Handmade Gifts for Men

I have never attended a Black Friday sale. Maybe I really am missing out on the greatest deals of the year. Maybe I'm also missing out of a headache.

I've always loved making gifts for people. I enjoy the creative process, saving a little money, and putting thought into a custom gift. However, it is so much easier to make gifts for women and children. I find myself typing "DIY gifts for men," "handmade gifts for men," or "homemade gifts for men" into Google every holiday season. Whether it's intended for my dad, brothers, husband, or male friends, men are just plain difficult to make gifts for.

I think I have successfully pulled off several gifts for my husband over the years, though.  I thought I might play "show-and-tell" with the crafty people out there looking for some gift ideas for the men in their lives.

T-shirt quilt. Jon had a lot of t-shirts left over from an electrical company he used to work for. He was going to throw them away, but I rescued them. One side is just t-shirts, and the other side is a soft fleece fabric. It's the perfect blanket for bringing on trips or picnics since it folds up so flat. Jon especially likes that I made it so long, since he's tall.

Sweater scarf. I made this scarf by buying wool sweaters at a thrift store, felting them, cutting them into little squares, and piecing them into a scarf. It's incredibly warm. You could make mittens or a hat to go along with it.

Embroidered handkerchiefs. Back in the days when we'd go swing dancing twice a week (wow, those were pre-baby days!), Jon was always searching for napkins to wipe his glistening forehead in between dances. I replaced the napkins with a set of four handkerchiefs that I embroidered with his initials.

Honeymoon memory frame. I was saving all these little mementos from our honeymoon: train tickets to New York City, postcards, restaurant advertisements, Broadway ticket stubs, etc. I finally decided to take them out of the box where we never looked at them to display in a simple frame. You could make a nice collage of any life event or vacation mementos.

Man apron. Jon is quite the cook. When we were dating, I asked him what his dream apron would have (I know, subtle, right?). Little did he know, he'd be receiving it for Christmas that year. Not only does it have pockets, it also has a Velcro tie, and little "tool belt" loops for utensils (all on his "dream apron" list!).

I still haven't decided what I'm going to make Jon this year. And guess who else is still on my list: my two brothers and my sister's new fiance. How typical of me, saving the men for last. Maybe there's a few more people like me out there who are spending Black Friday at home. I want to spend some of the day on Christmas gifts. I've got a few ideas to get me started. What gifts have you made for men that were a hit? There's enough time for us to finish a project if we get started soon!

Jadon's Baptism Blanket: Embroidery Tutorial

Jadon is going to be baptized in November, so I decided to make a baby blanket to commemorate the special event. I don't want this blanket to be big and bulky, so I'm not going to put any quilt batting in it. One side will be white cotton with some embroidery on it, and the other side will be light blue fleece. The edging is going to be a satin white ribbon.


Here's all the materials sitting on my desk. Say hi to Jon, working on his computer in the background!

I love the white cotton I found because it has a tiny circular pattern on it. I don't want just plain white, but at the same time, I also need to avoid a fabric that would distract from the embroidery.

I sketched a lot of ideas before I figured out what I wanted to embroider on the blanket. I finally decided upon Jadon's name and the date of the baptism.

I know that I want the embroidery in one of the corners of the blanket. I only own one size hoop at the moment, so my design has to be contained within the wooden circle pictured above.

Luckily, the fabric is slightly see-through, so I can simply trace my design onto the white cotton with a pencil.

If you want to embroider a thin line, you thread the needle so that only one strand of embroidery thread is woven into your fabric. However, I want a nice thick line of thread so that my words are easy to read. Two strands will be woven into every stitch.

I've never been taught how to embroider properly, so I just make up stitches that give me the effect I think that I want. I have no idea what the stitches are called, or even if they have names at all. As far as I can tell, the stitch I want to use for Jadon's blanket is most like a "chain stitch" (thank you, Google image search!).

To create this stitch, you start with the classic "up-down" steps of hand sewing. But before you pull the thread tight all the way, you guide the needle up between the two strands of thread. 

Then you pull everything tight.

You continue to sew up and down, always coming up inside the two strands of the previous stitch. It quickly creates a nice chain of stitches.

Here's the first word, done! I need a little more time to finish the rest of the embroidery design before I can put the front and back fabrics together and add the satin edging.

Stay tuned for blanket completion in the days to come.