I didn’t really mean to sew anything this morning. Still, I ended up at the sewing machine and about 20 minutes later I had this nifty little fold over clutch. I found the not-sequins fabric at Joann’s and fell in love, even though I have absolutely no occasions that require a shimmery purse. You may see me carrying this to the gym.
My younger daughter started eighth grade today. I tried to give her the best start to the day by waking her with our purring Kitten, made her pumpkin bread with Nutella for breakfast and gave her this little Dr. Who case to keep her iTouch and phone safe in her school bag.
If you’d like to make a little zipper pouch of your own, you can find the pattern by Anna at Noodlehead here. (I still need to add a key ring to each pouch.)
I hope my Little One has a great first day of school — middle school has got to be better when you take the Doctor with you!
My little sister in law visited us and wanted to learn how to sew. I was so excited to teach her, especially because my own daughters don’t have the slightest interest. I let her pick what she wanted to make. If you keep the design simple enough, even a beginner can make almost anything she wants. Thankfully, she wanted to make pillows (super easy!) and a purse (slightly harder but still very doable).
We bought new pillow inserts that she can recover with new shams any time she likes. I won’t give detailed instructions here because there are so many great pillow tutorials, but here’s a quick breakdown:
For the front of each pillow, we took the height and width of the insert and added an inch to each measurement. To make the back, we cut two pieces the height of the pillow plus an inch, then divided the width in half and added four and a half inches to that number to give a little overlap. (So for her 18″ square pillow insert, the front piece was 19″x19″ and the two back pieces were 19″x13.5″.) For each back piece, press under one tall side about a quarter inch, then turn it under another half inch and press again. Sew along this pressed edge to create the finished edges for the back opening of the pillow. To finish, lay the front piece right side facing up and cover it with each of the two back pieces (facing down) with the cut edges lined up neatly and pinned in place. Sew around the edges, clip the corner and turn it right side out. Easy?
She wanted to get a little fancy with her last pillow. Didn’t she do a great job?
It was her first time EVER sewing! She was amazing.
For lesson two, she wanted to make a purse.
We used the slouch hobo purse pattern from Ali Foster on Etsy because it’s a simple, easy to follow pattern that gives you a classically shaped purse. She enjoyed the instant gratification of the pillows but did a great job on her purse, too.
She was amazed that after spending $50 in a fabric store, she had three pillows, a purse AND left over fabric to make more things — not to mention that the pillows can be recovered again and again. And everything is in colors and patterns that she adores, because she picked them all herself.
Isn’t sewing wonderful? Hopefully this is only the start of a lifetime hobby!
I couldn’t decide if I liked the wristlet better with a gray camera and a floral background
or with a floral camera and a gray background
so now I have one for me, and one for a friend. Indecision is a wonderful thing. :)
I used the free PDF template from Ashley at Lil Blue Boo to make the camera applique. Isn’t it the cutest!? Thank you, Ashley! (I reduced mine to 75% to better fit the purse.)
Now I feel a need to go be a tourist!
My daughter graduates from high school in a few days, and I wanted to give a few of her closest friends a little gift to celebrate. They’ve stood by her through everything, and as her Mom I really appreciate that.
Since they’re graduating and moving off in many different directions, I wanted to give them a gift that would remind them of their friends. Each of them have a similar wristlet, but with fabrics chosen with each girls’ personality in mind. The same, but different.
I was able to sneak in a giraffe print, a favorite of one of the girls. It’s inside, like her own little secret.
I used a mashup of this wristlet by Ayumi of Pink Penguin and this clutch by Anna of Noodlehead, then threw on a monogram just because.
What girl doesn’t like a monogrammed purse?
While I was at it, I made extra monograms for their gift bags.
(The tissue paper is their school colors.)
It’s so hard to believe they’re all grown up! I hope they’ll stay in touch with each other. I hope they’ll make their dreams come true, even when they change their minds over and over about what those dreams might be. I hope they’ll stay just as awesome as they are today.
Watch out world, here they come!
