Christmas gift sewing

Sewing gifts is something I have done in the past, but something I very rarely ever do. In fact I think the last gift I sewed was a cushion for my friend...

This little fella I made about four years ago, when my sewing skills were very hit and miss. I still love him though, as does my friend. 

When I was making my Christmas lists back in November I came across a great idea on Pinterest (and people wonder why I spend hours on there... It's for gift ideas... Obviousy!)

I thought it would be a great idea to make one for my sister for her Christmas box. She used to draw and paint all of the time, but apart from her rather spectacular nail art, she doesn't have much opportunity for arty stuff now.

Looking at the pinterest version I thought it would be fairly easy to make one out of a square of fabric folded over with some pencil pockets sewn in... So I set about finding a suitable square of fabric. It is a well known fact that Christine loves dogs, and look what I found on eBay!!

Doggy quilting cotton!! For the lining I decided to recycle some triangles of fabric that we had used to make bunting for my sisters friends baby shower (Chris really enjoyed the bunting factory we set up that day). So I patch worked some purple spotty triangles, and none of the triangle points matched up!! I like to call it quirky rather than crap. 

Adding some extra quilting cotton (white) for bulk I simply put right sides together, flipped it inside out, and slipped in some ribbon when I closed the final side (to fasten the roll). Folded up the bottom half (upside down doggies) and stitched pocket lines... And voila!

I photographed it upside down right before I wrapped it, so poor photos are the result.

I made the large pocket bigger than the sketch book I bought so she can replace it when it's full. The colour pencils are watercolour ones, so she can be extra arty, and the graphite ones are a couple of bs so... Again... Extra arty. The only issue I have with this design is that if you tip it upside down all the pencils fall out! If I made this again I'd have to think of a solution for that.

She absolutely loved it... So I got extra sister points this year (because of the socks too). She bought me a tea set from one of my favourite tea shops with a tin of 'Christmas in a cup' tea... So she got bonus sister points too!!