Pretty {little} Pouch Swap

 

 I made this cute little zippered pouch for my very first secret swap partner. Tomorrow I am going to package it up with a few little surprises and send it off across the globe to its new home. I love the idea that someone right now is making something special for me too... Secret Swaps are like surprise birthdays! It's all very exciting, I think I might be addicted.

The Pretty {little} Pouch Swap was organized by Michelle Lizcano of I Like Orange, Too! and Kelly from Kelbysews.  Its a wonderful group, everyone in the swap has been so involved and it is like a storm of inspiration over there. Besides the creative fun, there is also the fun of internet stalking your swap partner and trying to decipher from little snippets of information what they really want. I think that my partner likes rainbow piecing. I'm not really giving away too much saying this because rainbow pieced projects may actually be turning into some sort of internet meme for the quilty/crafty set. I know that they feature heavily in my own Flickr favourites, which sort of surprised me, but who can resist beautiful colours? No one. That's who. I had a really good time pulling fabrics from my stash and arranging them into an attractive ROYGBIV. I had an even better time sewing them together into tiny hexagons.

The back of the pouch was inspired by the ocean. I free-pieced the aqua stripe and then cut it into a gentle wave. The tricky part was the curved piecing of the linen strips, but with a lot of pins, it worked out on the first try. I added some rows of handstitches to accentuate the wave pattern. My favourite part of the back are the sleepy moons from Heather Ross's Far Far Away 2.

 The inside of the pouch has a little label (sorry, pictures would give too much away!) which I made using a fine sharpie paint pen and a little square of white muslin. It took a some practice to write on the fabric without pausing and making ugly blobs, but once you get it right, it makes a really lovely permanent label. I found that taping my square of fabric down on a piece of cardboard made writing easier. Then I just folded and ironed all the raw edges to the back and sewed it to my lining fabric. If you were in a hurry (or if you forgot to make a label before your project was finished) you could use a little row of steam-a-seam tape instead.

The sun seems to finally be making regular appearances in the sky nowadays, hopefully this will lead to more pretty beach photos. Happy belated spring everybody :)

Tiny Apartment Crafts Giveaway Winners! (Or: The Internet Really Likes Owls)

 Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment on my blog during the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway. All the positive feedback was overwhelming and I really appreciate it. This was my first giveaway and I will definitely be participating in more.

When I was choosing fabrics for my giveaway l knew I wanted to use the Echino print I had been hording, but had no idea which animal would get the most attention. The results were so interesting that in the name of science I made a little chart:  

So you know what the internet likes? Owls. It likes them a lot! I better get busy and come up with some more owl-themed projects pronto! Anybody have a great idea they need a craft-guinea pig to try out?

The winners were chosen using the random number generator from random.org.

The Winners! Congratulations to:

Maddie from New York State, who will be receiving the (much coveted) Owl wristlet.

Manuela, a sewing blogger from Portugal! who will be receiving the lovely Tiger wristlet.

Bonnie, a crafty blogger from Ohio, who will be receiving the Yellow Bird wristlet.

All 3 winners have been contacted and can look forward to receiving these pretty hand painted envelopes with their prize soon after Christmas.

Thank you again for all your kind comments. There will be lots more posts and tutorials to look forward to in the New Year. Happy Holidays from the Tiny Apartment!

Giveaway Day is Here!

The Giveaway is now closed, thank you so much for visiting, and thanks to all of you who participated. I will be announcing the winners soon.

This is my very first giveaway and I am so excited! I am giving away 3 adorable zippered wristlets, each one unique and handmade by me. I will be randomly choosing 3 names once the giveaway closes on December 17th and contacting the lucky winners by email. Anybody can enter, and I am willing to mail these anywhere in the world. Please check the bottom of this post for entry instructions. This giveaway was organized by the wonderful people at Sew Mama Sew; click the giveaway button on my sidebar to see a complete list of all the participants.

These handmade wristlets have silver plated double chain handles and brightly coloured zippers. They are made of super soft upcycled dark brown leather from a vintage skirt and a Japanese Echino printed cotton. The lining is bright pink cotton with a card pocket inside. They measure about 7" by 3.5" and as you can see, they have enough room to hold a phone, a small camera or some makeup basics, along with a little cash or cards. They are also long enough to fit standard pens and pencils. These little wristlets are great for a night out when you don't want to carry a purse, and they also work as organizers for a few special items, slipped into a bigger bag.

I have a lot of ideas for future projects and I am really looking forward to sharing them. If you are interested in seeing more of what I'm doing please subscribe to my blog. Thank you all so much for visiting. Good Luck!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated, comments are now closed, and I will be announcing the winners soon.

Tiny Apartment Crafts is having a Giveaway!!

Please visit my blog on Monday, December 13 and leave a comment to enter to win one of three pretty made-by-me zippered clutches. The giveaway will remain open until December 17. Who's going to win? It could be you! This is part of an organized giveaway event by Sew Mama Sew. You should check out all the other participants, there will be lots of amazing handmade items up for grabs!

For a sneak peak at the giveaway prizes, check out my flickr!