So this year, I really wanted to at least try to make some handmade gifts. I know there are a few people on my list that would really appreciate a handmade gift, so I wanted to make sure I took advantage of that fact, because a) I love sewing and b) I hate going to the mall during the Christmas shopping season. Also, I personally love receiving handmade gifts. It means so much to me when people take the time and put in effort to actually make me a gift. So hopefully, the people who are receiving handmade gifts from me, will feel the same way. Fingers crossed anyway. I made a few things that I can't share with you quite yet, but I have a couple of things that I can. When I saw the LBG Studio Leather Accent Pouch pattern on Indiesew, I knew it would be the perfect thing for two of my girlfriends. I really loved the leather accent details and I thought it would be a good foray into sewing with leather too.
For the first one, I used some upholstery fabric and for the accents I bought a tiny piece of brown suede, both found at my local Fabricland.
The construction was quite straight forward, and you could probably make this without a pattern, but I felt like I needed some hand holding, and I am always much to nervous and lazy to figure out dimensions on my own.
This was my first go at sewing with leather, and I think it went pretty well. I made sure to use a leather needle in my machine, but I don't have a teflon foot. My Pfaff has IDT built in which is basically a walking foot and it worked really well.
For both bags I used a printed quilting cotton from my stash for the lining and a jeans zipper.
The second bag was a little trickier to sew.
The leather came from a used leather jacket that I picked up at an estate sale. It is super buttery soft, and I found that it stretched around at bit and it stuck to my machine a bit more than the other leather did. A teflon foot may have helped and I might pick one up next time they're on sale.
I think this leather looks a bit nicer than the Fabricland stuff though. The main fabric is more upholstery fabric. The upholstery fabric worked out really well. It added a bit more structure to the bags and I am hoping that it will be a bit more durable over time.
These were pretty quick projects and I am super happy with how they turned out. I felt really good giving them as gifts, and hopefully the receivers get lots of use out of them.
How about you? Are you ready for Christmas yet? How do you feel about handmade gifts?