This year, again, we’re going 100% homemade for Christmas presents. Here’s the first batch of gifts, all finished and ready to go. I even have the fabric gift bags done, though those are not pictured here. (But you can see them here. I’m swiping the SpongeBob and Scooby ones for these presents.)

First, raw-edge applique Tshirts for all of the kids in the family, except one teenage boy, who we deemed to be too cool for such a gift.

This is for Paige, my sister’s teenage daughter. I think it’s really cute! An interesting side note, I get Paige’s hand-me-downs. The child is very very tall and so beautiful. This is actually not raw-edge applique like the others. I mounted the circles to a separate piece of fabric, put them BEHIND the tshirt, sewed around the circles, then cut out the red Tshirt to expose the circles. I found myself mulling over whether this would work one day while driving, and am pleased to report that it turned out really good!

Yoda for my youngest nephew. I used white flannel on a black Tshirt and I think it looks nice. I hope it stays that way!! The pig is for neice #2, who likes pigs. She’s starting to outgrow the pig obsession a bit, but I couldn’t resist this cute clipart pig for her.

Flowers are for neice #1, I thought they were cute and without being too cutesy. The ballerina is for her sister, neice #3.

This flower is for Paige, I thought she needed two Tshirts. The elphant is for Wally. It’s a size 4/5, so it should fit him for a looooong time!

Next: Pillowcases. Pillowcases are fun, right? And they’re easy. I made all of these with French seams, so there are no raw or serged edges sticking out. They’re oversize, to make it easier for children to get their pillows in.

Hannah Montana for neice #1, who L-O-V-E-S this show. Lizzie McGuire for her sister, neice #3. There are iron-ons I made from images I swiped from the Disney website. I hope they last!

Star Wars for both nephews. Though they are about 5 years apart in age, they both love Star Wars.

Tink for Paige, and Bratz for neice #2. This was a toughie for me, as I hate Bratz because they’re whores. But she really loves Bratz, and her mom suggested Bratz, and didn’t really have any other suggestions. I struggled with this, but ultimately decided that if I want others to respect what we suggest for Wally’s gifts, I need to respect what they suggest.

So there you have it. It feels good to have these done. It took, all told, about a day and a half of work, a nice diversion from diaper sewing.

As a side note, I bought all of the Tshirts secondhand. Most of them came from the Salvation Army (and are all brand names like Gap and Abercrombie), the ones for Paige came from Once Upon A Child. They were the most expensive, at $2.50 each. The others were all $1 each. The fabric for the appliques themselves was all stuff I had onhand, scraps I’d been saving over the years. So, average Tshirt cost: $1.43

The pillowcases are all new material. I purchased the fabrics over the course of a few weeks using 50% coupons. The Bratz fabric was on clearance (go figure) for $1 a yard, and the Tink and Star Wars fabrics were the most expensive at $5.99 a yard (minus 50% makes it $3 a yard). The solids were all $.50-$1 per yard after coupon and discounts. Each pillowcase takes about a yard of fabric. Even after factoring in $2 for the 2 sheets of iron-on transfer paper, the average pillowcase cost is $1.91.

So, there you go. Presents for all but one of my neices and nephews for an average of $3.34 per child. (The oldest nephew will be getting a pillowcase, and then I’m going to make him candy like I’m making for all the adult men.)