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    Home » Sewing

    More than 40 Simple Handmade Gift Ideas

    Updated: Sep 9, 2020 by Melissa Mortenson · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads · 3 Comments

    If you’re like me, time can be short but ambitions can be large. I always want to make gifts for my family and friends but many times run out of time.

    I’ve been blogging since 2008 and in that time have accumulated quite the library of projects. I spent the weekend sorting through the hundreds of tutorials on this site to find over 40 projects that I think are great handmade gift ideas. All of them are “afternoon” projects, none will take more than a day, and all use a minimum amount of materials. Most are free, and a few are paid patterns.

    More than 40 ideas for cute handmade gifts. Perfect for Christmas or any other time of the year. Lots of gifts to sew or to craft!

    We are down to just a few short weeks until Christmas. About this time each year I feel like I’ve run out of ideas for gifts. I just spent yesterday brainstorming with friends as to what to buy for my 15 year old son (suggestions welcomed, he has nothing on his list).

    I’ve broken down the list into parts for you… Gifts you can sew, including gift ideas to sew for your friends, kids and the guys in your life. I’ve also included another list of non sewn gifts that you can easily craft in an afternoon.

    Table of Contents
    • Sewing Projects that Make Great Gifts For Friends
    • Things to Sew for Kids as Gifts
    • DIY Gift Ideas for Guys
    • No-Sew Handmade Gift Ideas

    Sewing Projects that Make Great Gifts For Friends

    The June Bag; A mini messenger cross body PDF sewing pattern; great travel bag to sew

    1. June Bag

    The Derby Tote Bag Sewing Pattern; great simple and versatile tote bag pattern that features 3 different front pocket styles. Great project for a beginning sewist.

    2. Derby Tote – makes a great tote for school, work or church.

    Free sewing pattern for a DIY Monogrammed Cork Clutch on polkadotchair.com

    3. Monogrammed Cork Clutch

    Cute "Need more Shiny Things" Zipper pouch sewing tutorial by Flamingo Toes

    4. Embroidered Zip Pouch Tutorial

    Free Sewing Pattern for a fabric and leather earbuds carrying case, would also be a great business card holder, by polkadotchair.com

    5. Ear Buds Case

    Padded Camera Lens Case Sewing Tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    6. Padded Lens Case

    Bow Front Clutch Tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    7. Bow Front Clutch

    Polka Dot & Leather Fold Over Clutch Sewing Tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    8. Fold Over Clutch

    DIY Seersucker and Leather Fold Over Summer Clutch Sewing Pattern & Free Tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    9. Seersucker and Leather Fold Over Clutch

    DIY Leather Trimmed Zippered Pouch Sewing Pattern and Tutorial. A great gift idea for a cute little travel bag for birthday or Christmas

    10. Leather Trimmed Zip Pouch

    laptop-sleeve-sewing-tutorial-2a

    11. Laptop Sleeve

    Monogrammed Leather Zip Pouch Tutorial

    12. Monogrammed Leather Zip Pouch

    Free Sewing pattern for a Mickey Mouse inspired earbuds case / coin purse. This would be so cute to make before my next Disney vacation!

    13. Mickey Mouse Zip Pouch

    Free sewing pattern for DIY oversized winter wool scarf with fringe... looks so warm and cozy

    14. Winter Wool Scarf

    "Never Full" Fabric Basket Sewing Tutorial and free sewing pattern by Melissa of polkadotchair.com

    15. Fabric Bucket

    Sewing Pattern for DIY Padded storage bins, you can make them in 3 different sizes - love the outside pocket!

    16. Padded Storage Bins

    How to Make Bow Tie Bracelets .. a free sewing pattern by Melissa Mortenson of polkadotchair.com

    17. Bow Tie Bracelets

    Super cute Lilly Pulitzer inspired pom pom clutch sewing pattern. Cute fashion DIY project on polkadotchair.com

    18. Pom Pom Clutch

    DIY Embellished Dish Towel tutorial by Melissa of polkadotchair.com

    19. Embellished Dish Towel

    Free Sewing Pattern for an embellished stand up zippered pouch - fun little sewing tutorial

    20. Embellished Zip Pouch

    Free Sewing Pattern for a curved top cosmetic bag. Love the bow detail on the front

    21. Cosmetic Bag

    Things to Sew for Kids as Gifts

    Learn how to take one simple zip pouch sewing pattern and make a few changes to create 3 different variations! So cute!!

    22. Bunny Zip Cases

    Learn a quick and easy way to sew a pillowcase on polkadotchair.com

    23. Custom Pillowcase

    How to sew a personalized reading pillow with a pocket and handle - free sewing pattern and tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    24. Reading Pillow

    Self Binding Baby Doll Blanket Tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    25. Baby Doll Receiving Blanket

    Sewing Pattern for Padded Storage Bins in 3 sizes. Make great and really cute storage for a nursery, kids room or craft room.

    26. Padded Storage Bins (make it out of children’s novelty fabric to create cute storage for legos or hot wheels)

    Kids Crayon Folder Tutorial

    27. Crayon Folder

    Sewing Pattern for Ruby Lou Bag, a cute tote bag pattern for little girls. Love the front pocket!

    28. Ruby Lou Bag

    christmasgiftbags

    29. Personalized Canvas Tote Bags

    fleeceblankets

    30. Easy Peasy Fleece Blanket

    DIY Gift Ideas for Guys

    DIY Necktie Zip Pouch Sewing Tutorial & Pattern -great gift idea! Something to make for men for Christmas or Father's Day.

    31. Necktie Zip Pouch

    Wool iPad Case Sewing pattern, a great pattern for an ipad case for guys!

    32. Wool iPad Case

    Dad's Travel Bag, a free tutorial on polkadotchair.com

    33. Travel Dopp Bag

    No-Sew Handmade Gift Ideas

    Cute idea for friend and neighbor Christmas gifts! A snow globe gingerbread house made with a simple mold. Post includes a link to the free printable tag.

    34. Snow Globe Gingerbread Houses

    Cute Angel Christmas Mason Jar Gift Ideas and printable Christmas tags and angel wings on polkadotchair.com

    35. Christmas Mason Jars

    Cookies in a Jar, Mason Jar gift idea

    36. Cookies in a Jar

    Mason-Jars4

    37. Cooking Mason Jar

    DIY Mason Jar Sewing Kit (with free printable)

    38. Sewing Mason Jar

    DIY Monster Gift Card Holder, a cute way to give a gift card to a kid for Christmas. Make it yourself at home with only paper.

    39. Monster Gift Card Holders

    DIY Gingerbread Men Garland Craft Kit, makes a great neighbor gift for Christmas!

    40. Gingerbread Man Craft Kit

    DIY Gold Polka Dot Hat Boxes on polkadotchair.com

    41. Polka Dot Hat Boxes

    DIY Harry Potter Hogwarts Notebooks; with free printable covers for each house on polkadotchair.com

    42. DIY Hogwarts House Notebooks

    Cute ideas for summer journals for kids. Would be great for road trips!

    43. Kids Journals

    silverchalkboardplatters

    44. Silver Chalkboard Platter

    How to add a Disney Monogram to your Yeti (or other stainless steel) Tumbler. Includes lots of tips and instructions!

    45. Monogrammed Yeti

    DIY Sewing and Quilting Decals for Quilt Rulers or to use as wall decor in a sewing room {includes link to free svg cut files}; cute sewing room decorating ideas

    46. Decorated Quilt Rulers

    More Projects You May Enjoy

    • Mini Fabric Envelope Sewing Pattern
    • Meet My Valentine’s Day Fabric Collection
    • 40 Valentine’s Day Projects to Sew
    • 2023 Printable Monthly Project & Quilt Planner Pages

    • Share
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    About Author

    Melissa Mortenson

    Melissa Mortenson is a blogger, designer, and content creator. She is the Polka Dot Chair blog founder and has been sharing fresh and creative ideas with readers since 2008. She is the author of “Project Teen, Handmade Gifts your Teen will Actually Love.” Her work and designs have been featured on HuffPost, TODAY, Pioneer Woman, HGTV, BuzzFeed, Better Homes & Gardens, and many other established publications. Her first fabric line, “Derby Style,” debuted in January 2015 through Riley Blake Designs.  Additional fabric collections have followed it in subsequent years. A mom of 3, she considers herself lucky to be living in Kentucky.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Genia says

      December 08, 2016 at 8:52 am

      Hi Melissa! First, I love your Alice in Wonderland fabrics!
      My son is 18 and I have no wish list either. One really cool thing that my son bought for himself is a virtual reality controller for his phone. He got a Samsung gear VR ( its on Amazon). It was so amazing that my husband bought one for his google phone. They make 180 and 360 photos feel like you are right there. You can get games for them too. My husband got a Google daydream. The Samsung focuses and the daydream records sound. Both are cool.

      Reply
      • Melissa Mortenson says

        December 08, 2016 at 1:03 pm

        Thanks for the suggestion! It’s funny we were just talking about those VR headsets last night! I’ll have to look into it.

        Reply
    2. Anya says

      December 09, 2016 at 10:54 am

      Hello Melissa! You had me with the pillow case tutorial this past week! I ordered enough fabric for all the inlaws. The little Santas fabric is in the pile as well…it was impossible to resist! My favorite source for special prints is Hawthorne Threads. The orders have always arrived complete, and the fabric was clean and the cuts were precise. This is helpful as I ordered different prints for each family member, and I won’t even have to cut the pieces. They are ready to sew! Thank you for sharing the idea!

      Reply

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    I’m also a Mom and a Maker. I am like most of you, just trying to do my best every day. Some days I succeed, many days I fail.  I find joy in creating, if you do too, then I hope that you find something here bring a little “happy” to your life.  Find out more about me here.

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