Tag Archives: christmas

Last minute Christmas gifts

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A little while back, I had pinned this sewing project/tutorial for an electronic cable travel case (over on Pinterest). I had thought…hmm…maybe Christmas gifts for some of my work colleagues (I work for a large computer software company….so electronic cable case=perfect).

Finally, this weekend (2.5 days left of work for the year) I managed to get 3 done. I have to say, I had a blast sewing them,  mostly due to the great company on Sunday afternoon.
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A few friends (Sarah @ StitchingandBacon, Michelle @ UndiscoveredOptimist and Jenn pictured above; Daisy @ AntsToSugar and Becky pictured below) got together at Cary Quilting Company for a bit of last-minute Christmas sewing, sharing of fabric + Christmas baked goodies.

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The first pouch I made was using fabric from Frances Newcombe, Utopia (pictured below – Outside front, Outside back, Inside). I used a fantastic tutorial for these cases by LiveIt.LoveIt.MakeIt.

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I modified some aspects of the tutorial. First off, I needed to convert from cm to in. and here are the materials I used for my pouches (if in the US):

For the pouch pieces:  6″ (side) x 9″ (width) (4 pieces; 2 for the lining and 2 for the main)
For the Cable Tidy Section: 10″ (width) x 18″ (length) (2 pieces; one for the lining and one for the main)
Zipper: 9″ zipper was used for the pouch; purchased from Zipit
Elastic: 19″ length @ 0.5″ and 1″ wide (Joann’s)
Buckle: 2.5″ x 1″ Nickel Fashion Buckle (Joann’s)
Snaps: Size 2 Sew on Snaps (Joann’s)
Interfacing: Pellon Sf101 (fusible Shape flex) (from Joann’s – 30% off at the moment)

I replaced the felt with Fusible Fleece, specifically Pellon 987f Fusible Fleece (from Joann’s – 30% off at the moment).
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There are only a few construction pointers, I can provide extra to the provided tutorial.

  1. For sewing the zipper into the pouch, I added fabric tabs to the ends of my zipper for a nicer finish.
  2. I placed my elastic starting at 3″ from the top (0.5″ elastic) and 3″ from the bottom (1″ elastic).
  3. Pin, pin. pin the elastic, especially the smaller one on top. The smaller one tended to move more often when you sewing the straight lines and if you want a straight looking line of elastic you needed to pin.
  4. Draw and measure each line you are planning on sewing down through the elastic with a fabric marker. I used chalk pencil.
  5. I marked my lines starting with 2 x 2″ width and then alternated the 1.5″ and 1″ lines and finished off again with one or two 2″ segments. I recommend not placing two 1″ lines close to each other as it makes it difficult to fit items next to each other.

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The two on the left are for male colleagues and the one on the right was for a female colleague.

Lots of fun, and a project I would make again. It took me about 90 minutes for the first one, while I worked out all the steps. The other two, took 90 minutes combined, and I sewed more like a production line.

Fabrics for my pouches above were:

Your turn, you still have time to make those last-minute Christmas gifts!! Good Luck.

Tutorial: Coffee Cup Sleeves

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My first year sewing, I decided to make coffee cup sleeves for Christmas gifts and a Christmas fair. They were so successful, and after making about 40 of these, I thought y’all would enjoy them too.
FinalSleeve_front

Materials:

  • 24 2.5″ x 1.5″ Scraps (I am using pink and purple scraps which could be any size)
  • 3 6.5″ x 1.5″ Linen strips
  • 1 6.5″ x 10″ Corduroy (for backing, you could also use felt)
  • 2 6.5″ x 10″ fusible fleece ( you could use one piece fleece, one piece insul fleece; I use both pieces of fleece, so that I can use it for cold drink sweat as well)
  • 1/4″ binding (Wrights double folded bias works well)
  • 1 Elastic hair tie
  • 1 button
  • 1 Paper Coffee cup sleeve (use as template)

    Scraps

  1. Sew the 2.5″ x 1.5″ pieces into 6.5″ x 2.5″ strips and trim. Layout the your sleeve. Sew the scrappy strips together with the 6.5″ x 1.5″ linen strips. This will make a block of ~10″ x 6.5″.

    ScrapsSewn_Layout
  2. You now have 4 pieces to make your quilt sandwich. Iron one piece of the fusible fleece to the corduroy, the other to the scrappy block (front). Pin the layers together and trim the top edge, so that you have a good guide for quilting. QuiltSandwich
  3. Quilt the sandwich. I used my foot edge for even distance between the straight-line quilting.
    Quilted
  4. Pin the template on the quilted sandwich. Cut out your coffee cup sleeve.
    CutFirstSleeve
  5. You may actually be able to get two out of your block. Line the template up with the arc of the previous cut.
    CutTwoSleeves
  6. You now have two sleeves.
    TwoSleevesCut
  7. Take one of the sleeves and the 1/4″ double folded bias. Open the bias folds, and iron the edge in about a 1/4″. This will be where you will fold the edges of the binding within itself.
  8. Use a machine binding technique with your sleeve,  that means, you will start sewing the binding to the back. Unfold one edge of the binding and use the fold as a guide to your sew line. Sew approximately 1″ at a time, making sure you line up the edge of the bias with the sleeve edge. Use mitered corners.
    SewingBinding_Back
  9. To finish up the binding on the back, overlap the edges of the binding about 1/4″ and sew. Unfold the bottom edge (leaving the 1/4″ “hem”),  and nest the other edge, refold.
  10. Turn over the coffee cup sleeve and fold over the binding. Stitch about a couple of mm from the edge all the way around. At the corners make sure you make the mitered corners fold the opposite way of the back.
    SewingBinding_Front
  11. Once the binding is on add the finishing details. On the slightly angled edge, pin the middle of the hair tie together, and pin it to the middle of the sleeve.
    PlacingElasticTie
  12. Turn the coffee cup sleeve over and sew along the top stitching of the binding to mask the stitching. Back stitch, back across the hair tie to add strength to the securing stitches.
  13. To finish off securing the hair tie, add about 10 stitches attaching the end of the hair tie to the back. Make sure your stitches do not go through the front. Use a thread color to match the corduroy.
    Finishings
  14. Last step, is attaching the button to the straighter edge of the coffee cup sleeve. I use a 4 hole button, as it is more stable than a 2 hole which is needed with the pull of from the hair tie.FinalSleeve_FlatView
  15. That’s it, the only thing left is to try it on your cup. It should fit a Starbuck’s cup and their $1 recycle cup and Caribou Cafe etc.
    FinalSleeve_back

I hope you enjoy, and I would love to see any you make up. If you have any questions let me know.

Small Giveaway

Now, for a small giveaway…I have an extra coffee cup sleeve of the one above and I will throw in some recent scraps as well, whatever I can fit in the envelope. Just leave a comment below on what handmade gifts you are making for Christmas. If you are a follower you get a second entry – just let me know below. I will randomly draw a winner next Sunday at 6pm EST.

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and Let’s Bee Social (see buttons on the right).

December Scrap-bee-licious blocks finished

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This month’s theme of anything Christmas, was very appropriately chosen by  Nicole @ Modern Handcraft. It also allowed me to use my scraps from the Christmas Stocking, use fabrics I have purchased but not used, and finally try out two block patterns I have on my pinterest site.

Block 1: Christmas Tree Block was inspired by this one by Katie’s Korner.

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Block 2: Christmas Gift Tags is one of my favorite blocks I have made so far. I used the idea in this flickr image from Ayumi Takahashi. Aren’t they fantastic. I couldn’t find a pattern so I created a paper piecing pattern, where each of the blocks are 6 x 6 inches (finished so this block below is 12 x 12).
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If you would like the directions or the paper piecing of either of the two blocks,  let me know and I can share how I made these. ChristmasSrapbeeliciousBlocks

Linking up for Kristy’s Paper Piecing Party.

Paper Piecing Party

Hope everyone has a great New Year. See you tomorrow for Book Review Tuesday.
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