Fabric basket

This patchwork fabric basket is made based on the easy-to-follow tutorial from Pink Penguin. I've been wanting to sew this fabric basket for a long time... and I finally had a chance to make it! Pink Penguin's tutorial is very clear, and the new PDF version tutorial was very helpful for me :)

The fabric basket finishes up in a compact size, which is a perfect size for me to store my sewing essentials inside the basket like this.  This way, I can carry my stitching supplies wherever our kids play around the house (kitchen, living room, backyard, and even in my car ...!)

I really like how the basket turned out.  It's also a good way to use your leftover scrap fabrics.  The patchwork squares are in 2" x 2" sizes, or approximately 5 cm x 5 cm, and you will need 24 of them (plus some additional fabric for the handles, inside, and the basket bottom).

Made with Liberty floral prints

Liberty print + linen pouch set, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

Hope you are all enjoying your holiday season with your loved ones and good food...

Christmas is over... but I still had a couple more of handmade gift items that I wanted to post here.

I made this pouch and a key fob as a matching gift set.  I really like the combination of Liberty of London floral prints + linen.  As you may know, Liberty prints are pretty pricey fabric so I was only able to use only a small portion here and there, but I just love these Tana Lawn flower prints!! (BTW I purchased these Liberty prints in Japan).

For inside, I used pink/white polka dots cotton.

Here are another picture of key fobs using Liberty fabrics.
 

 
Hope you continue to enjoy your holiday season...

Happy Holidays

These are the handmade ornaments made by our girls.  I think they did a good job :)

Wishing you a very merry Christmas from our family to yours...   Blessings to you all!

Gifts to my fellow crafters

Crochet hooks organizer, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I made this crochet hooks organizer for a special person who enjoys crocheting. Inside has seven pockets to organize crochet hooks and mini scissors, etc.  I also attached wood beeds at the end of both strings.

The top flap will close like this to prevent hooks from falling off.

When rolled up, it looks like this.

I also made a couple of these tartlet pincushions for those who enjoy sewing.

Gifts for good dreams

Handmade eye pillow, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

This handmade eye pillow is filled with rice and dried lavender. The outer bag has an envelope opening so it can be washed and cleaned. It can also be placed in a freezer to treat migraines and other headaches... I made a couple of these as gifts, and since I liked it so much I also made it for myself.  I hope the recipients have good dreams with the scent of lavender at bed time.

This is the front view...

Here is the close up of my hand carved stamps...

Have sweet dreams!  ...zzz...

Gift to the frequent traveler

Drawstring bag with handle, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I made several handmade gifts to my family and friends this holiday season, and this is one of them. It is a gift to the frequent traveler. I attached handles to this drawstring bag, and the bag is intended to be used as a carrying bag for shoes.

I placed these (store bought) slippers inside the bag ... I hope the recipient likes it!

Drawstring bag

I made this drawstring bag for my friend recently.  When I sewed this bag together, I had to make it in a hurry, and as it turned out, I was able to make it in about an hour.   The bag is reversible and it is made based on the great tutorial from Pink Penguin.  The inside looks like this. 

As with any other handmade gifts, the most difficult part for me was selecting the fabrics, but the recipient seemed to like it (which made me happy :) 

Camera cozy

This is a camera case that I made sometime ago  to carry around my Canon Powershot digital camera.  It is lined with a cushiony batting  so it protects my camera from hitting and dropping (which occures quite often in this household).  It's nice because I can hang it on to my bag handles like this.  

I made this camera cozy based on this Japanese craft book.  Unfortunately, the book is no longer in print in Japan (the publisher went out of business in 2009), but the the author of this book, komihinata, has a very popular blog that she updates daily.  Yes, daily.  I like to visit her blog to get many crafting inspirations.

Crocheted hair accessary

I crocheted these flowers in my car last week while I waited for our girls' after school activity classes.   I can't work on my sewing machine in my car (I wish I can), but I can crochet everywhere.   And that's the best thing about crocheting (very handy).

This is the back side.  I simply hand stitched the hair bands on to the crocheted flowers.

My younger daughter wore them to school today (in a different color).

How to make a pyramid sachet 三角サシェ作り方

Today, I would like to show you how to make these pyramid shaped sachets, filled with dried lavenders.  Sewing a pyramid shape may look a bit intimidating at first, but in truth, this is a fairly simple project.  Once you make one pyramid, you will be making another one for sure!   Also, even if you don't have dried lavenders on hand to make a sachet, you can simply fill a pyramid with some poly fill to make a fabric ornament for your Christmas tree.  

Please note that this tutorial is intended for PERSONAL USE ONLY!

What you will need:

1. fabric of your choice 3 inch x 6 inch (or 7.5cm x 15cm)

2. string or ribbon for hanging the sachet approximately 7 inches long (or approx. 18 cm long)

3. dried lavender (or poly fill, for making pyramid ornaments instead)

4. funnel (for filling dried lavenders)

5. optional: embroidery floss if you want to add embroidery to your sachet

Step-by-step directions:

1. Tie the string at the end to make a knot.  Place the tied string in the center of the fabric like this, making sure that the tied knot is sticking out of the top.  This is to make sure that the string will not slip off from the sachet. 

2. Fold the rectangle fabric in half to make a square.   As shown in step 1, a tied knot should be sticking out of the center top, like this.

3. Sew two sides of the square together, starting from the side with the tied knot sticking out, then move on to the next side.  When sewing the second side, leave a small opening for turning the sachet inside out and for filling dry lavender.   Seam is 1/4 inch (0.7 mm) throughout.

4. Press the seams open.

5. Squeeze the last side (the unsewn side) and join the edges as shown and pin in place.

6. Sew the edges together, being careful not to sew the string inside.

7. Cut off the excess corners.

8. Turn the sachet inside out.  If you would like to add embroidery, do it at this step.

9. Fill the dry lavender from the opening.  Or, fill it with some poly fill to make an ornament.

10. It's easier to use funnel for filling the dried lavenders.

11. Handstitch the opening with whipstitch to close.

Here, I've made a patchwork pyramid, an embroidered pyramid, and a simple pyramid (from left to right).  Keep one in the clothes drawer, one in the car, and one in your bag! Dried lavenders are natural moth repellent, and its aroma will melt your stress away...

Each sachet is fairly small, I can put it on my palm like this.

I'd like to see your projects if you make one!   Thanks for viewing : ) 

How many days till Christmas?

I made this wreath for last Christmas using felt and yarn pom poms.  I simply filled the wreath with poly fills and machine sewed two rings (wreaths) together, then attached handmade pom poms on the front by hand stitching. These pom poms are made from the leftover yarns.  And the little bear guy in the middle is from our girls' toy box!

I also made this advent calendar last Christmas for our girls. The numbers (days) on the calendar are machine embroidered using my sewing machine and then sewed onto the felt pockets.  Instead of machine embroidering the numbers (days), stamping will work as well, too, I think.  The tree is also made of felt.  

We wish that your holiday season is filled with lots of love, happiness, and many many crafting : )

Basket cover

Of all the great ideas out there on what to make out of a piece of fat quarter fabric (measuring 18 inch x 22 inch, or approximately 45 cm x 55 cm), what I made is a simple cloth to cover the basket... It's too simple to even call it a sewing project, but I thought the cloth covers whatever is stored inside the basket (we normally store a hair dryer inside here) and to prevent dust off from it.

It may be a little hard to recognize from this photo, but I sewed a small handmade linen tag on to the corner of this fabric cover.  The tag has my handcarved "chick" stamp on it. 

 Can you see?

Hexagon pouch

hexagon pouch, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I sewed a patchwork hexagon by hand some time ago, and simply machine appliqued it onto a piece of linen fabric.  The appliqued hexagon was sitting on my sewing table for a while, waiting to be made into something... and here I finally made it into a pouch.  I learned from Pink Penguin's blog recently that the squeezable metal opening thing that I used in this pouch are called "flex frames".   These openings are very simple to sew; it's easy as making drawstring bags.  I like this pouch, but I think that I should of lined it with some sort of cushiony batting so that I can put fragile and valuable items (e.g., sunglasses, cameras, etc.) inside.

Here are few of the other pictures of this pouch making process.  There are many great online tutorials out there on how to make patchwork hexagons, but I found this one from He Sows, She Sews very helpful.

Trying to make good use of my scrap fabics...

I used these plastic hexagon shaped "foundations" that I got from local Joann's...

Then I machine appliqued the hexagon flower onto a piece of linen fabric...

End result! This is the side view...

Happy hexagon piecing!

More eraser stamps

Eraser Stamps, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

This is what I did last night after our kids went to bed... I was going to stop (carving) after I finished the first one, but I ended up carving a total of eight small stamps (!) in about 2 hours.  Few.  I guess I was haunted by some stamp carving ghost or something to carve so many stamps at once (and this was still my second try to carve eraser stamps).   But I enjoyed it very much. 

Many of the stamp designs are from this book.    Happy stamp carving!