Tag: Hand-made Gifts

Something for Papa

Published on by Isabella Alden4 Comments

Father’s Day is this Sunday, and if you are wondering what you can give as a gift, Isabella may have the perfect suggestion for you.

Today we might call Isabella a “crafter.” She often repurposed simple items, such as cardboard boxes, and refashioned them with glue, fabric, and bits of ribbon or lace in order to make something useful and pretty. On her writing desk she kept a pen case and mail sorter she had made.

She often wrote how-to instructions for making simple gift items to give. In 1892 she published the following idea in The Pansy magazine for readers who wanted to make “something for papa”:

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I am sure of one thing papa will like, and it is something which you can make with some industry and very little expense.

I do hope you know how to knit—the nice old-fashioned knitting which our dear grandmothers understood so well? If you do not, my first advice to you is to master that fine art which has of late years gone so nearly out of fashion; it is coming to the front again, and there is no end to the neat little comforts which you can make with the aid of a ball of tidy cotton and two large knitting needles.

Illustration of two kittens playing with a ball of yarn, which they have partially unrolled and have wrapped strings of yarn around themselves.
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I will not attempt to teach you the stitch on paper, though if you sat by my side I could show it to you with very little trouble. If there is not a dear white-haired grandmother in your home (as I hope there is), borrow one from some friend, and beg her to teach you how to knit.

Having learned it (which I am sure you can do in an hour), get two large-size needles of steel, or ivory, or wood (I like to use wood) and a ball of the very coarsest tidy cotton you can find, and set to work. Cast on as many stitches as the needle will conveniently carry, and knit back and forth, back and forth industriously, until you have a strip a yard long. Oh, it will require patience and industry! But I told you that in the beginning, you know.

On a table is a partially knitted sock with knitting needs. On the floor below the table are two dachshunds who are playing with the ball of yarn and are unraveling the sock. They have tangled strands of yarn around themselves.
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Having finished the strip begin again, and make another precisely like it; then a third, and perhaps, if your needles are not very long, a fourth—you might consult with mamma or Auntie as to that. When the four are finished ( in order to be sure to have the article large enough we will say four), fold the side edges of two neatly together, and knit them together with a crochet hook, or sew them with a needle and some of the tidy cotton, as you prefer.

Add the third and fourth in the same manner, and when all is complete if you do not have a bath towel which will please papa better than any Turkish towel he ever bought, I shall be astonished and disappointed.

Illustration of four kittens. Three lay on a pillow while a fourth sits beside them. They have a partially-unraveled ball of yarn on the floor beside them, but their attention is on a bee that is flying just above their heads.
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For fear of discouraging you at the outset, I mentioned a yard as the length, but let me whisper to you, entirely in confidence, that if you should make it a yard and a half long, or even a trifle longer, papa would like it better still. You see, I have heard the gentlemen groan over short bathing towels, and I know all about it.

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You see with how very little expense such an article could be made, and I really do not know of any one thing which will add more to the comfort of the bath. Some gentlemen like very coarse and rough bathing towels, in which case macramé cord is sometimes used instead of tidy cotton; probably mamma could advise you wisely in this direction, also.

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 If you undertake such a gift, I hope you will have the kindness to write and tell me how you succeeded, when and how the gift was presented, what was said, and all about it.

Your friend,

Pansy.

Do you ever make or give hand-made gifts? What home-made gift is your favorite to give or receive?

Are you a knitter? What knitted items do you like to give as gifts?

Making Christmas Bright

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

Isabella Alden knew all about the Christmas shopping season. She had a large extended family, and she either bought or made gifts for each family member.

Her niece, author Grace Livingston Hill, recalled what it was like when the Aldens, Livingstons, and Macdonalds got together:

Our Christmases were happy, thrilling times. There were many presents, nearly all of them quite inexpensive, most of them home-made, occupying spare time for weeks beforehand; occasionally a luxury, but more often a necessity; not any of the expensive nothings that spell Christmas for most people today.

Isabella—being a clever and creative person—made many of the gifts she gave.

Sometimes she got gift-making ideas from magazines. She subscribed to The Ladies’ Home Journal and Harper’s Bazar, both of which regularly printed directions for making items to use or give as gifts. Sometimes she passed those ideas and directions on to her own readers.

For example, an 1898 issue of The Ladies’ Home Journal published instructions for making this pretty wall pocket:

Drawing of a wall pocket made of a long board or cardboard. At one end is a ribbon so it can be hung vertically on the wall. Spaced evenly down the board are three fabric pockets decorated with different trims.

Isabella liked the idea so much, she wrote simplified instructions that children could follow and printed them in an issue of The Pansy magazine. She told her readers how to make the wall pocket from pine board, calico, buttons, and felt, and hinted it would make a lovely gift “for mamma.” She wrote:

I get the idea and most of the details from Harper’s Bazar. The article from which they are taken says the contrivance is for an invalid, but let me assure you that mamma will like it very much, or, for the matter of that, papa also.

At Christmas she encouraged boys and girls to make gifts not only for family members and friends, but for strangers, too. She wrote this to readers of The Pansy magazine:

How many Pansies are planning the Christmas gifts they will make? In all the merry bustle and happy, loving thoughts, don’t forget to throw a bit of kindly cheer into those poor little lives darkened by distress and want.

If every member of The Pansy Society would make some little gift as a loving reminder to one who otherwise would have none, how many children, think you, would be made happy?

Remember, you do it “For Jesus’ sake.”

There were instructions for making this simple knitting bag, made of fabric, ribbon, and embroidery hoops:

Illustration of a cloth bag made with hoops for handles.

And this case, made from pieces of cardboard and colored ribbons, to hold photos, greeting cards, or pictures cut from magazines.

Drawing of a "case for Christmas cards." Made of square cardboard, it has a photo pasted in the center. It is bound on the left with pieces of ribbon and tied on the right to keep it closed.

She wrote:

What a delightful present that will be when you get it done! I can imagine an ingenious girl and boy putting their heads together, and making many variations which would be a comfort to the fortunate owner.

Isabella always knew how to give those gentle reminders that children (and adults!) sometimes need about the true spirit of Christmas.

Isabella Alden quote: Remember the poor always, but especially at Christmas. It is the kind of giving which our Lord, the Gift of gifts, would most approve.

What is your favorite way to share the message of Christmas with people in need?

Have you ever made a Christmas gift for someone? How was it received?