Perfect Gifts for Fellow Sewists (inc Tutorial)

Today was my last day at college until the new year. I wanted to give my fellow dressmakers a little something. Some time ago, I'd stumbled upon this tutorial on Martha Stewart's fabulous site, and decided they'd be perfect. And they were. Cute AND quick.

I used some of the fabric left from my Christmas aprons, as it's such a pretty floral. I made up the pincushions as per the tutorial, substituting the "leaves" in Martha's version, for pretty vintage buttons on mine, top and bottom. I secured the buttons with the embroidery floss, wrapping the loose end around the thread shank and tucking it undeneath the button to finish it.

I wrapped them in some polka dot cellophane (from my local florist) tied with a white ribbon. If I do say so myself, they looked soooo cute. All done in one evening, whilst relaxing in front of the TV with a glass of Rioja! Thanks Martha! I rather fancy making a giant one of these for myself.....


Happy Christmas all, With Love & Best Wishes, Portia.xxx (Miss P)

Introduction and Liberty bracelet

Hello fellow crafters, I'm Cecili from Sewing and so on. Thanks Tilly for letting me join this awesome club, I've had a look at the members' ideas for Christmas gifts and there are so many great things to be inspired by!
I'm planning to give all my relatives handmade presents this year, I'll make a vintage shirt for my boyfriend and I'll probably focus on accessories for the girls, bags, pouches, hair ornaments, jewelry... Actually I've just finished a Liberty bracelet that turned out quite nice -well, you're rarely wrong when you use these wonderful fabrics^^- so here's the tutorial in case you'd want to make one too.

You'll need fabric, a pair of choker clasps, a lobster clasp, a few links, pliers and glue.


First measure around your wrist to find the size you want for your fabric strip, mine was 14cm (5.4").
To determine the final size of your fabric strip you also need to measure the width of your choker clasps, mine were 1.6cm (3/4") and since you'll fold the fabric in two you must double this number (here 3.2cm / 1.3").
You need a 1cm seam allowance on both lengths but not on the ends since they will be encased in the clasps!
So the final strip for my bracelet was 14cm x 5.2cm (5.4" x 2").
I fused a thin strip of interfacing on each end to make them stronger since they will be perforated by the clasps' teeth.


Fold your fabric strip in two with right sides together and sew.


Turn the fabric tube inside out and iron it flat. I've cut a strip of cardboard the same width as my fabric tube and slid it into the tube to help flatten it while ironing.


Put a little glue in the choker clasps, insert the strip's ends and close the clasps pressing them with pliers. Let the glue dry then add a lobster clasp to one end and a few links to the other.




Et voilà! You're done :) Later I added a tiny blue flower bead to the end on the chain to give the bracelet extra cuteness. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if you have any questions or suggestions to improve it please tell me!

Big list this year, time to get cracking!

Hello everyone, my name is Kath and I live in Brisbane, Australia. I have far too many hobbies to list but my most recent endeavour has been my Etsy store bunnyhornet. I make vintage inspired jewellery there and I'll be adding a bit of that to my Christmas pressies list!

BUT!! My projects I have to tackle this year are:

1.    3 x personalised cushion covers for my nephews.
2.    3 x reversible tote bags
3.    Skirt for my sister-in-law
4.    Sundress for another sister-in-law
5.    A few simple make-up cases
6.    Flying pigs mobile (idea found on this blog!)
7.    Some little bunnies (also idea found on this blog - thanks!)
8.    Tuxedo bib for littlest nephew
9.    2 x capes for bigger nephews
10.  3 x aprons for sisters and mother-in-law
11.  Giraffe Toy

OMG! How am I ever going to finish? I don't have a blog of my own so I'll document my sources for inspiration etc here :)

1. Personalised Pillows

My sister-in-law sent me a link for this:

If you click on the picture it will take you to the webiste.

She wanted her own version for her new baby and I have two other little nephews so I've bought fabric for all three and some felt for the names.

I bought my fabrics from Superbuzzy who has some amazing prints and colours.

And the felt came from Etsy user litlbrownbird.

And this is the inspiration for colour scheme I'm working with!

How cute is he!

The fabric picked for Boy 1 is to go with this little fella and I think the oranges and blues will go nicely with his room....

I want to make one similar but that's only in the 'musing' stages at the moment, no concrete plans!

You'll also notice I've bought the fabrics for the 3 reversible totes. The pattern I'll be using is from Burda Style and is free!

Now this tuxedo bib pattern is meant to be for an adult (to look like you're wearing a tux shirt) but how cute would a version be for a baby? Argh! So cute! Another Freebie!

I'll also use some of the leftover fabric for the make-up cases. I'll just make these really simple pouches with a zip closure.

Love this tutorial over at Chezlin!

I also bought some of that felt to make brown bunnies like the ones shown on the blog and on the original website of Betz White.

 The flying piggy mobile I found on this blog here. I've already started on my own pattern - don't want to mess with copyright but as it's for a gift we should be ok! The skin tone and white felt I've bought from litlebrownbird will be for this one.

Ok, and that's where I'm up to with my ideas so far..... wheeeeeeeeee!

Now to find good patterns for the Sundress, the Skirt, the aprons and the capes. Any ideas?

Party dress present

Hoorah, I've made my first Christmas present!  It's a twirly whirly party dress for my three-year-old niece Hannah and although it's not a secret present (she knows about it and chose the fabric) it is made from scratch by me so I thought I'd share it here.    

This was my first attempt at making children’s clothes from a pattern (I used New Look 6881) and the whole process was a pleasure from start to finish (see my blog).  If you've got a few dressmaking skills, then a handmade piece of clothing for a little girl is a good idea for a present.  It's completely unique and was actually pretty cheap to make because you need so little fabric.  It cost £3.50 a metre for the flowery fabric and £1.50 a metre for the lining fabric, even the zip was half price!  I can't WAIT to see photos of her wearing it at Christmas!  

The whole making your own presents business is definitely good for the soul.  Every time I look at that cute little dress I get a big smile on my face. x