Gifts to Make: Zip Bags for Everyone

Small zippered bags are really easy to make.  I have made lots of these for ladies, as cosmetic bags.  I made one today to save as a Christmas gift for a friend:

I have been thinking lately that these do not have to be for ladies only, and that anyone could use one.  So I made another gift, this one for a man.  I made it slightly larger so he can use it to hold toiletries, etc. for travelling.  This fabric was originally a shirt that no one here would wear, but the guitars are cool:

Then I made one, slightly smaller, for a nephew, for transporting his Legos:

You can buy bags already made by a beautiful mama for Legos on Etsy, at heartsongfarms.

I make these kind of bags by cutting rectangles from fabric, batting, and lining fabric, which I quilt together.  Then I attach the zipper.  After sewing the zipper in place, I sew it down neatly.  Then, I sew up the side seams.  Before I had a serger, I used to make binding for covering the seams and making it to look nice and neat inside.  Now I just use the serger.  Then I pinch the corners on the inside and sew them down, to make the bag flat on the bottom.  This is nice as it allows the bag to stand upright.  There must be a million different uses for these, and you can make one in about 15 minutes.  I think they make a great gift for anyone.

Before I leave, I will show you this other little bag I made.  I cut the pieces for this little bag by following the shapes of the folklore bag, but significantly smaller.  It took a bit longer than my simpler zip bags above, and I was not entirely pleased with my execution of this, but since I mentioned it before, I will show you; maybe it will give you an idea...

So now it's your turn.  Take an hour and make up several fast and cute bags now to stash away for holiday gifts.  It feels great to be crossing names of the gift list already.  Have fun!  I will be back soon.

Gift Idea: The Folklore Bag

Hi, Ya'll.  I am sorry; this is not the new tutorial from me.  I have been dealing with Mr.Green and a little boy not feeling well, which has kept me quite busy, and now I think the sickness is in me.   When I was finally able to make it into my sewing room last night, I realized that I was behind on my gift making.  So I used the time to cross more gifts off my list, instead of making the tutorial for my way of making baby blocks.  I have already made blocks for all the babies on my list, and so I made bags for my sister in laws first.  I promise I will get that tutorial up soon.

Here are the bags I made last night:

 

While I have made lots of bags before, this is the first time I have followed a pattern for a purse.  The pattern is the Folklore Bag, designed by Lauren Booth, which is one of several cute bag patterns that comes with One Yard Wonders.  I have mentioned this book here before, and now I am mentioning it again, because it is pretty awesome.  There are 101 patterns in this book, and believe me, you can find a lot of ideas for gifts (and using up your fabric stash) in this book.  If you haven't ordered this book yet, just click on over to Amazon and order it now; you will be glad you did.  Here is the link:  

I am just out of medium weight interfacing, but instead of making a trip to the store, I made those bags by quilting the outer fabric to pieces of a sturdy canvas curtain I thrifted.  I also used velcro in lieu of magnetic purse closures.  I bet the magnetic closures are much nicer than velcro, but I am all about using what I have.

I think I will make one more of these.  I just made a smaller version pattern based on this design, and am about to go in there and try to do a zippered pouch in this shape....if it works, I will show that off, too.  I plan to work on bags for the rest of this day, as I can do different types of bags for several folks on my Christmas list.  I kinda liked doing it with a pattern, maybe I will look around for something cute in a free tutorial.  Do you have a favorite bag pattern?  I would love to know what you like, do tell us!

I will be back soon.  In the meantime, have a great day, and happy sewing!

Announcing the Winner of Our First Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway, for my sewing kit/ needle book.

I wrote down all of our followers' names twice, and the names of you who commented once, as promised.

Put them in Mr. Green's favorite hat,

Shook them up, and asked our baby, Stout Sprout to please draw one.  He pulled out a few!

And then he immediately started depositing them, one by one, back into the hat, counting.  Our 8 year old, Tall Sprout helped out by grabbing the ONE name remaining in his hand from that first draw.  And the winner is......

Pat Redekopp!  Congratulations, Pat. 

Remember that our garden giveaway is running now until the end of the month.  Look for an announcement regarding our next giveaway (and also a new tutorial from me) to be posted very soon.

Until then, have a great day, and happy sewing!

Gift Idea: Soft Balls for Baby

I am working on a tutorial for ya'll; I plan for it to be up later today.  But it has been too long since my last post, so I thought I would share some links for this gift idea.

Here is the first soft ball I made:

I made this by cutting 12 pentagon shapes with 2 inch sides.  You just choose one to use as the middle and sew 5 other pieces to that, one along each side.  Then repeat, and sew these two halves together, turn, and stuff.  I like to add a jingle bell, encased inside a small plastic container (like the capsules that hold vending machine toys, or a small plastic easter egg, taped closed).

After I made this "soccer ball" type soft toy, I found a different pattern at  Grand Revival.  This page includes patterns for making three different sized balls.  The first ones I made were from felt, which I do not recommend.  These balls will be played with a lot, and the felt gets pilly and kindof yucky.  You can see that in this picture of the balls I made last year:

So, now I make these balls from regular cotton fabrics, and they turn out much nicer.  Like I said, I like to add a jingle bell inside and also ribbon tags for grabbing:

Another thing I have done with these balls is add an applique.  This is a photo taken before I had a digital camera, and I hesitate to post it because it is so bad, but it might inspire you to add something cute to the balls you will make:

So that should give you some ideas for cute baby or toddler gifts.  I also found another cute way to make a soft ball that might be even better for a younger baby; this one has lots of places for a little baby to grab.  I haven't made one like this yet, so I don't have pictures to show you.  But there are pictures along with the tutorial for sewing this kind of soft ball at the Daily Skein.

Like I said, this is just a bonus post of sorts, while we wait on the next tutorial from me.  I hope it will be up in a few hours.  Until then, happy sewing!

Gifts for the Gulf

I live on the Gulf Coast.  My Dad has earned his living directly from the Gulf since before I was born.  I grew up spending nearly every weekend on the beach.  As an adult, when stresses have had me feeling overwhelmed, I could always hop in my car and speed down to the beach and recharge by listening to the surf meet the shore and the call of the gulls soaring overhead.  It is heartbreaking to think that my little boys will not get to play on the beach anymore.  And every time I see a sign that says "Fresh Gulf Seafood," I want to cry.

I have wanted to do something to help, but have been unclear as to what can be done.  Yesterday I learned about Craft Hope.

I read about what they are doing to help: asking crafters to make small towels and washrags to help in cleaning oiled wildlife.  And so, since yesterday, I have been making mitts and small towels to send for this cause.  It made me happy to knit a blue cotton mitt, thinking it might be used to save a dolphin or a bird.  And my serger helped me to easily make towels from some old sheets, a blanket, and a ripped beach towel.

But I have been doing some investigating today, and it turns out that not enough creatures are being helped at the moment.   A volunteer I spoke with today told me that most of what is being done is assessment and documentation of the damage, not much for recovery.  She told me that BP is somehow preventing agencies from actually launching recovery efforts.  She said there are not people cruising around in boats looking for dolphins in the spill to save. 

This is breaking my heart.  I cannot understand why BP is in charge of this cleanup!  Sure, they should pay, but they should not be directing the efforts! 

So, back to what we CAN do:
I have made all these towels, as have many more crafters.  I desperately hope that they will be used to help and that a great many animals can be saved.  But what is needed more than towels is money to fund projects that can make a real difference. 

I have been planning to donate profits from items I will be selling on etsy, and today I have discovered a whole shop dedicated to this purpose.  If you are a crafter on etsy, I encourage you to contribute something to Help the Gulf Coast.  If you have already done so, I thank you.  I also encourage everyone to visit this shop and buy some special gift for yourself or someone you love that will also be a gift for the gulf.  The proceeds from these items are being donated to OxFam America and the National Wildlife Federation.  Again, the name of the charity shop on Etsy is Help the Gulf Coast


I will be making gifts for the Gulf and will add them towards this cause as soon as I am set up on etsy.   I encourage everyone else to help with this by either donating something towards this shop, or purchasing something from there, or both.

I will continue my research into what is being done and what can be done to help. 
If you know more about real ways we can help, or about real organizations that are actually doing something to save wildlife in the Gulf, please let me know.

In the meantime, we should all be praying for the animals that live in the Gulf and have nowhere else to go.  Even if you don't believe in God, I ask you to pray.  Please God, help us to Save Our Gulf.  Amen.