Monday 30 July 2012

::Sewing:: FO Pleated Pouches for my lady friends :)

Wowzers! It's been forever since I last posted. My excuse is that I've been off in the land of moving house. And my oh my it's a very busy place.

I haven't done a great deal of crafting lately, but last weekend I made a couple of cute pouches for a couple of my lovely friends.

My friend Jess had her birthday last week and her sister hosted a high tea for her on Sunday. My friend Sarah and I were invited and we didn't know what to get the birthday girl. On our Thursday lunch break we put our heads together and came up with the idea of getting her a bag full of movie-watching munchies and a gift card so she can buy a DVD of her choice as Jess is very much a movie buff.  Sarah was to make the bag bag out of a pillowcase. Have a look at the bag on her blog-Stitching Lyrical.

I really wanted to contribute something I'd made as well seeing as Sarah was taking some time out of her schedule to make something. So I thought I'd make Jess a little pouch to go with her bag. By chance the Mr wanted to go for a drive and I suggested we go to Spotlight. They were having a 30% off fabric sale - but I didn't mention that ;)

Jess likes elephants so when we got to Spotlight I gave the Mr instructions to keep an eye out for some elephant fabric (Sidenote: I've found the best way to keep the Mr occupied while out shopping for something he's not interested in is to give him a specific task or something to look for - but don't tell him that ;) ) He found some fantastic fabric with elephants on it and I picked this red and white one. I like the red white combo and I thought the size of the elephants would suite the pouch I was making.

While I was at Spotlight I picked up a few other things as well - naturally :) . I picked up a pack of fat quarter quilting cottons and when I was flipping through them I found this great pebbley fabric and I instantly thought it was the sort of pattern that Sarah would dig.

Once home I shoved my fabrics in the washing machine so I could press it and use it in the coming days.

To make the pouches I used a Pleated Pouch Tutorial by Skip to my Lou which I found via this great Gathered Clutch Tutorial (I think I'll have to make this soon!).

The Pleated  Pouches I made for my lady friends <3


I thought if I was going to make one pouch I may as well make two so I made the elephant one for Jess and the pebbly one for Sarah. They both turned out pretty great, even if I do say so myself. The only hiccup that I came across was my zippers where either too long or a little too short so I just extended the too-short zippers so they would fit in the opening by adding fabric at each end. I think I found this technique on Craft Passion maybe in this tutorial.

(Sidenote: I'm a bit of a fan of Craft Passion, she does some amazing things and I love her tutorials for purses and bags and...and...and... well it's all good :) )

I'm hoping to get my creative space in order soon so I can get back into creating things again and perhaps finishing off some projects too. The Mr and I did a furniture shuffle in my craft room last night so I'm one step closer to creating order in the chaos.

Until next time, I hope you make something lovely to give to someone special to you,
Vanessa xo

Sunday 8 July 2012

::Online Swaps:: Pin Cushion Swap 2012

I signed up to participate in House of Pinheiro and Sew Far Sew Goods Pin Cushion Swap for 2012. This is the first swap that I've ever participated in. So it is pretty super exciting for me :)

I was matched up with Sulieen, a lovely lady in Florida, USA. Sulieen told me that she liked blues and pinks so I had a rummage through my stash and found a few fabric options.

I used this Offset Square Pincushion tutorial from Planet June to make my pin cushion part. However, I combined it with the concept of having an adjustable strap inspired by the wrist pincushions Sunni used to sell in her shop. (see the D ring here?).


I liked the idea of the D-ring and velcro adjustable wrist strap, but the problem with making something for someone that you have never met is that I wouldn't know where would be the best place to put the velcro.  I had a brain fart and though - of course 2 D-Rings! Just like they use on motorbike helmets. So I had to make a change to the pincushion.

I'll publish a post of how I put the pincushion together another day. But here are a couple of pictures.

Here are a couple of close-ups the pin cushion top and the strap setup
With my pincushion I sent a box of snack Tim Tam. Tim Tams are famously used by Australians for Tim Tam Slams. Sooo yum! And I also sent her a mug rug so she can place her mug there between Tim Tam Slams :)


On the 20th of June I had a day of training at work, but when I ducked back to my desk during lunch a saw a package there. Upon closer inspection I saw it was from the US. Eeek. How exciting. I decided to open it when I got home so I had something to look forward to. After a very long woeful day I got home and this is some the amazingness that I found inside...
An awesome crocheted owl 
pincushion - with pins too!
Sulieen mentioned in the lead-up to the swap that she was keen on crochet so I'm really glad she was able to incorporate it into her pincushion.

All the amazing goodies I got in my package!

And here is everything that was packed into the package Sulieen sent me. WOWZER!!! She asked me if I liked a particular candy; I said that I liked Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and boy o boy did she deliver-she sent me 3 types! I also received a card, a mug, 2 really cute crocheted doilies, 2 bundles of ribbon, a postcard from Miami and a length of stretch fabric.

So I totally got the better end of the stick in this swap and I feel a bit guilty that I didn't send her stuff that was as awesome. So I'm going to have to make it up to Sulieen (and her kiddlings) with some other goodies.
That's the story of how I participated in the Pin Cushion Swap of 2012.

I hope you have been doing something new and exciting lately,
Vanessa xo