Sent and Received

Sent to Kaelin, as part of Pretty Little Pouch swap: Clutch pouch with magnetic snap.  Kaelin (The Plaid Scottie) had a lot of little purses in her swap mosaic so that gave me the shape idea.  I went through her galleries and profile in the usual secret stalking way for favourite colours and patterns plus she had dropped some hints about green, houndstooth and bows in her swap info- all very helpful!

I love doing the research and finding all the different fabrics.  It takes me a while but it is an enjoyable and creative activity.   The little bow are detachable- I found the idea at How About Orange

I stuffed the bag full of goodies: houndstooth scarves for Madmen moments, fabric, chocolate, tape measure.   She did a funny blog entry with a great little pic of the bag living in Beauty's castle along with  Cogsworth and Lumiere- check it out here. I madea scrappy piece of fabric for the pouch pieced using the idea in this tutorial by Lady Harvatine.  Added the stitches and then cut out the bag shapes.

This was a little sketch book and cover for Anne of Film and Thread.  She so kindly sent me a big box of stamps that she no longer used and I wanted to give her soemthing back..  She is a talented sketch and she likes to be out on the move so I wanted something small and portable.  

Simple little shape with a couple of little vintage spool blocks.  

I thought the turquoise/yellow ripple looked like the sort of marbled lining paper that you used to find in hand made books.

It is happily with its owner.

Happy weekend x

Two Pouches

When I enter swaps I spend a lot of time thinking of what I will make and none thinking what will come to me.  Yesterday, not one but two pouches in the post.   The first from Krista of Spotted Stone Studio

Wow, I am so lucky!  This was one of the first pouch to have a photo posted in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap on Flickr and I admired it straightaway. Great colours, hand stitches, beautiful fabrics, attention to little details- did you notice the little owl zip pull?  And lovely fabrics and handmade goodness inside.

Lining: behind the grey and orange pocket is a lovely yellow grid check.

Close up: I love that dotty tag and those citrus cross stitches, and the shot grey fabric is tactile and practical.  It is a biggie as well, big enough to store my Ipod, phone and mini change purse on a day out!  I love it Krista, thankyou so much!

And sneaking into the same postage pile was this little beauty from Ali of A Squared.  These are my favourite prints from the new Denyse Schmidt range so it couldn't be a better fabric choice and this nifty little pouch can carry my essentials- lip balm, swiss army card of tools, aspirin and forehead stick! 

A big thankyou to Ali x

She sent this pouch as part of Pay it Forward, I was one of the first 3 commenters to respond so I received this cute pouch.  My turn to continue the giving, the first 3 commenters on this post will have a little something made for them- pin cushion perhaps?  Please make sure I can contact you!  I have up to a year to do this but I am guessing I'll be making things for you sooner rather than later, I like to get things done.   You part of the bargain is to Pay it Forward- once you receive your gift from me you will then make something for 3 more people, and so it continues...

Girliness

I  recently won some crazy cute Japanese Kawaii fabrics from Kats recent giveaway.  They are perfect for little girls- (and maybe big girls too).  I started with a gift for my baby niece who I meet for the first time this week!

I have been wanting to make this pattern from Jenny Ryan's Sew Darn Cute for ages and the Japanese fabrics were perfect for this project.  Add a bit of linen and out comes a rabbit/bear cuddly.   The eyes and the buttons are all made felted wool and I used Sashiko threads to stitch them on I just know the ears and paws are perfect for a baby to chew.  Next Lula's turn, a gathered clutch using Anna from Noodlehead's tute.  I love her patterns, the shapes are crisp and simple and just what I look for in a pattern.  I know some of you think I am some sort of super sewer but any sort of zippy pouch always takes me ages and a lot of unpicking.

As usual this one drove me a little crazy.  It is the zip that fells me, or more accurately the zipper foot.  I have a Janome Jem Platinum sewing machine.  It is small and light which is why I bought it as I used to have out it away each time I sew.  I love it with the exception of the zipper foot- it is on the right in the pic below.

It is just too lumpy.  It is hard to adjust where you stitch along the zipper as it likes to sit next to the zip- sometimes closer than I would like.  This leads to problem with a lined pouch as the lining then has a tendency to stick in the zip and needs hand stitching to keep the fabric away from the zip.

When I stitch the side seams you need a zipper foot to overcome the bulk on one side and the Janome foot is too wide again.  I resorted to my Feather weight, Minty, and its lovely skinny zipper foot (on the left in the foot pic). Minty did a lovely job but only when I had remembered how to use her- that took an hour and a half to refresh my addled brain with threading, getting the needle the right way, threading the needle right to left etc- all basic stuff but I had forgotten it all.

It finished pouch is pretty though and Lula is very happy with it.  Sometimes I see little stacks of pouches for sale on Flickr and other people's blogs and I marvel at the apparent speed and accuracy and uniformity with which they can produce so many.  I can produce detailed log cabin all day long but zippy pouches I fear will always elude me!