Christmas Prezzies

Hello!

I'm back from South Africa. I'm sure you want to see the highlight of my trip: these two little guys (two and half month old white lions) that I got to pet and cuddle in South Africa! Can you believe that? It was amazing.

But anyway, now it's safe to show you those Christmas presents I made. Or should I say "prezzies" because everyone is South Africa is obsessed with diminutives like choppies (lamb chops) and cozzies (costumes or swimsuits).

I made my niece this pink tote bag because she's four years old and obsessed with pink. Wears nothing but pink.

This was one of the first really nice pieces of fabric I bought when I started to sew, yet somehow it sat around waiting for the perfect project, whatever that may be. This is the one that had a sun bleached line, but I was able to avoid it for the bag, of course.

I filled the bag with a really awesome coloring book, some twist-up colored pencils, and plain notepad. I thought this might be as much of a gift for the parents as for her. They can take this little set with them to restaurants and she can keep busy while they enjoy themselves out.

For my brother in law and father in law, I made some Braii gloves (aka oven mitts for grilling). These gloves are long, so that they come almost all the way down to the elbow. I decided to make them this way after hearing about how the grill lid fell down onto my brother in law's arm and burned him.

Again, it's time to use the fabrics I love and I can be happy that these elephants are going to a good home. Luckily, these guys both like whimsical fabrics.

Nautical bag

Well, here it is. My concerns were alleviated when I saw the finished product. I'm really enjoying the red stripes. 

It really turned out to be quite big. Great for lots of beach towels. Plus it's not too thick, so you can fold it up and carry it around in your purse if you want. And my boss liked it, so that's great, too. Yay! Now my direct boss wants one, too.

Nautical fabrics?

Hmmm. I was going to post about how I went to Mood Fabrics this week (made famous by Project Runway), but now it doesn't seem so important.

Basically, I was asked to make a tote bag for my boss. She wants it to have nautical colors and is able to hold four beach towels for her family. I gave her a variety of color themes and she was fine with all of them and left it up to me. I found the following fabrics at mood...

The red and white stripe canvas would be the outside and the navy polka dot on white would be the lining. I haven't picked the handle webbing yet, but it could be navy, yellow, off white. Now, I picked the red and white canvas because they didn't have any of the other colors I would liked, such as teal, yellow, blue, etc. So this whole thing could have gone in a totally different direction.

The problem is: does it look like a flag now? Is it too patriotic? I actually had a dream about it last night where I showed my boss and she hated it.

I have to think about this more. Should I have a different lining fabric? Would yellow handles help? Or do I have to just try it and see? I guess from the outside it would still be cute.

Happy Birthday, Joan!

And Thanks! You inspired me to make my first tote bag. I hope you like it!

I made this using Amy Karol's book "Bend the Rules Sewing." I modified it a bit by making it bigger, using two long handles with different fabrics on each side, using inferfacing for stability and sturdiness, and making a double sided pocket.

It didn't take as long as I expected, although I couldn't say how long it actually took. There was a minor setback when I topstiched the outside and one handle was loose. I had to rip out the thread, turn it back inside-out and then re-sew it all. But that's fine. The thread is not 100% perfectly straight (as I expect it should be, even on a first try), but it's okay. I'm coming to terms with that.

The outside is twill fabric in teal. The inside fabrics come from Target. They were sheets that I had to buy because I knew they would be super fucking adorable someday when I reincarnated them. heh heh. Now I want to make one for myself, but maybe a bit bigger. Or maybe Joan wouldn't like me copying. We'll see.