A Hare-y box and a pinafore

I made a hare material box for my friend Maria who was visiting from Canada.  Unfortunately, the unseasonable weather curtailed our plans for meeting up, but we did manage a day visit which was lovely.  I  made her a fabric box using this hare fabric - light and squashable for taking back on the plane.

 I have also made myself a needlecord pinafore using this pattern, 'Cleo' from 'Tilly and the Buttons'.  The pattern is really well done with both written instructions and photos too.  I made the knee length version and put the split in the back rather than the front.  I used the automatic buttonhole on my sewing machine for the first time too - I had a few issues and had to unpick a bit, but this was because I couldn't find the 'buttonhole lever' on the machine.  Eventually, thanks to the internet, I discovered where it was (up inside the part where the needle mechanism is held - but this wasn't obvious from the machine handbook).  Thank goodness for the internet!  I made a toile in calico first, just to check on the sizing.  The pinafore is designed to be loose, but I wanted to be sure the size would fit my hips.

 Here it is - success!   I had bought the needlecord a couple of years ago and it had been sitting in my material stash ever since.  I used buttons rather than the dungaree clip option.

Here's the back too.  I'm really pleased with it and have worn it to work several times.  It is really comfortable too, which is always good.  A denim one and another needlecord version (a very floral pattern) are being planned next.  For my pinafore (size 12), I needed two metres of material, which is a bonus as there are some lovely needlecords out there... 

A Fox box and cushion

It is our friend Rachael's birthday at the end of the month and as she is very busy then, she came over last week.  I had got myself organised and made her presents in good time, so it all worked out well.  She likes foxes, so I bought some rather gorgeous fox material in colours I knew she would like and made a fox box.  I enjoy making these fabric boxes, as they are quick to make and are useful.

I also used my screen printing set to print the fox panel for this cushion.  It is a lovely print and printed out really well.  I mixed the shade of grey ink I wanted too.  I made the cushion cover with the fox fabric and was pleased at the way it turned out.

I made an envelope back, which is a really simple way of finishing the cover.  Rachael really liked the box and cushion, which I was delighted about.  I have a cat screen print too and some cat material so I would really like to make a cushion for myself now.

Stitching Santa 2017

I took part in Stitching Santa, organised by Sheila at Sewchet, which was a new blog exchange to me.  We were given a recipient's details and our details were given to someone else, so it was a big surprise to all of us.  My sender was Nikki from SewingNikki and she was so incredibly generous.  I have been so lucky with all the swaps/exchanges I have taken part in and it is lovely to know that there are so many kind and generous people out there in Blogland.  My parcel arrived and I had to leave it alone until Christmas Day.

 On opening it, there was a beautifully decorated box, adorned with all kinds of pretty ornaments.

Inside was tissue paper, held together with sewing related stickers. 

 Inside that, was a beautifully made bag and under that...

 ...was all this!  What a treasure trove of sewing goodness! Stickers, decorations, wool, a pack of material to make a cushion, an embroidery hoop, a pattern to make bags, a tape measure, some flowery organza type material and a jar of trimmings.

 I love the sheep fabric for the cushion - just gorgeous.

 Definitely an embarrassment of riches.

Wasn't I lucky?

This was what was in the jar - an array of trimmings and haberdashery (I love that word!).  A HUGE THANK YOU to Nikki for her amazing gifts, her generosity and kindness.  I love it all and will enjoy using it over the next year(s).

My recipient was Kimberley from Creative Chaos, who lives in New Zealand.  I had been partnered with her before, so had an idea of the things she liked. I have already shown the fabric box I made for her.

 Here are the other things I included: a felt heart with a pearl charm, some hot chocolate, some red and orange patterned cotton material, some gingham ribbon, a spoon rest/tea bag rest, a reel of sewing thread, some notelets (as I knew she liked stationery) and a little notebook as I also knew she would be starting a teaching degree at University and thought it might come in handy.

Here are the parcels ready to go. They arrived safely and I received a lovely thank you card with two little gifts from her.
It was a lovely swap/exchange to be involved with and I really enjoyed taking part.  Thanks to Sheila for the expert organising.

Stitching Santa 2017 progress

I have been gathering suitable gifts, most with a sewing theme, but a couple of surprises too, for the Stitching Santa swap/exchange, hosted by Sewchet which I'm taking part in.  My parcel will be going abroad, so I need to get it sent off soon, so that it will arrive before Christmas.  Part of the fun is not knowing who is sending the gifts to you.

I have made a little fabric storage box, using a tutorial from SewforSoul, which can be found  here .  It was a great tutorial, easy to follow and I enlarged the pattern just a little to make a bigger version.  I used the fabric which I bought to make a doorstop back in 2015, which you can read about here.  So far, it has made a doorstop, a notebook cover and now a fabric box.  I used fusible wadding to give the material a bit of added strength and that was a first, but was easy to sew through and worked well.

It could have just a little bit of the inside material showing, as above,  but Chris thought it looked better with a bigger amount on show, so that's what I did.

I used some green cotton material for the inside which worked really well, picking up the green on the outer fabric.  I am really pleased with the result and hope that the recipient will like it too.