Christmas Crafting

When my sister was visiting just before Thanksgiving this past November I asked her if there was something I could make for her for Christmas.  Since I am currently unemployed I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on gifts and she came back with a swift answer, “How about some more knitting project bags, but this time make them bigger!”  Back in February of 2010 I made a knitting tote bag with accessories for her birthday.  She never leaves home without her knitting projects and loves the project bags most.

Like any good crafter my sister is never working on just one project and wanted more bags to store them in so I obliged her.  Of course I couldn’t just make some plain old bags so I found some machine embroidery to add to them.  She was quite happy with them and when she visited her local yarn shop with one, the owner of the shop thought the bag was awesome and asked if she could contact me to see about selling them at her shop (in Grosse Pointe, MI).

Knitters Project Bags

I stuffed them full of batting to photograph them so you could see the shape.  They have a circular bottom and a drawstring at the top. I lined them with complementary light-colored fabric.  I chose fabric that was used in the previous tote bag or that matched some of the fabrics in it.

In addition to the project bags I also embroidered a t-shirt with a cute knitting motif on it.

Knitting Polar Bear T-shirt

The three embroideries I did on the project bags came from Urban Threads and the knitting polar bear if from Embroidery Library (my go to sites for embroidery files).  Here is a close up view of the embroideries.

Knitters Embroideries

I love the one with the sheep knitting herself a sweater after being sheered.  I think the detail of the band-aid is funny.

The other gifts I made were zippered clutch bags and key fobs/wristlets.  I made a couple out of cotton that I did a simple quilting motif on for each of my sisters daughters and the report is that they love them.  I am always nervous making things for the youngsters since I am not one myself any more.  I worry that the fabric I choose won’t be something they will like, but these two were big hits!

Clutches for my Nieces

I also made a couple of these bags out of faux suede with embroideries on each side.  I made one in black for my hair dresser and the blue one with the wristlet was for my mother.  Both of the embroideries were also from Urban Threads and are snowflake designs. The black one for my hairdresser uses scissors for the snowflake design and the blue one has a button, thread spool and needle with thread for the snowflake.  It took a while for the hair dresser and some of her colleagues to make out the scissors.

Faux Suede Clutches

I love using the faux suede for bags.  It is more durable than cottons so the corners don’t wear out.  In February I will be giving a short seminar on how to make the clutch bags at the Genesee Valley Quilt Club, one of the quilt clubs I belong to.  Apparently many quilters are intimidated with putting zippers in bags and requested a seminar on this subject.  Being a sewer all my life and having made plenty of clothes with zippers I am very comfortable adding them to projects and love to show others how simple it is.

Well, those are my most recent projects.  I had fun working on them and will let you know what is next in line.