Amy Butler Business Card Wallet Pattern, A Review

Blech.
I just tried my hand at the Amy Butler Business Card Wallet Pattern. This is a free pattern which you can download from her site. I don't like it. You can try it, but I'm just saying, not very cool and the results are less than awesome. I'm always looking for awesome, as you know.

I found it to be fidgety, too small, and unnecessarily complicated. I also found the pocket design was lame and will probably result in cards falling out. It also adds a lot of bulk to the middle of the wallet where it folds. I did skip the step that instructs using a copious amount of interfacing for such a small little wallet. Maybe that's why I hate it.

But when I started to see where the pattern was going, I didn't want to waste precious timtex or interfacing on it -- that stuff is so unnecessarily expensive, as you know.

If you have a bunch of small scraps and you're looking for something small to make, you might as well try this. But for that size of project I actually recommend the Lotta Jansdotter checkbook cover or tool roll, or the Joelle Hoverson bird ornament. Those are little and cute and fairly easy. Good luck.

Magic Poncho Becomes Magic Swim Cover Up

Lightening does not strike twice. Specifically the creativity bolt. Last month's assignment in the Finny and Donk Sew Along brought me a prize (a yummy Amy Butler pattern for a cami/tunic/dress thingy). This month's assignment was meant to be from the child gifts chapter of Hoverson's book. I loved the magic poncho. But we live in an arid climate and I couldn't really see us ever using a poncho. Soooo, I reworked it to be a swim cover up and made it out of a beach towel.

Tote-urial

I'm not actually going to post a tutorial on how to make a tote. But I just had a lot of fun making totes with some friends. We all had different machines, so it was fun watching and learning how the various models worked. We all had different ideas and fabrics and it was amazing to see what everyone did. I forgot to take a photo with all three in the picture. But here's mine.

It already has a home... a Thank You Tote for one of the summer babysitters who has done a great job with my kiddies.

PS -- That duck cloth is navy blue (even though it looks black in the picture) and the yellow fabric is a scrap from some drapes I made for the office. The lining is made from a scrap of "skin" also from the drape project. It was a cool lining because it was kinda rubbery.

Redemption

I was so humiliated by my performance on the PJ pants that I quickly whipped out this little tote.
I started with the pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilt Gifts, but then had to put my own spin on it. For some reason I love putting twill tape under bias tape, and then of course I added some big 'ol pockets inside. Other than that, dimensions and everything were great as laid out in the pattern. Oh wait, I also added some details that I thought made it look more expensive, triple stitching around the top, and some top stitching at the seams, etc.



Now, just need to decide who will get this cute little tote. As charming as it is, I wish that I had a blue fabric to go with it. I'm ready to breakup with green.

PS -- All the materials were left-overs. The twill tape was a left over from the harvest/log tote I made my grandparents. The fabric is Laurie Smith fabric that I've used in just about everything I've made since July 07. It's called Freer, or something like that. I picked it up at a Hancock Fabrics in Idaho for about $2/yard. Great deal.

Love Bird, Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts

This is intended to be a Christmas ornamnet, but I opted to fill it with lavender and lentils and make it a sweet smelling closet ornament. Takes very, very, very little fabric and will be my new go-to craft to use up scraps. It's in the Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts book. It was described as needing about 45 minutes to complete. Actually takes only about 30 minutes (and that's if you put up with the nightmare business of getting lavendar into a tiny bird). I can see that this could be a very nice gift for Christmas and if I start now I might actually be able to make a lot of them before December 2008. Seriously, very good for scrap busting.

PS -- Will probably tackle just about every project in this book. Not because I love them all, but because I love most and the rest look fun. Good gifting in there.

Book Review: Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, Joelle Hoverson

I love going to the library, or actually surfing the library Web site, and checking out craft and sewing books. I have 2-5 checked out at all time. Sometimes I photo copy patterns I want to try. But mostly I just poor over the delicious photographs of perfectly staged craft projects. My newest find...

Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson

Let's face it, not a lot of hard stuff in here. But the book's look is fabulous. I love the simple pictures and copious explanations. I'm going to try a little bit of everything from this book. Might even break down and buy one. It's no coincidence that this book's author is a partner at purlsoho... one of my favorite online shops for fabric and fibers.

Highly recommended for the budding crafter who likes to sew.