A Christmas Gift

I made exactly one Christmas gift this year. I was spending Christmas day with one of my sisters and she had told me about looking for a case for her circular needles. So the week before Christmas, I looked for a pattern and found one that looked like it would work. (This one from BumpyCrafts on Etsy.)

I went through my fabrics and pulled out some fat quarters I thought my sister would like and would go together.

They might not meet everyone's definition of "go together" but I liked the common oranges, purples and greens.

Following the pattern, I made several "pages" with pockets for the needles.

I spent a lot of effort to make sure the orange circles lined up across the pages, only to realize later that the large pocket on top makes it considerably less important.

I deliberately rounded the corners of the pages as well. You can never get a truly crisp square corner, so I traced the curve of a spool I had beside the machine to make the curves consistent.

The needles simply slide into the pockets.

I thought about making a place where she could write the needle size on the pocket but didn't do the work to make that happen. As an alternative, she can slide a card with the information into the pocket if she wants.

The pattern has instructions for a snap closure, but I used a button and elastic. (Something I had on hand.)

I stacked two buttons on top of each other. The smaller one underneath makes room for the elastic to nest comfortably under the big button.

Using a button with a shank would have worked too but I didn't have one I liked for this project.

As I sewed on the buttons, I went through a smaller button on the back to keep the stitches from ripping through the fabric and because I thought it was a neater finish than the thread by itself.

Here's a top view where you can see the different pages:

The pattern called for a flannel lining to give more structure, but I used cotton batting scraps that I had on hand.

A finishing detail I added was some quilting on the cover before I assembled the pages.

Just a few highlights around the flower petals.

It was a fun project to make in a day or two. I hope it functions well.

Wham. Bam. Thank You, Ma'am.

I've wanted a nice denim skirt for a while now. I've kept my eye out in second hand stores, but haven't found anything. Then I considered making one from a pair of jeans. Amy at Red Purl has one and I thought it was cute. The race was on...find a skirt or find some good jeans for it.

Finally I found a pair of jeans I thought would do. Things I liked about them were that they had embroidery (so as to make a fancier skirt), they were made from stretch denim (nicer fit) and were a little snug (I thought that would make the skirt fit better). The jeans sat in my drawer for quite a while, but yesterday I was on a mission to get things done, and pulled the jeans out.

Sometimes these projects get held up by nothing more than my mental hemming and hawing about how they're going to turn out: afraid of the project not working out, I don't even get started. But yesterday I jumped over the mental hurdle, and made myself try it. After all, never getting started is already a failed project.

So first thing was to deconstruct the garment.

I ripped out the inseam from the crotch to below the knees and the crotch seam from the bottom of the zipper in the front, and up to where the seam stopped curving in the back.

This took a long time and nearly wore me out. Those seams are stitched no less than four times!

Then I laid the one side over the other and pinned in place.

I then tried it on and considered in a mirror.

I had to adjust the pinning, and would recommend a fitting to anyone making one of these. (Unless your body doesn't have curves!)

Before I sewed it together, I added an insert to the front to fill in the gap. It was too high, and I hate front slits--you can't sit in them. I used a piece of the leg that was cut off previously, taking advantage of the existing hem.

You can see I made the inset a little shorter than the final length. Yes, that was on purpose, but you could make yours match if you want. I then top stitched all the seams, tracing the previous stitch lines.

I tried it on again and decided it was good. I then cut away the excess from the wrong side.

Back

Front

Yes, I left the edges raw. This isn't going to get a lot of hard wear.

I then marked the hem, cut, folded and sewed. I marked the center back about an inch lower from the waistband than the front and that's seems to be about right. (This gives room for the skirt to go over my tush without riding up at the back hem--I always hate that.)

Sewing the hem gave me a chance to pull out a rarely-used accessory for my sewing machine:

Ever wonder what this tool in your toolbox is for? It's to help getting over those big bumps when you sew over a denim hem. (12 layers of denim gets pretty bulky.) While sewing, stop just as the foot is getting hung up by the seam. Put your needle down and raise the foot. Put the tool underneath and lower the foot. Sew across the seam with no trouble! The tool is thinner on one wing than the other so it's more versatile.

Another thing I did on the hem was to work around the embroidery:

I wanted the embroidery to be right above the hem, but I didn't want to sew across it. (It seems so rude.) Since it was such a short piece, I went around the embroidery. I don't think the hem will unfold there, and it looks much better!

I wore the skirt today and I have to say it was so comfortable. It wears so easy; no need to fuss with it and it gave me no trouble. I didn't get any comments, though, so perhaps it wears better than it looks.

And what about my fears about how the skirt would turned out? Well, the best part of the whole thing was that it was done in one evening. You can't beat that. The back doesn't quite sit right, but I'm not going to let it bother me. And the front insert is a little uneven. I guess I should have measured. (But I did mention it was done in one evening, right?)

All in all, I'm very happy with it and hoping to get a lot of wear out of it this spring and summer!

Christmas Slippers

Still need a Christmas gift? Well, if you have a little car trip ahead of you (where someone else is driving) you may still have time to finish these slippers:

I finished the second one in less than a day, and I don't mean a day where all I did was knit. My best guess would be less than three hours. The socks have a lot going for them as far as speed is concerned: they're worsted weight and short with a fairly simple construction.

I didn't even bother to convert them to toe-up; I just followed the directions. The pattern is a little dense (written in more of a paragraph form than line-by-line), but if you have any experience with socks you shouldn't have any problems.

I made these slippers as a gift and they are a little big on me. I hope the recipient likes them! (I know she likes wearing slippers so it's not a big risk!)

Project Stats
Started: 8 Dec '11
Finished: 18 Dec '11
Pattern: DROPS 125-15 by DROPS Design (free)
Materials: leftovers of Red Heart Super Saver (66 g)