Tote Bag Sewing Kit

My eldest niece got her first sewing machine for Christmas this past year, so when thinking up ideas for her next birthday gift, I thought it would be fun to make her a sewing kit. 

Along with fabric, I included a spool of thread, pins, chalk, a button, and needle and thread for sewing on the button. All the fabric pieces were precut, and the straps and button hole presewn.

Cute thread card found here

I also made a mason jar pincushion to hold all the supplies, following this tutorial.

Happy sewing birthday girl!

Pleated Zipper Pouch

I like to travel light, but know with baby on the way I'll be toting a lot more around, including a diaper bag.  To keep my personal items (the things I would usually carry in my purse) organized and easy to find, I made a zippered pouch to go inside the diaper bag. It keeps everything in one place and can be easily removed if I need to hand over the diaper bag to Zach.

I followed Skip to my Lou's Pleated Pouch Tutorial, enlarging the pattern to 150% since I needed my bag to be a bit larger (Finished size is approx 11" x 8.5"). I used leftover upholstery fabric from the nursery for the bag exterior and a cotton print for the lining. 

Crib Skirt

I just checked off the last big sewing project on my nursery to do list, with only a few weeks to spare!

No detailed tutorial for this project, but the concept is fairly simple. First, I started by measuring the metal frame that holds the crib mattress, which came out to 51" x 26". The mattress is at the highest position now, but I wanted the skirt to just skim the floor when the mattress was at the lowest setting, a distance of about 10".

I cut out four panels for the sides of the skirt and one large panel for the top, adding a couple extra inches to my original measurements for seam allowances:

Two 53" x 11.5" panels for the long sides

Two 28" x 11.5" panels for the short sides

One 52" x 27" panel for the top

I hemmed the sides and bottom edges of the side panels and serged them onto the top panel. Then I sewed pom pom trim onto the bottom of each side panel.