Monthly Archives: December 2015

Simplicity 1556

The trouble with buying bubble bars from Lush, is that they come in a paper bag. Great for the environment, but what do you store it in to stop all the pieces going everywhere? I’ve found some small plastic food containers in Poundland that work pretty well, but then you get a pile of them in the wardrobe, which invariably falls over whenever you want to find something.

So, I decided to make Simplicity 1556 for my Mum’s Christmas present – a drawstring bag with pouches around the outside. There’s no dimensions given on the pattern envelope, but going on the fabric requirements, I hoped it would be large enough to work.

basket1

Armed with my red and orange outer fabric, and some nicely patterned orange lining fabric, my first problem was with the usual “fusible fleece”. Not having any of that to hand (and realising that if I bought it from the only shop I found it for sale, it’s cost more than the fabric did), I decided to use 2oz polyester wadding instead. I quilted that to the base and bag linings, so you can’t see the stitching on the outside.

asket2

Attaching the pouch strip was challenging, and some of the pouches are a different width to the others, but it fits the items I want to put in there. I will also admit I messed up the drawstrings, sewing the wrong ends together, but it still draws closed so I’m not going to unpick that!

I wanted to give her a pack of bath bombs from Slimbridge Soaps, but the packet of 4 wouldn’t fit into the pouch, so I made some small sewn bags to put them in individually – that way I can get one item per pouch, so it’ll fill them up 🙂

basket-pouches1

Lush didn’t stock her favourite bubble bar this year, but I did find an alternative – but what to put it in? I couldn’t just put it straight into the pouch, as they sometimes leave a greasy stain and that wouldn’t look good for a present. So I made a quick quilted pouch (quilting the lining again), which should mean the bubble bar can slide in, and hopefully not make a mess everywhere!

basket-pouch2

 

Basket fabric from Fashion Fabrics, Christmas fat quarters from John Lewis

Loyalty Card Wallet

I don’t know about you, but I have so many loyalty cards, it’s hard to find the right one in my wallet! So when I decided to give a relative a Starbucks card as part of their Christmas present, I thought I’d sew a basic wallet to store it in.

I found the pattern at Crafty Cupboard, and found this one a lot easier to follow than the previous wallet I’ve made. I didn’t have any fusible fleece, so I used some lightweight interfacing on the lining and the outer fabric, just to give it some more stability.

wallet1

The pockets aren’t lined, so I’m not too sure how well they will last, but it looks strong enough for the moment. I used a hair elastic and a hand-sewn button to close the wallet – the last one I made didn’t have a closure, so there’s a risk of the cards sliding out in your bag.

wallet2

I was hoping to find a novelty button with a cup of coffee painted on it, to go with the Starbucks theme, but there didn’t seem to be any about so I resorted to a plain black button instead, to match the hair elastic.

Reggie the Reindeer

When I spotted the pattern for Reggie the Reindeer, I knew I was going to want to make at least one of them. I found a pack of two fleece blankets on sale for £3.95, which were the perfect colours for a Reindeer, so he was a bargain to make!

The first Reggie I made had thread jointed limbs, but this one is for a 9 month old child, so I used the alternative instructions to machine sew them into the seams.

spottyreindeer1

If I was to make a third Reggie the Reindeer, I would probably turn the legs 90 degrees before sewing, so they shouldn’t turn inwards at the hoof, but that’s just a minor annoyance for me.

spottyreindeer2

Mum keeps saying that Reggie is a cow (because of the spotty fabric), but whether you see him as a cow or a reindeer, hopefully little K will like him when Santa delivers the package on Christmas Eve!

It’s Christmas! ….well, almost

Ok, so it’s not quite Christmas yet, but I’ve been busy sewing gifts for people. Some of those people have already opened their presents, but others have been good and resisted the temptation….

I think this has to be the best fat quarter bag I’ve sewn yet! The sides came out really evenly, and the topstitching works brilliantly in red as a contrast to the green main fabric.

jam-bag-brown-bg

The tree ornament was made from felt, with some white ricrac for the icing on the arms and leg, two red buttons for the candy, and some white felt for the eyes. It’s the neatest hand sewing I’ve ever done on the mouth, and the whole thing is sewn around the outside, so there’s no turning involved!

jam-bag

I ended up making a few of the gingerbread men – a couple for presents, and also one for my tree. They just looked too good to just make one 🙂