Make Do And Gift

If in doubt, make a gift!

Laying out the goodies

A friend that I have known since I was 17 recently expressed an interest in learning to sew and her birthday was approaching so I wanted to mark the occasion. Mika lives in the Netherlands now so I wanted to send her a gift but as it couldn’t be too big or heavy because postage is pricey (since when does a First Class stamp cost nearly a pound?!), I settled on building her a small sewing kit.

My fabric and trim choices. The orange fabrics are both a little more coral coloured than shown.

I wasn’t sure what sewing things she already had, so I decided to make a kind of jewellery roll, so even if she had a sewing kit, the roll could be reused for something else. I bought some basic haberdashery and some small embroidery scissors along with some awesome cotton prints in the John Lewis clearance and some kind of fleece stuff to pad it out. I had wanted wadding but when I was in the shop I completely forgot and bought something different instead and I’m not entirely sure what it was. But hey, it worked! I used the Liberty Book of Simple Sewing (and good old Google) as my points of reference for the roll (the one in the Liberty book is actually a hanging sewing tidy), but I designed and drafted the roll myself from scratch.

Took 3 attempts but so proud of this pocket!

Although I was pretty much blagging it, it was surprisingly simple to put together so I’m going to do a quick tutorial post during my week off next week – keep your eyes peeled!

In Mika’s roll I included a seam ripper (essential, as we all know), a small box of pins, some hand sewing needles, some press studs and some hooks and eyes – all good supplies for simple projects or repairs until she gets a machine of her own and can take on more ambitious projects. The scissors aren’t pictured as they needed to remain in the packet for posting (health and safety y’all). I didn’t include any shears as I think every stitcher should pick these – as with most things, personal tastes differ and as these are a significant part of any stitcher’s kit they have to be right. Kind of like Baby’ Bear’s porridge…

I finished this a week or so ago but as her birthday is today, it’s been a secret until now. Hayden very kindly posted it for me last week and it arrived in just 2 days! Dutch post is clearly far more efficient than UK post. I had an anxious week waiting for her to open it but she finally did today and thankfully she seemed to love it! I am an anxious gift giver so I was really relieved! I’m sure the inclusion of a large bar of Mint Aero helped! As it turns out, not including fabric shears was totally fine as she already has a pair – success!

The binding is not quite as neat as I would have liked but on the whole I’m really pleased with how this turned out! I’m looking forward to making another one for my tutorial post next week. Happy Birthday Mika! xxx