More Christmas Gifts

You may recall that back in November I made that really cute patchwork backpack for my great niece.  So for Christmas I'm making one for her little brother.

I made her a box pouch to match and included a brush, compact, lipstick (lip smackers, actually) and nail polish.  Her brother confiscated the pouch for some of his little lego pieces - or some such.


So here is his pouch.  I'm not sure what I'll put it in - something though.




And so I'm going to make his backpack from the same fabric - pretty good for a a little boy, isn't it?

And if Mimi will let me, I'm going to work on it today!

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Testing....

It's been a strange few weeks...last week I didn't sew at all - we had a garage sale on Saturday and I spent the entire week before sorting stuff to get rid of.

Oh, and I drove to Cincinnati to IKEA one afternoon to get new tables for my sewing room.  The old folding ones were starting to get seriously warped.  Do you know how hard it is to cut straight on a warped surface?

There are a couple of things that I've been testing - the first is a smaller size case for essential oils.  It will be about the size of the medium box pouch, but with built in pockets for the oil bottles.  I'd show a picture of my first attempt - it's really cute, but my pockets were a little small for even the small size of the bottles.  I'm not sure what I measured when I tried that one.

And the second item is kind of a re-make.  When I first started making cell phone cases, all the phones were small.  Not so much any more - so I had all these smaller cases, that are good for some of the small cameras, etc., but really I hadn't sold very many this year.  And I could reclaim my swivel hooks from them rather than buying more right now!

So I spent a couple of hours taking them apart.  Then I attempted to make a new case from the outside fabric of the cases - similar to my small zipper wallet, but instead of the outside zipper section, it will be an ID window.  And I think I'll use a split key ring rather than the swivel hook.

Stay tuned for these items to be available soon!

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Hello? Anyone there?

I know, it's like I went missing.  It's not like I haven't been working on a lot of different things, but it's hard for me to sit down and write about it.

So here's what I haven't shared lately.

1. For my birthday last year (2011) I got this great Singer Steam Press.  The first time I used it, I had too many other things (mainly my regular iron) plugged in and I blew the breaker.  We had to have some electrical work done for something else, so they looked at the power into my sewing room, and told me 'deal with it'.  So I finally decided that I wanted to try it out.  I turned (most) everything else off and found that it was ok to use.  So I've been using it for fusing my interfacing and fusible fleece, AND I LOVE IT!

2. I've been making lots of box pouches - I make them in two sizes.  I think my most popular fabric is the cat faces, which is out of print, so once they are gone (and the one yard I have left), that's it.  I also sell several of the 'manly' fabrics - the houndstooth (available in several colors) - check out the new black and white - pretty cool, huh?  I made two sets this year for wedding parties.  I think they make pretty good groomsmen gifts.  I imagine they could be great for the bridesmaids too, but haven't had anyone request that.





3. I only had one show in August - it's usually such a hot month and miserable for shows - so of course this year, it was pretty pleasant since I didn't do any.  I have a pretty light schedule for the rest of this year - I have two in September and one in October and I'm done for the year.  I'm planning on concentrating on online sales during the fall and winter.

4. To that end, I've been working on pricing, shipping, description, tags, etc.  It's a lot of work when you have close to 400 listings.

So stay tuned and see what comes next!

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Custom Order - Monogram Applique

I've been making the box pouch for a while.  It's a shaped pouch - much like a dopp kit - zipper across the top and down the two ends just a bit.

I added some 'manly' fabrics a while back - one of which ended up in an 'Etsy Finds' email and another on the Etsy front page not too long ago.

I'm currently working on an order for six - I'm assuming they are for a wedding - there was a request to monogram them.  I don't have an embroidery machine - and have no plans to get one - so I found a decent block letter set and tested out an applique monogram.  Not too hard.

Here's what the first one looks like.

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out - although I'm sure I would not want to have to make a living on applique.

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Box Pouch Bounty

I recently worked out the details for a custom order that was for 14 small box pouches for a wedding party.  I usually make 2-3 box pouches at a time, so decided that the best way to approach this project was to break it up into parts and do some other work in between.

The long holiday weekend also helped with this - the picture shows the final result.  These will be going out in the mail this week. 

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Pouch Pyramid

I've been making a couple of sizes of box pouches for a while now.  These are great cases for just about anything.  I put a d-ring on one end and just a fabric tab on the other, which makes it easier to zip them up! 

You can check out my current selection in my etsy shop.

Recently my husband said that he liked the pouches, but that I needed to make some even bigger ones, and I needed to make some in less feminine prints (what, guys don't want a case with flowers or cats?)!

So the stack here is the four sizes that I will now make for these,  The two larger sizes will feature an exterior pocket, a small strap on one end along with the tabs, and larger zippers, so the pulls are more accomodating for larger hands to use.

Look for the new sizes coming soon to my shop!





Happy Sewing!

Susan

And the winner is!

Announcing the winner of the set of box pouches:  Shannon!

Shannon - I will contact you to get your maililng information and get these in the mail to you.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated! 

Happy Sewing!

Susan

You Can Win!

So I taunted you the other day with my Sis Boom fabrics, and said that I was going to do a give-away.

And I am - here it is! 

You can be the winner of this set of two box pouches made using the Sis Boom fabrics.  Each box pouch is pieced and quilted with a metallic thread.  Approximate size of each pouch is 8" wide by 3.75" tall x 3" deep, has a zippered closer, tabs on each end, one with a metal d-ring.

Here's how to enter the contest:

1. Make a general comment on this blog post.

2. Follow me on Twitter.  Post your twitter id in a comment on this blog post.

3. Like my facebook page.  Post your facebook id in a comment on this blog post.

4. Favorite my Etsy shop.  Post your etsy id in a comment on this blog post.

5. Join my Circle on Etsy.  Post your etsy id in a comment on this blog post.

6. Buy something from my Etsy shop. Post the transaction information in a comment on this blog post.

The winner will be selected on Saturday, January 28, after 5pm EST.

Good luck and happy sewing!

Susan