Just another little Meekoo waiting to be a child’s Christmas gift.

I’ve made five of these now and have become quite fast at the process. I even managed to embroider the satin stitch eyes quickly this time!

Happy weekend!

This week I’m making some sort of hybrid fabric box/drawstring bag creation of my own as-you-go design. I’ll explain more when it’s finished.

I’m also taking photos along the way in case it’s worth turning into a tutorial in the end. Time will tell.

More spaces, more creativity, more inspiration at Kirsty’s every week!

Here’s the gift I said I was making last week. It’s a travel wallet, large enough for carrying boarding passes and passports, along with money and any other accessories one might want to take on an international trip.

I found the idea here and thought it was a perfect gift for my sister-in-law (who, by the way, was once upon a time one of my biggest inspirations to get creative again). I printed out a generic boarding pass and images of foreign currency and a passport to put inside the wallet, just to demonstrate what it can do. And I added a Moleskine City Book as well.

I altered it from the original just a bit to add a velcro closure instead of the elastic band, as I didn’t like the way the elastic seemed to scrunch up the wallet when I had it closed.

Despite the number of pieces and steps involved in this project, it’s actually quite simple if you read through the instructions beforehand so you know where you’re going. I completed the majority of the cutting out and sewing in an hour. It’s a tad wonky in a few areas, but that’s the beauty of hand made, right? (That’s what I tell myself.)

My mom’s already seen it and requested I make one for a friend of hers who will be leaving for Italy at the end of this week, so that’s what I’ll be working on next. Fingers crossed this one whips up just as fast, since I don’t have much time!

(Happy birthday, Christie!)

And that brings me to part 2 of my summer wardrobe rehab project: the part that wasn’t. Despite some successful attempts at throwing together a quick vacation clothing rehab, I had some real duds.

I give you **Exhibit A**:

In theory, taking a men’s dress shirt and turning it into a tank is a great idea. And, actually, the refashioning part was simple and worked like it was supposed to. (Multiple tutorials for this sort of thing are available online.)

I made two of these. In the end, though, I just didn’t have a look that I really liked on my own body. I kept wanting to try to fix them, but I finally admitted I didn’t like them enough to invest any more time in them. I’ve picked them apart and already have ideas for other ways I can use the fabric that have nothing to do with clothing.

**Exhibit B**: A summer dress made with leftover jersey knit and the same concept as the T-shirt tank.

This is a decent enough photo, but at a lot of angles it just looks … wrong. There are several places where it doesn’t fit nicely, depending on how I’m standing or holding my arms, and I already learned from Exhibit A that an elastic band right under my arms is not the right look for me. I’m over it.

**Exhibits C and D**: Then there’s the long-sleeved T-shirt that was supposed to become a tank but would have needed a lot of adjusting once the sleeves were cut, as well as the folded fabric left over from my scarf project that was intended to become a cozy pair of lounge pants. I ran out of interest in the whole refashioning project before I even got to these. Though part of me felt like I should do them just so I could cross them off my list, I gave myself permission to drop them.

The overachieving, Type-A voice inside my head is saying, “Wow, what a quitter!” But I think I need to remind that voice to shut up and let it be. It’s ok that I made some things I liked and some I didn’t. I learned things, had the experience, and that’s enough. It doesn’t always have to be about the finish. (Linda shared similar thoughts here and provided some affirmation.)

Besides, clothing-making isn’t really my “thing,” and I’d rather get back to projects that I better enjoy. So I’ve moved on, feeling a little freer for the lesson learned.

Let’s start with the things that went well. (And please excuse the not-so-great photo lighting.) The first thing I made was an incredibly simple design involving a men’s T-shirt turned halter tank.

It was very easy to do, although I am dubious about the underarm fat that shows in certain poses. I especially like the rope-style straps. Pop over here to see the inspiring tutorial.

I made the sundress version for my daughter, too.

(It’s very cute on her, but very hard to get a good photo of her these days.)

The next thing I made was a skirt out of vintage fabric that was given to me by my sister. I used some matching jersey knit to make a waistband. This one was a quick job of measuring myself and sewing tubes, with some gathering thrown in.

And then I made a tote bag out of a cheap beach towel, inspired by this tutorial. (This was done in the very latest hours the night before we left and was totally unnecessary, but I really like it anyway.)

I didn’t want to spend the extra cash on multiple towels, although I love the patchwork look of the original, so instead I used the striped ends of the towel to add some extra interest. I was also able to use leftover pieces to create an outside pocket and two inside pockets. It’s nothing special, but it might be my favorite thing that I made.

So, that’s it for the successful part of that undertaking. Next week I’ll share the not-so-successful projects and the resulting philosophical musings. And now I’d best get back to those Christmas gifts!

She didn’t want the pocket type that most people have but instead wanted something similar to the laptop cover I made for myself. So I chose some nice, sturdy felt, constructed an iPad mockup out of layers of foam board and elastic, and went to work.

(Oooh, I really should get to those wrinkles! Pretend they’re not there, ok?)

I hate the beginning steps of cutting a project like this because I’m always worried I won’t get the measurements right and have to scrap the whole thing. Fortunately, when I finally stopped procrastinating and went for it, it all went according to plan.

The part I thought would be easy, however, did not go so well when my sewing machine started doing funny things. I experimented with tension and whatnot and couldn’t find a solution, so I ended up fixing the issue by hand. I was glad I could do that, but not so glad about how much extra work that was. Sigh. Isn’t this always how it goes?

Despite the extra labor, I’m really pleased with this piece. It has a nice, sturdy feel and, if I do say so myself, it looks pretty sharp.

I don’t have an iPad, but I think I might need to use the leftover felt to make a cover for my mockup, just so I can carry it around!

I’ve finally finished the commission projects and am back to the Christmas gift list. I’m a little behind after all my June and July holiday-ing, but I’m hoping to get caught up quickly so I can give myself permission to do some fun and/or shop-related things again soon.

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On another note, a few of you asked about the dollhouse that appeared in a recent post. It is the Imaginarium brand. Unfortunately, it appears to have been a store exclusive (Toys ‘R’ Us) that’s no longer readily available, although I did find a few floating around on the Internet. (It’s cleverly called “natural wood dollhouse.” Furniture and dolls are included.)

If you’re just looking for the dolls, Tania posted about her methods of making her own here and included some links for purchasing the wooden doll bodies.

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Well, then, I’m off to do a little stamp carving. Happy weekend!

There’s been a lot of stitch-picking in my creative space this week. Yeah, it’s been one of those days.

But I did finally put the wraps on some hand-bound journals and some fabric pouches, all of which are destined to go into gift sets for Christmas … which means that’s about all I can say about them for now. So nice to be chipping away at the gift list, but so hard to keep quiet!

For the interesting and the inspiring, the crafty and the curious, the innovative and the instructional, grab a few minutes (or hours) and visit kootoyoo. You won’t be disappointed.

I started with inspiration from several different tutorials I came across that used elastic thread to create a shirring effect. (I can’t find the original tutorial I looked at, but if you search Google for “ruffle scarf tutorial” or “ruffle scarf elastic thread,” you’ll find more than enough options with similar results.)

Behold, the ruffly scarf:

It worked beautifully, but after making a few I started rethinking the style of the scarves. I’d like a couple for myself, and one person on my gift list will definitely rock the ruffles, but it just doesn’t suit the majority of the others.

So I narrowed the strips and used a close zigzag stitch with regular thread on each of the sides to create a softer wave. Then I did some very basic, very (intentionally) wonky Sashiko stitching with embroidery thread to add a bit of interest.

(Geez, why didn’t the Huz tell me my hair looked so … um … ?)

(Hmmm, that’s a nice, awkward pose.)

I think these will do much better. Despite the long, long rows of stitching that killed my hands, they made up pretty quickly, and I really like the effect.

What I like most about all of these is, being made from thin jersey knit, they’re light enough to wear to dress up a shirt in the summer, but they’ll look just fine with a sweater or a coat in the winter as well.

I made enough for all the gift-giving I plan to do plus a couple for myself, and then I amused the neighbors by posing outside in them for photos.

Our dollhouse is just a plain, wooden model that we’ve promised we’ll spruce up over time. And by that we mean the next ten years or so, judging by our progress. I have all sort of ideas for flooring and wallpaper and miniature doilies, but since I’ve got a few thousand other things in the works too, I haven’t quite gotten past the scheming.

My daughter’s been very patient about this procrastination (she’s probably used to it!), but I decided I could at least try to tackle a few small things now. So I’ve started by making some wee blankets to cover the beds.

This one’s just a bit of faux fur and a scrap-fabric binding.

This one, a tiny quilt made of scraps and only slightly haphazardly quilted on my machine.

And this one a simple granny square in a variegated yarn.

Can you believe I’m actually thinking about fabric weight and drape, experimenting each time to achieve a more realistic look? It may be a while before I get to the hardwood flooring or the mid-century wallpaper, but I think there might be some tiny doilies in my near future….