Gift 1: Warm Ears

I have not been very good with presents lately, Christmas or Birthday.  I blame it on University taking all my money, but as that was over 2 years ago now and I got away lightly compared to the students of today, I feel some making up is in order.  Fortunately I have been doing lots of research on the interwebs to find some ideas.  I made some mock ups for myself to show everyone and they love them, the perfect Christmas presents at a low cost but with a lot of handmade love...

When the cold weather started I decided I really wanted to make some ear warmers.  At first I had decided that I would learn to knit and make them out of wool but after browsing around the blogasphere I came across some gorgeous ear warmers made from different fabrics over at delia creates.  This has since become one of my favourite blogs, I love all of her ideas for accessories, the home (I just can't wait to get my own place to decorate) and her recipes look divine, that peanut butter cake yum!!

Anyway back to ear warmers, I did try to hunt for fleeces to cut up (like in the tutorial) in the charity shops around work, but I either couldn't find a material that wouldn't fray or a colour that I liked.  I ended up buying some grey fleece from John Lewis which at £7 a metre was pretty pricey, but I loved the colour and texture and as it was for myself at the time I didn't really mind paying £1.75 for a quarter.  I also wanted to change the design slightly, I made it thinner with only 2 flowers and to add a bit of colour I used deep pink buttons and thread.  After my first attempt which went horrendously wrong I also decided to scrap the button on the back and use a popper instead, I still stitched a button over the top to make it look pretty.

 My friends loved the design and have all requested one for Christmas, of course they all wanted different colours so I had to make a trip to the fabric market in town to buy all the supplies (a lot cheaper than John Lewis!!).

I'll be posting again soon with the results, I hope everyone likes them!!