Gift Card Holders

Gift card holder

     At our ASG meeting in September, one of our members demonstrated this cute gift card holder.  She then gave us squares of fabric, cording and little pompoms to make the bags.  We all made one or two and then returned them at the October meeting to be used for a seniors' place Christmas luncheon.

Pattern

     We needed a 12" equilateral triangle for the pattern piece.  I drew mine on pattern paper and then cut out my pieces.

Sewn triangles

     I sewed the two triangles right sides together, leaving an opening to turn.  I trimmed the corners and pressed.  Then I turned it right sides out and pressed again.  

Waiting for the cord

     When you sewed up the sides, it closed up the opening that was used to turn the piece.  Then I turned down the 'flaps' and sewed a casing for the cord.

Ready to thread the cord

    

      I used a blunt, large eyed needle to thread the cording through the casing.  Last step was sewing on the little pompoms to the corners.  A cute idea to give a gift card or a small gift. 

Zippy Bag #2

 

Finished Zippy Bag

     A few years ago I made my daughter a Zippy Bag to use when she is teaching.  That one wore out but the hardware was still okay.  She asked for another one so I carefully took apart the old one and saved all the hardware and zippers.

Detail of the zipper and hardware

     This one I made from a canvas fabric so hopefully it will last longer.  Because the zippers had already been cut to size, I had to carefully stitch the coils together on the ends so they wouldn't separate while sewing the bag together.  I had a deep green canvas in my stash, good for not showing stains.  I then used Packers fabric for the lining as she is a Green Bay Packer fan like me.

Inside of the purse

     I was glad I had saved the labels for the cut pieces from the last time I made it.  They came in handy to keep track of the pieces as I cut them.  It came together easily, I just had to be careful with the zippers.

Pattern used

HST Placemat - September ASG Challenge

Finished placemat

      The challenge for September was to make half square triangles (HST) by drawing lines on fabric squares and then sewing and cutting.  We were given a chart that had what size HST would be made from different sized squares of fabric.

Fabrics chosen

Lines drawn

     I chose a couple of coordinating 10" squares from my stash so that I could make a placemat for Meals on Wheels.  I drew the lines on the lighter colored fabric and then pinned the two pieces together.

Sewing done

First cut

After second cut

Last cut

     Then using my 1/4" foot, I sewed on either side of the diagonal lines.  First cuts were straight cuts, creating four squares, then lastly the diagonal lines were cut to make 8 HST.  

HSTs created

Trimming to size

     I then carefully pressed, making sure I didn't stretch the bias seam.  Then using my square ruler, I trimmed them to size, in this case 4 1/2" squares for finished 4" HSTs.

Finished

Square in square block

Back

    I sewed four squares together to make a square in square block.  I could have also done a pinwheel block or even made a row of flying geese.  Then using more coordinating fabric from my stash, I made a 14 x 18" placemat.  I did some quilting to keep it all together and added the binding.  It's fun to learn new techniques and be able to use them in a project for charity.  

     I do think I prefer using Thangles to make my HSTs because they get pressed with the paper in place preventing stretching the bias seam but it is always good to know how to do them another way.

Pajama Top Pillow

Finished pajama top pillow

     I had a former client reach out to me with a request from a friend.  Her dad had died and she wanted a pillow made from his favorite pair of pajamas.  We texted regarding the details and I got to work.

Ruler to prevent 'dog ears'

Lined pieces

     She wanted the pillow to look like a pajama top so I incorporated the collar and button front as much as possible.  In order to keep everything together, first I stitched the front closed along the edge of the piping.  Then I laid the front unto another part of the top and stitched along the edge of the collar.  Now I had a piece filling in the gap of the open collar.  I placed it on a piece of napped sateen lining and I cut to size trimming off the dog ears with my ruler.  I stitched them together for the front of the pillow.  I felt the pajama top alone was too lightweight to make a nice pillow.  I did not serge the edges as it was going to be stitched closed and no one would see the inside or be removing the form.

Ready for the pillow form

Ready to hand sew closed

       Then came the fun part, cutting the back so the plaid matched at the side edges (not able to match on the top and bottom due to the button closure.  I lined the back piece also and then stitched the front and back together.  Normally I leave the opening on the bottom but I knew there was more bulk there with the button closure so I opted to leave the opening on the side, much easier to hand stitch closed.

Matched plaid on the side

Slightly open at the neck

     I like the little bit of opening at the neck edge, feels even more like the pajama top.