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University Daily Kansan, December 8, 1981
Page 15
Imagination can defray expense Stores offer kits for making gifts
By LISA BOLTON Staff Reporter
More people are making their own Christmas gifts, such as quilted pillows and clothespins.
A lengthy Christmas list and a limited
baby care plan for imaginative, inexpensi-
bal planning.
Anything that can hang from a Christmas tree makes an appropriate gift for the season. Kits for making Styroform ball-based ornaments start at $1.98 at Woolworths, 911 Massachusetts St., and include beads, sequins, pins and glue.
S six plain styrofoam balls cost $1.47, according to Corene Dunn, a d娘 at Woolworth's. Even a marginally creative giver can choose his own sequins, beads, glitter, fabric and ribbon with which to decorate the balls.
Marlene Leemmiller, owner of George's Hobby House, 1443 W. 23rd St., said that less than $1 would buy the materials for a styrofoam ornament.
SHE SUGGESTED making a pomander ball by gluing potpourri, a fragrant mix of dried spices and flowers, to a styrofoam ball and hanging it with ribbon.
Jocelyn Anderson, a clerk at TG&Y, 711 W. 23rd St., said, "It's people are giving more handmade gifts than they used to."
She said tiny pillow ornaments made from fabric pieces cut out, sewn together and stuffed could be made for about $2.50 each.
A book of pattern costs $2 to $3, and material and floss run about $1.50 per ornament, she said. For someone who only
a complete kit price at $64 better than a
complete kit price at $58 better.
The Crewel Cupboard, 1029 Massachusetts, has been selling counted cross stitch ornaments since August, said owner Marie Shirer.
She said that one of her customers had bought enough yarn for six sweaters the day after Christmas last year and is now finishing the sixth.
"But a good many people wait until the last minute," she said. "She there are a lot of little things you can make with not much money and not much time."
She said she also sold quilted material and ribbon and lace trim to Jewelry store.
Bark Heck, owner of Stitch On. 926 Massachusetts st. , said she sold both pre-assembled kits and materials with which to make counted cross stitch or embroidered mason jar tops, embroidery hoop wall hangings and pillows.
*You can make needlework gifts for as little as $10 if you do a lot of it and have the painter help.*
JOEY MILLER, a clerk at Varn Barn, 720 Massachusetts St., said the store offered demonstrations of various crafts for children and materials or a 20 percent discount on them.
She's said knitting and other old-fashioned needlework techniques were making a
"I was helping a 10-year-old with a crochet problem today," she said.
Beth Dearinger, manager of House of Fabrics, 935 Massachusetts st., said that sew-and-stuff ornaments started at $1.29. Wreaths can be made for about $2.50.
Libby Walldron, a clerk at Sarah's Liberty, 925 Massachusetts st., suggested making drawer saches from fabric, pot-pouri and adorned trimmings.
"You can get a whole lot out of just a nuttle bit of fabric and some ribbon and lace," she said, adding that one-eighth of a yard is enough for four sachets.
Bob Werts, owner of Waxman Candles Inc., 145 Massachusetts St., said a resourceful giver could make candies himself for one-third the cost of buying them by molding them in sand, paper cups or cut-off milk cartons.
Plastic and metal molds are the most expensive part of candle-making, he said. Ingredients are wickling, fragrance and color in wax, which costs about 75 cents per round.
popular," said Judy Batson, a clerk at the Bay Leaf, 725 Massachusetts St.
"Homemade gifts have always been
SHE SUGGESTED giving homemade candy in baskets, mugs or Christmas-decorated tins that could be part of the gift.
George's Hobby House sells candy mats at $1.69 each and bulk chocolate at $7.99 for two pounds, and Leinmiller said the molds were required to make chocolates.
Batson also said a baker could divide a batch of nut bread batter among individual ingredients.
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