goes around the main part, and widening to about two inches for the handle; this allows quarter-inch seams only. Stitch this trip around the front of the case on the wrong side, and then stitch the back to the other edge of the strip in the same way. Put a square piece in at the end of the handle, and leave the large end of the case open where the front joins the strip. This is where the racquet is to be put in.
For the lining make of some contrasting shade of Silesia a case the exact shape and size of the felt one, and put it inside the other so that the seams go in toward the felt This can e done by turning the felt case wrong side out and fitting the other over it. Sew it in several places to hold it fast, and then turn the case right side out again. The top opening is tied with two sets of ribbons, and a ribbon is carried from half-way up the handle to one side of the opening to hang the case up by.
Fan Wall Pocket
Cheap, effective and quickly made, and useful as a receptacle for slippers, papers, or anything else, down to a duster.
Cover one side of a common palm-leaf fan with bright cretonne, just turning the edges over to the other side, and basting at first.
Take a straight piece of the same about twenty-five inches long, and deep enough to reach three-quarters up the fan from the bottom. Turn a hem, and gather it into a ruffle with two rows of stitching an inch from the top, like a picket. Let the raw edges turn over on to the wrong side and cover that with a piece of the same cretonne cut the shape of the fan.
Turn the edges in all around, and hem it down upon the raw edges of the front pieces close to the rim of the fan.
Cover the handle also, and fasten a small brass curtain ring at the top to hang it by. Sew a bow of satin ribbon in two or three colors at the point where the handle joins the fan.
Tobacco Pouch
This is a beautiful little pouch, and much more suitable for a gentleman’s use than many of the fragile articles made for that purpose. It requires fourteen inches of handsome soft-finish gros grain ribbon, and twelve inches of dark brown trimming fur, which can be bought by the yard at comparatively little expense.
Dark brown ribbon makes the most appropriate combination for a pouch, The fur and ribbon should each be an eighth of a yard wide.
Join the ends of the fur together by the foundation and sew two sides of it together to form the bottom of the bag. In this way the long fur covers the seams entirely. Join the ends of the ribbon, and catch one edge of it all around the open edge of the fur foundation, gathering the extra two inches of ribbon in t make it the same size as the fur; this forms the outside of the pouch. For the inside bag or lining which holds the tobacco make a little bag of chamois leather, the same size at the top as the ribbon, and rounding a little smaller toward the bottom. Place this inside the ribbon and fur so that the seams do not show, and turn about a quarter of an inch of the ribbon over the top edge for a finish, hemming it neatly down upon the chamois.
Make a casing for the drawing-strings by running a line of hand stitching all around a little way fro the top of the bag. Make two eyelets close together in the inside edge of the ribbon by the seam, and two others in the opposite inside edge.
For drawing-strings use fine brown silk lacing cords, and run them in so as to form a double drawing string. This is done by running one cord through the first in the usual way, and sewing the ends together, and then running a second cord through from the opposite set of eyelets; this gives a loop at each side of the bag, which will draw it up much better than a single cord. Upon the end of each loop fasten a small brown chenille ball, such as can be bought for three or four cents apiece.
The idea can be utilized in making work and other fancy bags, using sash ribbon or surah silk to increase the size. A beautiful combination is pale old-gold satin with cords or ribbons to match, and the fur and balls of dark brown. Pale blue satin is exquisite with trimming of gray fur.
Ticking Work-Bag
Select ticking with the stripes of blue and white about one-third of an inch wide. Cut a piece eighteen inches long, with the bottom part cut in three points, like the pattern. The width from points A to A should be seven and a half inches, and from points B to B four and a half inches. By these measurements the proportions may be easily ascertained.
Click on picture to see more detail.
The stripes must run up and down, and a quarter-inch of ticking should be left beyond each outer point, as indicated in pattern, so that the ends may be afterward joined together without spoiling the shape of the points. Now with embroidery silk work some fancy stitch upon each of the white stripes, making each one a different color or combination of colors, and varying the stitches as much as possible: cat-stitch one, feather stitch another, and so on.
Several such stitches are shown in the accompanying illustrations (below). Of course, it is not possible to find a new stitch for every stripe, but repeated in other colors they may be made to look different, Shaded silks may also be used to advantage.
When the white stripes are all worked, blind-stitch upon the blue stripes narrow black ribbon velvet which will just cover them nicely, and make them uniform with those that are worked. Join the ends of the ticking together so that a velvet strip can cover the seam. Cut a piece of white lining silk the exact shape of the outside, and baste it upon the wrong side of the ticking with the joining seam turned in out of sight.
Bind the points all around with narrow cardinal satin ribbon and then overhand the together so that the bottom of the bag is closed in a point. Take a piece of cardinal satin long enough to go around the top of the bag and six and a half inches wide, and sew it on to the top of the ticking; turn half the width over into the inside of the bag, and hem it down upon the lining. Make a casing for drawing ribbons with two rows of hand-running around the middle of the satin, and let the openings for them be on the right side of the bag. Use inch-wide ribbon for the strings, and finish the bottom with a full bow of the same.
This bag is not so quickly made as some others, but is so durable and effective that it well repays one for the time spent in making it.
Smoking Cap
For this you will need soft-finish gros grain or ottoman ribbon five or five and a half inches in width in three colors lemon, black, and scarlet. The length of the ribbon depends upon the size of the head to be fitted, but for a medium size twenty-three inches is about right. Overhand the three ribbons together along the sides, being careful not to draw them in the least. Have the black in the centre, the lemon for the top, and the scarlet for the bottom. Then join the ends together, making the seam as neat and invisible as possible on the wrong side. Sew a line of Kismet cord around the cap upon the seams were the ribbons join each other.
Gather the lemon ribbon close together with a drawing-thread so that the top of the cap will be small, and fasten at the point a black silk tassel about five inches long.
When the cap is on the head, the long pointed top hangs over gracefully upon one side.
Other colors may be used if desired. Olive, pink, and light blue are a pretty combination.
These caps are very gay and becoming, and so easily made that even a little girl who is clever with her needle can manufacture one for papa’s Christmas present.
Emery Cushion
Another gift easily made by little fingers is a tiny emery cushion in the form of a miniature flour bag. Make a little chamois-leather bag, square at the bottom. When sewed up it should be an inch and three-quarters long and an inch and a quarter wide. Fill this with emery to within half an inch of the top, and tie a thread tightly around the neck of the bag, and over this the narrowest gold ribbon, finished with a tiny bow in the front,. Upon the face of the bag print in ink 40, 60, or any number of pounds you wish.
Pongee Mouchoir Case
this requires a quarter of a yard of pongee, and the same quantity of surah silk for lining. Pink, blue, cardinal, brown, or, in fact, any colored silk may be used, as almost all shades are pretty with the pongee. Upon one end of the pongee work some design in outline, with embroidery or etching silk to match the color selected for the lining. An all-over pattern is pretty for this, but the work must not extend down the length of the strip more than four and a half inches, though it may cover the end from side to side.
When the design is outlined, sew the strips of pongee and silk together on the wrong side. Then turn right side out, and put in an interlining of white sheet wadding well sprinkled with sachet powder, joining the open end afterward as imperceptibly as possible. Turn the ends over upon the lining to the dept of four and a half inches, and catch them down along the edges, leaving the middle parts open for the handkerchiefs. One side will be decorated with the design, and upon the other fasten a pretty bow of ottoman ribbon an inch and a half wide.
Cabinet Photograph Case
This is made in the same manner as the mouchoir case, ad is of fine gray linen, lined with silk. The length should be twenty-four inches, and the width ten inches; this allows for seams. Leave a space of six inches plain at the end of the linen, and work the design directly below this, not covering more than six inches of the length, but extending all across the width of the strip if desired.
The case folds together like a book when finished, so that placing the design on this spot brings it upon the outside; if a design on both covers is desired, arrange it in a similar manner at the other end. Work the design in etching silk to match the silk lining. Stitch the linen and silk together on the wrong side, using an interlining of drilling to keep it stiff and shapely. When it is turned right side out, and the end neatly closed, turn the ends over upon the silk lining six inches, and catch the outer edges together.
This leaves places on both sides for photographs, and when folded together the design ornaments the outer cover very prettily. This case is nice to protect photographs from dust, etc., and is less hackneyed than an album.
Fancy Baskets
Any of the small fancy baskets that may now be bought so reasonably make attractive gifts. They may be used in a dozen different ways, and are very decorative when gilded or bronzed and trimmed with dainty ribbon bows.
For about fifteen cents you can buy a shallow basket, perhaps three inches deep and as large around as a good-sized saucer. Gild this inside and out, and when the gilt is perfectly dry, sew all around the inside of the basket, close to the edge of the bottom, a straight piece of satin three-eighths of a yard wide. At the top of this make a hem through which to run double drawing-strings of narrow satin ribbon. The effect is excellent.
A gentleman’s straw hat is very pretty gilded or bronzed and arranged in the same way, with a satin bag sewed around the upper edge.
The most convenient work-baskets imaginable are those abut eight inches long and five inches high. They have a cover which fastens down, and a handle on top by which they can be carried about, and they cost only thirty-five cents. Tie a pretty bow on the handle, and gild the outside or not, as preferred.
Hanging Pamphlet Case
This is intended to hold small pamphlets, papers, and the like, and is very useful and convenient. When finished it has the appearance of a pretty banner-screen.
On a piece of cream white satin ten and a half inches wide and sixteen inches long, work some design in outline stitch with black or colored silk, or, if preferred, paint, or sketch something in ink.
Take a piece of drilling thirty-two inches long and ten and a half inches wide, and one of cream white Silesia the same size; the Silesia is the lining, and the drilling the interlining to give it substance. On the other side of the drilling lay the satin, and upon the lower half, which this does not cover, put Silesia.
Manage the sewing together so that the stitching of the sides will not show; the ends do not matter so much. Where the satin half joins the Silesia, turn the satin under a little and hem it down. At the top and bottom of the satin blind-stitch on a band of velvet three and a half inches wide. It should be of some contrasting color, and laid right upon the satin, not above or below it. Turn up all the strip below the velvet band and fasten it firmly to the front part behind the top of the upper velvet, first finishing off the ends neatly.
This makes a sort of case like a carriage arm-rest, but broad and flat. Fig. 1 represents the strip before it is turned up, and Fig. 2 the pamphlet case finished. Through the top pass one of the 14½-inch wooden rods with fancy gilded ends which can be bought anywhere for a few cents, or use instead a small brass rod. Catch this firmly into place with stitches here and there, and fasten white silk cord or ribbon from end to end, so that the case can be hung. The sides marked A and A are open.
Party Bags
These may be used also for knitting or work bags, but are especially designed for party use, and make a dainty receptacle for carrying slippers, fan, and gloves.
Stitch together five strips of cashmere, each one-eighth of a yard wide and one yard long, taking the strips across the width of the goods to save material. Each piece must be a different color, and the beauty of the bag depends greatly upon the taste used in selecting harmonious tints. Olive, pink, blue, pale saffron yellow, and garnet are a beautiful combination. Sew the last strips together also, and between any two of the colors leave an opening in the centre one-third of a yard wide. Line with Silesia the shade of one of the cashmere strips, and have the raw edges of the outside and lining come together
Sew up one end of the bag square. It is sometimes puzzling to a novice to know how to line this bag properly, but with some management and a little patience it can be made to come out all right. The only parts where the cashmere and lining are sewed together are along the entire length of the strips which form the opening, and at the second end, which is gathered closely together and ornamented with a full ribbon bow of many loops, or with a bunch of small chenille balls of the same colors as the cashmere.
Decorate the square end of the bag with Kismet cord sewed up each seam for about a quarter of a yard, and around the bag at this point put a line of it, also along the lower edge. Buy two celluloid rings, or the gilt curtain rings that are used on rods, and slip one over each end of the bag to the middle. Fasten upon each ring a bow of gros grain ribbon with a long loop to hang over the arm – pink on one and olive on the other. This requires a yard and one-eighth of each color – half a yard for the loop, and the rest for the bow.
These bags can be made of three strips instead of five, in which case they go around the bag instead of lengthwise, and are each five-eighths of a yard long and one-third of a yard wide.
