{"id":1264,"date":"2014-11-25T16:45:52","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T21:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailysew.com\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2016-12-07T16:10:34","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T21:10:34","slug":"gifts-for-people-who-sew-the-little-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/gifts-for-people-who-sew-the-little-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Gifts for People Who Sew; The Little Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"little<\/p>\n

Sometimes you need a little gift to give. Maybe it’s for a secret pal, or one more thing to add to a box being sent to a far-away friend, or a little something for a co-worker, or your cousin is bringing his new girlfriend to the family Christmas party (On second thought, give her wine. She is about to meet the family after all).<\/p>\n

I love the little gifts. I loved emptying my Christmas stocking when I was a kid. My mom is top notch at picking out little gifts. Little gifts for someone who sews are abundant. In any\u00a0 notions area of a fabric store you could probably pick up a dozen such little gifts but I’m going to stir you to the good stuff. Stuff any sewer would enjoy, use, and think you’re pretty cool for giving them.<\/p>\n

\"threads\"<\/p>\n

Thread – Give a spool or two in a favorite color of theirs (if you know it) or yours (if you have good taste). A favorite color tends to be a color they are always drawn to and probably have a lot of fabric in their stash with that color. Thread also comes in variegated hues too. My mother in law gave me two spools of variegated rainbow thread last year. When I got it I didn’t know when I would ever use it but they are both used up and have since been replaced.<\/p>\n

\"fat<\/p>\n

Fat Quarters – These are pre-cut cuts of fabric (1\/4 yard) for quilters. They come in coordinating prints and a slew of colors. They look like candy to me. Even though I’m not a quilter (I only dabble there) I think these make great little gifts. A sewer could use them for many little projects, or a contrasting placket on a tunic, or pocket linings, or bias tape. Select a color and print that you know they like or buy one in blue. Most everyone likes blue.<\/p>\n

\"cent<\/p>\n

Centimeters – When I was a kid I was promised that we would be using the metric system soon. Almost 40 years later we are still measuring in feet and inches but I use patterns and books and blogs from metric countries. A see-through, marking ruler in centimeters<\/a> is handy for sure. I had a hard time finding a metric ruler and ordered mine online. I’m ready for the future.<\/p>\n

\"needles\"<\/p>\n

Needles – I forget that hand needles get dull until I loose my needle and have to get a new one out. You can feel the difference, just like kitchen knives, between a dull and a sharp needle. Hand needles are sold in packs. The most useful pack to purchase would be a pack of Sharps (that’s a name, not a description – and yet it is a description) in assorted sizes. If your sewer is more of a crafter or beader, they sell packs of needles for those specific task as well as leather needles, doll making needles, quilting needles and embroidery needles.<\/p>\n

\"buttons\"<\/p>\n

Buttons – Normally we buy buttons for a specific project but we all have button boxes of\u00a0 extra buttons, buttons for projects we never got around to, and buttons that were just too cool to pass up. It’s those cool, almost jewelry like, buttons that are gift worthy. The variety of buttons is astounding. They are not always plastic with a raised edge and two holes drilled into the center. You can pick from metal, wood, ceramic, horn, shell, resin, glass, novelty, classy, kooky, and even vintage from antique stores. Just keep the recipient in mind and if you buy small buttons buy about 8 (for a dress or shirt front) and if you buy buttons closer to an inch in diameter buy about 3 (for a jacket or coat).<\/p>\n

\"Clover<\/p>\n

Marks – Give them a way to make marks on fabric with ease. I recently bought a Clover brand chaco liner marking pen<\/a> (above) and don’t know how I lived without it. Yellow is probably the most useful color. It will show on dark, medium and some light fabrics.<\/p>\n

\"cream\"<\/p>\n

Moisture – Handling fabric takes the moisture out of your skin especially in the colder months. I keep hand cream in my sewing area and use it constantly. Be picky though you want a cream that works but doesn’t leave oil on the fabric you’re working with. I have sensitive (underline that) skin and many creams make my hands burn but I have a couple favorites – Arbonne FC5 Ultra Hydrating Hand Cream<\/a> and Pacifica Hand Cream<\/a>. Weleda is wonderful also but too oily for the sewing room.<\/p>\n

Okay. Those were the practical little gifts but never forget chocolate and a DVD of any wonderfully costumed drama is also a good choice (I’m hoping for\u00a0The Young Victoria<\/a> but Bright Star<\/a> is also beautiful).<\/p>\n

For larger gift ideas see this gift guide for sewers<\/a>\u00a0and Gifts for People Who Sew; 2015<\/a> and 10 Gift Ideas for Sewers<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you need a little gift to give. Maybe it’s for a secret pal, or one more thing to add to a box being sent to a far-away friend, or a little something for a co-worker, or your cousin is bringing his new girlfriend to the family Christmas party (On second thought, give her wine. […] Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[277,276],"tags":[35,150,34],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gifts-for-people-who-sew","category-sewing-tools","tag-gifts","tag-gifts-for-sewers","tag-sewing-supplies"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/little-gifts.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EZxn-ko","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2890,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions\/2890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailysew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}