Wonder Wallet

I recently made a Runaround Bag as a gift for a coworker.  Here's the link to that project.

That fabric was from my stash.  I had some of that fabric left over, so I cut the rest to make some Wonder Wallets.  Here's the link to the Lazy Girl Wonder Wallet pattern.

This is an easy project that makes quick gifts.

Here's a picture of my cutting process:

I started by cutting and folding the pieces in sets, according to fabric:

I folded the main (body) pieces and pinned them to be stitched about half-way down each side to form a flap.

Tip:
I placed one pin on each side to show where I would start stitching:

The stitching ended at the flap.  For the first three wallets, I traced something round to form a curve.  For later wallets, I did not make curved flaps, which made the process go quicker.

I turned and pressed the body pieces:

I stitched the folded hems of all the pockets.

Tip:
I used a method called "chain piecing" for most of my stitching.  This means that I "chained" my work together by sewing one or two stitches between fabric pieces:

I cut apart the chained pieces, steam pressed the parts, and mixed up the patterns for a unique look:

I attached a piece of velcro to each lower pocket piece:

Tip:
For a quick fix, I daubed a dot of white glue on the Velcro piece, finger-pressed it onto the pocket, and let it dry.  After they dried, I stitched around the Velcro pieces:

Tip:
There are many layers to this wallet, so I held them together with quilt binding clips:

After I stitched the pocket layers together, I trimmed the seams and corners:

I also finished the cut edges with zigzag stitching. This is also where I remembered to topstitch the flaps:

I turned them right side out and attached the opposite Velcro pieces to the flaps:

Tip:
On the later wallets, I topstitched the flaps much earlier in the process, chaining the pieces:

Tip:
I used the quilt binding clips again to hold down the steam-pressed coin slot flaps until they cooled and set:

I ran out of fabric, so I had to change a couple names from non-coworkers to coworkers, and even then, not everybody got one.

Most everyone seemed to really like their Wonder Wallets. One friend put lots of cards in hers while we were talking!  That made my day!

Dickies are Neck Warmers

I made two dickies for my mom for Christmas.  I merged two patterns to make them.

I started with the wrapped collar from Stretch & Sew 333 View B, upper right:

The bodice is from Kwik Sew 2812, View D, upper right:

It was easy enough to merge these two patterns.  I traced the size Medium bodice from the Kwik Sew pattern to get the overall shape, then I laid it over the bodice piece of the S&S pattern to get the neckline for size 40:

The collar was traced in size 40 of the S&S pattern:

Notice how I mark notches:

I made this for my mom a few years ago, and found that I had made short bodice pieces.  I traced new bodice pieces and placed the old bodice pieces on top so you can see the difference:

I prewashed the lightweight fleece I got at JA's on sale.  I use vinegar in the rinse instead of fabric softener, which gives a waxy coating.  I used a size 75 stretch needle for the whole project:

All seams were stitched with a 1/4-inch seam allowance.  I stitched the back seam of the collar, and the shoulder seams of the bodice:

I pressed open the back seam of the collar with my fingers:

I turned the collar right side out, then aligned and pinned all the notches:

I matched the front of the collar at center front and pinned the layers together.  I also basted the layers together with large zigzag stitches:

With the bodice wrong side out, I marked the center front and center back with pins.  On each side of the front, I placed one pin about 1/4-inch forward of the shoulder seam:

I inserted the collar assembly into the bodice with the collar right side out, and the dickie wrong side out:

I started by pinning the center front of the collar to the center front of the bodice:

I pinned the collar to the bodice, matching all notches and adding a few pins in-between:

While pushing the seam allowance towards the bodice, I held it in place with topstitching:

This shows how well the topstitching holds the seam allowances:

Here are the finished dickies.  The blue one was made with the shorter bodice pieces:

I know my mom will like these because I asked her what I could make for her, and this is what she wanted.

Win-Win!

Here is a camera tip that I used while making this project (and the fleece socks).  I took a picture of the stitch settings just before using them.

For seams, I used this stitch - a narrow, longish zigzag:

I used a large, three-step zigzag stitch for topstitching the neck seam allowances.  This stitch was also used when tacking the heel seam allowances on the socks (click here):

For ALL the pictures, click here.

Next up - a couple of really easy projects!

Some Progress

My pattern sales have been going well.  Not awesome, but well!

Click this sentence to see previous post about the patterns I have for sale.

I had a little progress on my gift-making.

I bought one yard each of royal blue and bright red light-weight fleece on sale a few weeks ago to make gifts for my parents.

For my Dad, I am making short fleece socks, as shown at the left of this pattern.  He will get one red pair and one blue pair.

For my Mom, I am making dickies based on the collar shown at the upper right of this pattern.  She will get one in red and one in blue.

Last night I cut out all the blue pieces.

Here's a reminder how I mark notches:

Here are the sock pieces (in the middle) and the other blue pieces:

Here are the blue pieces pinned together for the first batch of stitching:

That's pretty much all I got done last night.