How To: Make a Sewing Kit for a Young Girl

 

I shared a photo on Instagram and Facebook yesterday of the above gift wrapped in fabric and secured with bobble-headed pins and ricrac. I mentioned that it is a sewing kit I put together for my niece, who also loves to create things. Some of you requested to see what is inside, so here goes: 

I used a tin that I had laying around (an old "moon cake" tin actually), which would have been better if it were pink, rather than purple, as my niece is an avid pink fan. However, part of the aim of this gift is to also impart a "mend and make do" mindset along with some inspiration for creation. 

I started with a range of pink-toned fabric pieces - some are fat quarters, others are smaller scraps from my stash. Did I mention that she loves pink?

Next, I rounded up some pink (and other coloured) ribbons, lace and elastic. I found a pink felt sheet, and cut a small piece to put a couple needles and a safety pin through. A small container of bobble-headed pins, with some tailor's chalk, and a ziplock bag with a small amount of polyfill in it.

Pink thread - well, all the fabrics are pink, so what else does she need at this stage? (My niece is only 5 years old, and will literally reject objects that are not pink). I also tucked a few different hairclips in for her to decorate her own clips. One of my favourite parts - a tin of buttons from my stash! I have fond memories of rifling through  my Mum's button tin, and figured my niece will enjoy having her own stash.

And last, but not least, a fabulous book by Jane Bull, aimed at young girls, with fantastic photos and instructions for a range of beginner crafts. This is a gorgeous book, with really wonderful ideas. I found it at our local library a year or two ago, and noted down the name, so I could buy a copy for my own daughter and my niece.

I contemplated doing a fancy needle book and pin cushion for her, but then decided she could make her own...that's all part of the fun, isn't it?

When you make your own sewing kit gift for a girl (or boy) in your life, you will probably have slightly different needs and purposes for the gift, but I hope this is a helpful guide to some of the basics you might like to include. I'd love to hear if you've made a sewing kit for someone!

How To: Create a Magentic Secret Message Tin

We have these little magnetic alphabet letters on our fridge, for our kids to play with. But lately, I've been using them to leave little messages for my darling hubby. There is only one alphabet set, and it is just not sufficient!

So I had the idea to do up a set of magnetic words. I have seen something like this before on a friend's fridge. And I recalled that I have printable magnetic business cards stashed away somewhere. So, I whipped out the printable magnetic business cards, found the template online (they have a link in the business cards pack), and typed up a bunch of words that I thought would be useful in writing secret messages to my hubby. 

I'm not going to share the list of words with you, as that would be telling. But you could make them as family friendly or suggestive as you like. Think about what kinds of words you would need for the sorts of messages you might like to leave. Include plenty of pronouns. I also included some partial sentences, such as, "Thank you for..." and "I love it when...". I included a few sets of individual alphabet letters too, though they do tend to get lost amongst the words in the tin.

Don't forget to do a test print on paper, to check that the words are not going to be cut off. Using a generous margin helps too. 

Cut all your words out and pop them in a tin. I happened to have some cute tins that I am using for my dress up doll packaging, but a biscuit tin would do.

The last step (and in my opinion, the most tricky) is to find a spot to keep it that you will remember to check for messages, and remember to leave messages too - but somewhere that is out of reach of the kids (if you have any).

Have fun!

Kids' Art Portfolios

I can be rather last-minute at times. Like this past Saturday, when guests were arriving for a family celebration and I was sitting at my sewing table, finishing off a present for one of my guests, while the apron I showed you in the last post was hanging on my dress form, waiting to be wrapped up for another of my guests. Oh dear. *Blushes with shame*

So I had the idea to make my niece who did these drawings an art portfolio. She loves drawing, and I figured it would be a great idea to have a little portable folio for her to take on car trips, or out to appointments, etc. I had the idea back before Christmas, and went so far as finding some tutorials on Pinterest, but just did not get to it. I remembered about it on Wednesday last week, while preparing for my daughter's birthday party. My niece's birthday is also in August, along with her mother's and brother's. *CRAZY MONTH*.

I used this tutorial from Jengerbread Creations blog, just adding a fold over flap with snap clip to hold it all together. For my niece's, I also appliqued a piece of linen on the front cover, on which I had embroidered one of her earliest drawings of a person. 

Due to my hurried, antisocial, last-minute rush to finish my niece's portfolio, I did not get any photos of it. Oops. I did, however, get (some rather poor) photos of the next one that I made for a little friend of my daughter's, who had her birthday party the next day!

I highly recommend the great tutorial from Jengerbread Creations.

*Confession time* My daughter's birthday came and went, and I still didn't get on and finish her Quiet Book cover, even after writing this post. Aaaaah!! Really, really must complete that this week!

How To: Make A Doily Brooch Display

Doilies can be re-purposed in so many ways. Check out House of Humble's great article on many ways to re-purpose and upcycle doilies. One example is to pop a doily into a timber embroidery hoop and hang it on the wall. These doily hoop art pieces also make a great way to store and display brooches. It is super easy, and rather effective, in my opinion.

Materials:

• Crocheted doily
• Timber embroidery hoop that is slightly smaller than the doily
• Bias binding or ribbon that is slightly less wide than the width of the hoop
• Fabric glue
• Scissors

Method:

1. Put the doily in the hoop and tighten the screw, making sure the doily is centred and tight across the hoop.

2. Cut off any excess doily, but leave enough width that the remainder will fold over the back edge of the hoop and sit inside the back of the hoop. 

3. Fold the raw edge of the doily over so that is sitting flat against the inside of the back of the hoop all the way around the hoop.

4. Spread fabric glue on the wrong side of the bias binding and press against the raw edge of the doily on the inside of the hoop, making sure the actual raw edge is covered. The glue stick to the timber through the doily holes.

5. Attach brooches to the front of the doily hoop art and voila!

I plan to use mine for as a way to display my brooches at markets. But I also made two smaller ones out of matching doilies for my brooches and earrings to hang on my dresser.