i ended up making the clutches on the cover of bend the rules sewing, with a design inspired by this napkin tutorial. (i wanted to do the gray, but w/ all the snow, i ended up working with what i had on hand)
this is one of my favorite sewing books - it has lots of good tips and projects. it was the book the inspired me to actually TRY to sew fabric - it's just very encouraging and down to earth. love it.
i started by choosing just the right fabrics for each girl. i stitched strips together and then added unbleached cotton on either side to make my panel of fabric the size the pattern called for. easy peasy.
i found it was easiest to do these assembly line style - first i cut all the fabric, then stitched & quilted the front panel, and then did the assembly on each one.
they aren't perfect. every one has it's very own mistake.. or two. but they were made with love (and a few curse words). =)
the idea for these notebooks came from last minute quilted & patchwork gifts - another favorite. the original plan was to put them inside the bags, but they didn't quite fit. OOPS. i actually abandoned doing them at one point, and then decided to resurrect the idea at the last minute. they ended up just tucked into the back of the wrapped bags.
now the wrapping.. this was the fun part. i started out by making tags - i used my noah alphabet stamp set with broken china ink, and then stitched a ruffle of fabric across the bottom.
i tore strips of the unbleached cotton and stitched the ends together to create a band that fit around the package, and then wrapped aqua twine around that before tying the tags on. the grey wrapping paper is from paper source, i think.
okay.. it's taken me all day to finish this post... i'll be back tomorrow w/ pics of what i received from the other girls, and with studio calico sneaks!! i've got pages in progress with studio calico's new anthology line as well as crate paper's three new lines - so it should be a scrappy share-y couple of weeks. =)
