Fabric wristlett Wallet: The last gift

The last of Melissa's birthday gifts was a fabric wristlett wallet. When she opened this yesterday on her birthday I got one of the best compliments that a home sewer can get... wow! Where did you get this?? I love it! 

I must confess that I made this fabric wallet in the middle of the night the day before her birthday. I could not sleep and instead of tossing and turning I headed to the sewing room. I had the pieces already cut out so I just spent a couple hours whipping it up! It came out so great and I am sure to make a couple more of these.

I was originally going to use the free pattern/tutorial from the winter 2010 SewNews magazine but when I got online the comments for the tutorial where filled with bad reviews. I checked my printed pattern against some measurements and when I found these were off I decided to scrap the project. I did a search and found a tutorial for this fabric wallet from Confessions of a Fabricaholic. I did make some minor changes like adding the swivel clip and wrist strap as well as adding more interfacing. Other than that I just followed the tutorial step by step.


I used the dachshund fabric as the main fabric and then used the leftover rainbow fabric from the tote bag for the inner pieces. It came out great and coordinates with the tote bag.

Then the lovely part of telling the recipient that you made it for them. :) That always makes my day. She knew that she was getting the tote bag but had no idea about the doxxie fabric wallet or the jewelry board.

It was a great way to celebrate her birthday, with lots of gifts made with love just for her, that plus the 6 hours her Dad and I spent in the kitchen plating ultimate cakeoff! We made a giant birthday cake for her. It was great fun and came out delicious!

 

The Tote Bag is done

The tote bag is complete!

I finished Melissa's birthday gifts! Just in time, her birthday is today:) Can't believe my baby is turning 23... This post is all about the tote bag, I'll post on the last gift I made in the next post. Boy... she is really spoiled this year :)

The tote bag turned out really well, I made a couple of modifications from the original Amy Butler; Sweet Harmony pattern.

1. I added 2 magnetic closures at the top. I really like a bag that has some type of closure. These are pretty heavy duty magnets so unless the bag is over  stuffed they are gonna stay closed!.

2 magnetic snap closures at top of main compartment

2. I added a clip on the inside to attach keys to. I put this on the side that has the open pockets. The keys can be clipped on and slid into the pocket for easy retrieval. Nothing worse than having to dig around in a big bag for keys.

Swivel clip added into lining, upper left hand of picture. This side has the 2 open pockets.

This side shows the big zippered pocket

3. I applied Scotchgard to the bag. I have never used scotchgard before. I only applied a single coat, I may add a second one... any one have any Scotch Guarding tips?

I also made a matching tissue holder or 'sneeze catcher' for the bag.



tote bag versus the handbag



My only con to this project was the quality of the purple zebra fabric. I bought the fabric at a good quilt shop and paid just under $10 a yard for it. I was expecting a higher quality than what I ended up working with. I may think twice before purchasing clothworks textiles again especially when paying a premium price.

Completed GIft but still not enough time!

I have finished one of the planned 3 birthday gifts for Melissa. Yikes... her birthday is this coming weekend and of course I am running out of time.

Not only am I running out of time but also I am having surgery, again, tomorrow and my sewing machine has decided that it needs to go into the shop. now. I wont have the time to bring it to the shop until after my surgery so it will just have to wait a bit.

Murphy's law that my sewing machine decides to misbehave just when I would like it to be working perfectly. Oh well, I should not complain, I have my trusty standby machine that I can work on if feeling up to it.

So in order to make up for the fact that I may not have the other gifts done, I added to the first project. The project, that you had a sneak peak of, is a jewelry board. Melissa is in dire need of a jewelry box, which her boyfriend has decided to get for her. However, on further discussion with him regarding her needs of a jewelry box we discovered, while snooping a bit, that she has several costume jewelry necklaces. Any woman knows that these necklaces tend to be big, long, chunky and fun and that they also don't fit in a standard jewelry box. Hence my decision to make a jewelry board that she can hang her fun costume jewelry necklaces on.

I would love to claim the idea as my own but I can't. I read about a similar idea sometime while recuperating from my broken leg over the summer and it stuck in my brain.

I started with a $2.98 bulletin board and used Acrylic paints, craft paper, magazine advertisements, ink jet printed paper, various cup hooks and hooks from hardware store, Mod Podge and varnish and put it all together! The hardest thing about this project was all the dry time for the various coats of paint, nod podge and varnish.

** The last 2 photo's are sideways, not sure why they uploaded that way and I can't seem to fix it regardless of what I do! so sorry for you having to turn your head!**

Top half of the jewelry board, showing the three large hooks and the 4 smaller cup hooks.

Detail of the corner, I added a crystal rosette to each corner for some added 'bling'



The completed Jewelry board



with 4 new necklaces added to the gift :)



At least I have one great gift my girl! If I don't ge the tote bag done on time I wont worry too much.