The holidays are filled with joy: decorating, baking, singing, and visiting with family and friends– it’s a time for celebration. But we all know that many times the season can also end up very overwhelming, especially when it comes to holiday gift-giving. Sewing can sometimes become more of a chore than a fun hobby as we stress about getting all our project plans done in time. When we move from quilting for fun to quilting with a purpose, it becomes extremely helpful to create a plan in order to meet all of our handmade holiday sewing project goals!
Check out our holiday project planning tips below and feel prepared for your best handmade gift giving yet or head over to our Handmade Holidays homepage to browse all of our holiday fabric lines, projects and more!
- Make a list of all the family and friends you plan to make something for.
- Here are some things to think about outside of your regular gift-giving list: Do you have a gift exchange at your quilt guild or at work? Do you sew for holiday charity events? Were you asked to make gifts for Community Bazaars, craft fairs, or fundraisers?
- Once you know who you’re making for, choose a project for each person. Use our Quilts for Gifting or our Easy Gift guides for inspiration.
- Create a plan for gift giving.
- Take inventory. Look around your sewing room just like you would look into your pantry before creating your grocery list. Do you have all the supplies you’ll need to get started? Double check things that need stocked: thread, needles, rotary blades, etc.
- Once you know what you have, make a list of the supplies still you’ll need to get and start shopping! (To add something extra special, explore our Finishing Touches and Trims & Embellishments!)
- While you’re waiting on your supplies, work out a schedule to help you follow through with all your sewing plans. Choose a day or two of the week to dedicate to working on these projects.
- Pro-tip: Begin with bigger quilt projects first to give yourself plenty of time to get them done! Also, if you’re planning on making gifts for your friends who also sew, start on their projects last. That way if you find yourself running out of time, you can always give them notions, fabric, or Missouri Star gift cards!
- Next, make a YOU list. This will be all the other holiday projects you wish to complete outside of making for others, like all of the holiday decor projects you wish to complete for your home.
- Think about what you need (or want!): Do you need something new to hang from your door this year? Have you added new furniture to your home that may need a runner or stocking to be hung from? Will you need a tree skirt?
- Then, take our holiday style quiz to help you get started on choosing your fabrics and patterns!
- Pro-tip: Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to complete all these projects by this Christmas. There’s always next year to decorate too!
- Create a plan for your own holiday projects.
- Before shopping for some fresh sewing supplies – take a look at your stash. Do you have projects you started last year that you never finished? Do you have holiday patterns or fabrics on hand that you haven’t used yet? See if you can utilize any of your inventory for the holidays to come. Then create a list of the things you still need and start shopping!
- Plan these projects around your gifting projects. For example: After you spend an hour working on a gift, take 30 minutes to “reward” yourself on your own holiday home pieces.
- Tip: Where we start big with gift projects, start small on things for yourself! Giving handmade is a lot of work – so, the things you create for yourself should be a fun break! Avoid projects that could be overwhelming and definitely don’t stress about perfection.
- Lastly, stay inspired!
- Clean and organize your sewing space!
- It sounds like a chore at first, but when it comes time to create next, you’ll feel prepared and motivated!
- Explore our organizational tools for storage ideas!
- Create a playlist.
- Use a music app to create a playlist of your favorite songs to listen to while you sew. See if you can match the ‘mood’ of a project to the ‘mood’ of a favorite song. This will help motivate you as you go! (Pst, Jenny’s playlist is filled with musical soundtracks like Fiddler on the Roof, Wicked, and The Greatest Showman! She also likes John Denver, James Taylor, and Jack Johnson. Let her know what you’re listening to in the comments below!)
- Over the coming months, check into our holiday page for fresh ideas and inspiration.
- Pro-tip: Just Breathe!
- Holiday sewing can mean a lot of time spent slouching over our sewing machines which can make our muscles feel tight and scrunched up. Breathing can make all the difference! Luckily, Jenny and Kelly Sheets put together this mini tutorial on how to breathe better and improve our health in order to expand our creativity!
- Clean and organize your sewing space!
Do you have your own helpful tips on planning for holiday sewing projects? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to tell us what’s on your playlist! 🙂
