More linen lovelies

Last weekend, working my way down the list of makes before losing my sewing room, I thought I'd make myself a couple of zippy pouches to help me when I need to re-store sewing items that usually sit on my sewing table top.

I sifted out some of my small Bonnie and Camille scraps and chose some Essex Linen in Grey and some of that gorgeous damask style linen that I used previously.  I also thought that I'd make up a wee frame purse for a late spring birthday present while I had the linen and pretty scraps out on the table.

The large grey zippy is big enough to re-home my scissors and rotary cutters when the time comes to pack them safely into a box.  I tried a wee bit of wavy piecing on that pouch just because.

The small linen zippy pouch will be a new pencil case and is quite simply just a little indulgent because I have been wanting to make myself something from those narrow little linen offcuts that I have.

As you can see, I had mixed results with my zip tab ends.  Above on the pencil case they are pretty much perfect, but below you can see that I managed to lose one almost completely on the scissor pouch.  I really don't know what I did wrong, but I'm not too worried as it's not for a gift, just for me.

I think this frame purse is the prettiest of the three and I'm happy that is the case because it will become a birthday pressie in a number of weeks.  I especially wanted to share the linen with the recipient because it really is beautiful.  It needs a wee treat or two inside before passing on, and in the meantime I will just look at it and sigh until it's time to wrap it up for delivery.

Making little pouches that come together quickly can be very satisfying indeed!

Start to Finish

Last week I continued to "avoid" the larger projects on my list, choosing some more little projects that can be started and finished in a relatively short time.

A number of weeks back my mum surprised me with a little pack of fat quarters she had ordered from a television shopping channel.

Last week I decided they might make cute little cosmetic purses and whipped up a bunch for my mum to gift to her friends.

I find production line sewing a bit tedious normally, so avoid repetition fatigue I varied the designs a little on each one.  I like some better than others, but mum seems to think her friends will like them, so that'll do nicely.

I also snuck in a quick frame purse for myself made up in this lovely Bonnie and Camille fabric - Marmalade on the outside and Scrumptious to line it.

It will replace this tired little box that normally holds my make-up and I think my dresser is looking better already.

I have some more avoidance tactics from the weekend to show you tomorrow when I take pics, but I think that maybe this week I will have to behave myself and get back to that FAL list!

Pretty little things

I was a bit secretive about this fabric pull when I added it to my FAL Quarter 1 list last month because I had plans to transform them into birthday pressies for someone with a huge heart.

There was a third fabric tucked behind the others in the top pic and I used the patterns from Judith's frame purse workshop (that I had so much fun at) and used the Dear Stella spot to stitch up a purse lining.

The beautiful yellow geometric flowers became the frame purse outer.  Along with the Oval Elements in gold I used the flowers to stitch a wee neck scarf or bag tie (all neatly folded in the pic above).

 I popped some notecards and a wee crocheted rose brooch inside too as a wee surprise.

Making pretties for friends is the best kind of sewing, don't you think?