Zakka Along Week 4 :: Sewing Kit

One of the fun things about participating in the Zakka Sew Along is seeing everyone's take on the projects. This week's project was a little travel sewing kit and coordinating pin cushion by Minori Design. Since I stamped on fabric during week three, I wanted to try something different this week. And then I remembered the little pack of Aurifil I'd won in Quilter in the Gap's 1st quarter Finish-A-Long linky. It was a variety pack, and that blue and black variegated on the right is a 12 wt cotton suitable for machine quilting on linen. Perfect.

So I cut into my Stone Quilter's Linen and FMF seeds, and partnered them with some royal blue shot cotton to add some contrast. I went for a fairly tailored look, adding some organic straight-line quilting on two edges of the front.

I used the variegated thread wherever stitching would show - inside and out, including trim on the pincushion. (Just fyi, I did change out my needle to a 90/14 quilting needle. Things felt a little tight as I threaded the machine, but I adjusted the tension a tad, and sewing went just fine.)

Though I had some leather thongs ready to go, mid-stream I decided to make some fabric ties. So I cut more strips the same width as the pocket binding (1"), which was a little fussy to work with, but gave a nice result. (I did see some discussion on the flickr page that some thought the 1" measurement was a typo. So you might check in there if you haven't started, though it worked for me as written.)

All in all, the sewing kit was very fun, and I love the simplistic look the stitching gives it.

Linking up with LRstitched, TNT Thursday, finish it up Friday, and {sew} Modern Monday.