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.

It's the Little Things

Last year on International Scrap Sorting Day, I actually managed to sort my print scraps by color, though I chose not to press any of them or cut them into any particular sizes. And that's how things have remained, and it's been fine. Though I didn't really participate on the day this year, other than play with piecing scraps together, it was the impetus to make several small projects.

First up was a set of four orange and black potholders.

With two round 'corners,' and two square, they are my favorite potholder shape. I put the same backing on all of them, a favorite orange print from my stash, the same as some of the scraps on the front.

And then I actually used some charm squares to make a lined drawstring bag to hold my older granddaughter's birthday gift. After miscutting my lining fabric, I ended up with a combo of the Simple Patchwork Drawstring Bag + Mini Accent Drawstring Bag variations from the Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern by Jeni Baker @jenib320. Actually, I'm quite happy with it, and might make this combo again on purpose!

This last make wasn't actually made from scraps, per se, but it seemed to fit the 'Little Things' category. And it's a Pop Open Pouch made for my daughter-in-law, Lindsey @lindsjeske, who we happily got to celebrate with on her birthday this year. The pattern is one by Aneela Hoey @aneelahoey, and is actually one of my very favorite zipper pouch patterns to make and to use.

So all three of those projects were most enjoyable to make. Now back to finishing up a quilt back for my Like, Totally BOM quilt and this month's Block Studies Collective project, which I have yet to start. Onward.

2022 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along

Back in mid-November, Jeni Baker @jenib320 began the 2022 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along, and I was all in. Our family loves repurposing fabric giftbags each Christmas (and other times of the year!); but every year it seems I (and my daughter, Rachel @snippetsofsweetness) need to make more to add to our stashes. 

Though I ordered just a few pieces of new holiday fabric to mix in with what I had, I mostly planned to make as many bags as I could with my current stash, and that worked pretty well. I did, however, need to place an order in Jeni's shop for some supplies for bag ties. In addition to my favorite twill tape, I also ordered some paracord to try. Also shown are some fun beads I plan to use on future bags, and some cotton webbing just to have on hand.

In Week 2 of the sew along, Jeni shared a new tutorial for a Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag, which I definitely wanted to try, and I made it the first new bag I sewed up. Cute, isn't it?!

After that, I focused on more basic bags without a pieced front, basically for the purpose of speed. I used the basic pattern in Jeni's Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern - the same as her free tutorial, except with 8 sizes + instructions for a custom size. And then I also referenced her Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern, which has my current favorite, the Mini Accent variation (see the navy one on the left, below, the three aqua ones, and the gray one in the lower right). The expansion pattern also has the alternative gusset method that is my go-to now.

As you can see, I used a variety of options for ties, depending on what each bag called for - twill tape, cotton cord, and of course the paracord, which was fun to try! I was a bit ahead of the sew along, as just today, Jeni shared a really helpful post on Tips for Working with Paracord. I obviously figured out how to finish off the ends of the paracord, but I learned a thing or two from her post for next time. Meanwhile, I have 10 new bags for this season - three each Artist-size and Project-size, and four Everything-size. Unfortunately that's absolutely the only thing I'd done to get ready for the season, but it's something!

Hudson Pouches

I've been working behind the scenes on a little gifty for my Bee Sewcial beemates when we gather in Houston NEXT WEEK for our special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival. The project was inspired by some special fabric designed by our beemate, Kari Vojtechovsky. Pretty cool, right?

Kari also designed our new-ish Bee Sewcial logo. Making the Bee Sewcial fabric designs available on Spoonflower made it easy for each of us to order exactly what we wanted. In the photo above are the fabrics I ordered, (top to bottom) a small dot in Cotton Poplin, a small black and white text logo in Petal Signature Cotton, and a Linen Cotton Canvas with a larger multi-colored text.

The project I chose to make is the Hudson Pouch from sotak handmade. I made the small version (7" x 3.5") with a contrasting bottom made of Essex Linen. The canvas was the feature fabric, the small dot the lining, and the handles were all made from the small text fabric. 

Luckily I had a variety of colors of zippers on hand that coordinated with the colors in the fabric, so that worked great.

Mass-production isn't something I do often - usually only when I'm making Christmas giftbags! But it worked! 

First I made a test pouch, and when that sewed up fine, I moved on to make 11 more.

So it feels good to have those ready to pack next week. If you aren't already, follow Bee Sewcial to see the quilts that will be in the special exhibit. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit on Instagram while at the show.

Reading Pillows

I really didn't do much gift sewing this month, but I couldn't help but make a few things. More to come in a future post, but I think the Reading Pocket Book Pillows deserve a post of their own.

Both of my granddaughters, aged nine and 16 months, enjoy books. They (well, the older one anyway) also enjoys "sister" things. So a pair of coordinating Reading Pillows sounded like something they might have fun with - either together or individually. The pattern by Polka Dot Chair was my starting point, which incorporates a front pocket, appliqued letters, piping(!), and 18" pillow forms. In making these, I realized that I don't have a piping foot, so I used my zipper foot. Not ideal, but it definitely worked. I did change up the handles on mine - a feature I love by the way, especially for children - by making one with fabric matching the personalization, rather than using a ribbon as suggested. Other fabrics I used were Essex in gray and that cute cat print from Dear Stella.



Even though the photos above show plain pockets, I actually machine-appliqued the girls' names on the pillows, and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed that. See below an edited photo that shows another idea from Melissa, the word {READ}. Which is great, of course, but imagine them being personalized instead, and you'll have a good idea what mine looked like.

Books were tucked into the pockets before gifting them to my grandgirls, and from all indications after unwrapping all the gifts on Christmas, they will be well-used and enjoyed. I sure hope so.

H is for Hillary

It had been on my list for a while to make a little something for my friend, Hillary. As thoughtful as they get, over the last few years unexpected little handmades have arrived from her.... a special pincushion, a tablet case, a handmade card which somehow led to a quilt named "Debbie". Imagine that!



So though I debated for ages what to make, I knew the fabrics needed to be a bit unique. At guild meeting one night, I nabbed a bright and shiny scrap of jacquard, which isn't really something I can say I've incorporated into my work before. It came to me that I should pair it with something truly re-purposed, and headed to my closet, where I found a lightweight denim shirt that didn't work for me anymore.



As for a design? I had so enjoyed the technique incorporated into my QuiltCon projects, Home Away from Home and Nine of Ten, that I was itching to do it again, and how perfect it felt to use the letter "H". It was a natural. So I made a bunch of blocks of various sizes, with my only rule being no ruler. To bring the blocks all together, I added in a blue/black crossweave with a similar hand to that denim, and it added a nice contrast.



A bonus to using the denim shirt was its detailing. I incorporated the sleeve panels with the buttons right off, but it wasn't till the top was complete that I realized it might be cool to incorporate the tabs too. Once I thought of it, I just couldn't resist.



Quilting was as improvisational as the piecing, done with my walking foot and Aurifil 50wt #1158 [medium grey]. It seemed right to leave the jacquard unquilted, so that made the path a bit circuitous, but such is life sometimes, right?



I finished the little quilt (17" x 22") off with a faced binding and called it a day.

So Hillary received the little quilt yesterday, and it made me happy to surprise her. It also felt good to finally show my appreciation in the one way I know best.