Gift Handmade

Over the years, I've gone in and out of making and giving handmade gifts. A maker sometimes gets clues about whether a recipient appreciates a handmade item or not. Not always, of course, but sometimes. So I was pretty sure that one particular friend would appreciate the recent gifts I made for her.

For one, she had commented when I made a Small Booklet Pouch for myself using Aneela Hoey's pattern, that it would be handy to store crochet hooks in.

Of course, I made it as cute as I could....

My friend has been a bunny owner more than once, and because of that, the Rifle Paper Wildwood Woodland fabric seemed fun to use for a gift for her. I couldn't resist, and I hope she doesn't feel inundated by my bunny-focused gifts.

Because I also made her a Small Maple Street Pouch by Svetlana @sotakhandmade using the same fabrics. For the pouch, the bunny print was on the exterior, and the floral on the inside.

There are other instances, though, where someone close to me asks outright for me to make them something, such as my daughter, Rachel @snippetsofsweetness, asking if I'd make her some fun pillowcases for her birthday. My reply was an instant, "Yes!" I always use the tutorial by The Twiddletails Blog, this time making the queen size pillowcases. By now, I know that for anything larger than regular, you need to take care if you're ordering a directional fabric. I did, and ordered fabric special for this project, as I don't keep the lengths needed on hand, plus I really wanted all of the fabric to somewhat coordinate, and to be BLUE.

Lizzy House is one of Rachel's favorite fabric designers, and all this fabric was from Lizzy's Constellations line.

Cutting the fabric the right way can be a bit confusing, especially with directional fabrics; so this time, I made myself a little cheat card, and am posting it here in case I can't find it next time I need it. Ha!

Of course, I made a drawstring giftbag for Rachel's gift - it's tradition! This time I used the Easy Going (Single Fabric) Drawstring Bag pattern from Jeni Baker's @jenib320 Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern. I was glad I had enough of the Pearl Bracelet fabric, as it's one of Rachel's very favorites.

So I was really happy to be able to give these handmade gifts - as well as the scrappy potholders a couple of weeks ago. Now back to some serious scrap-sewing.