Handmade Gifts

I love sewing, knitting, baking and just generally making things, so I wanted to share why I love giving handmade gifts and why I love receiving them.

A handmade gift isn't just made - it's created through a series of small personal steps, a lot of thought goes into the gift and the person receiving it.

It's about spending hours choosing the right pattern/item to make for that special person

It's about selecting the perfect fabric/yarn/color/recipe for that special person

It's about thinking about that person and what they like, what are their favorite colors, what fabrics do they like or you think they will like, what do they like to eat, wear etc

It's about going out shopping or online to buy the perfect materials you need to make that perfect item

And then, when all those steps are in place, it's about making that garment/item - every stitch is knitted/sewn/made/baked with love.

Every step is carefully executed and if it's not quite right, it is unpicked or redone until it is perfect and ready to give.

And why I love receiving handmade gifts is for the reasons above - the time, effort and thought that is put into each item blows me away every time, it's not just plucked off a store shelf and paid for, it's made and given with love and I take great delight in this.

Here's a very small selection of my our handmade gifts that we've received over the years

Hand knitted by Auntie Joan - one of my mums best friends, she knits in her sleep I am sure. Joan knitted this gorgeous cardigan and booties for Ruby which Ruby came home from hospital in - I still have it to this day and plenty more of Joan's hand knitted items we still have - check out that cloth nappy!!!!

And look at this beautiful shawl that we received for Ruby from Grannie when she was born too - it's just beautiful and I'm only showing a quarter of the size there.

Here are some of the gorgeous cardigans Grannie has knitted the girls - look at how beautiful they are

And a very small selection of the hats Grannie has knitted us over the years which are still going strong and used so much.

And it's not always clothes we've received, my gorgeous friend Lesley made this cross stitch for Ruby when she was born, we've got personalized bunting up in the girls bedroom made by Lesley too. 

And we've received so much more which we love, use and are grateful for.

I am thinking this year I may do one handmade present for everyone for Christmas, but I'd better get started soon as I have a lot of thinking to do.....

Do you like making and/or receiving handmade gifts? what are your thoughts on them?