sewing round-up part 2

Here is another birthday gift I sewed for a friend. This project was inspired by a collection of fabrics from P&B Textiles, which I found so charming and reminded me of my friend's style. The only issue with this project was that it intimidated me for an entire year, so instead of getting this to her for her 2008 birthday, I only managed to complete it for her birthday this year!


It's a notepad holder. I had seen a couple of handmade objects like this and decided that I could recreate it myself. I basically drafted the pattern from scratch, not even sure that my machine (a late 1950's era model) could handle it (thus the confidence problem). I didn't even own a rotary cutter last year when I cut out the fabric, so it was pretty awesome to feel how far I had come when I finally finished it.



The button is glass, the tie closure is sewn-up bias binding tape (which wraps around the button), and there are two layers of flannel between the outer and inner fabrics for body. Inside there is a sleeve for a 5x7 notepad, a slim pocket for writing implement, a small pocket for post-its or stamps, and a larger pocket for mail or papers or whatever. Sewing through all the layers gave me almost no trouble (I had feared worse), and truly this was so fun and satisfying to put together. I am quite pleased with how it turned out!