Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Ruby Star Wrapping :: Pillowcase Pouch

One thing I love about sew-alongs such as Ruby Star Wrapping {and Zakka!} is seeing what others do with the same pattern. Case in point: seeing Amy/Diary of a Quilter share her Pillowcase Pouches made me want to run right to my sewing room!

When I finally did get there, I started off with a couple of basic pouches. Great idea Amy had to do French seams, and it barely added any time at all, but made a really nice finish. And for families that like to reuse bags (paper or otherwise) year after year, this simple tip will likely prolong their usefulness.
The first thing I learned making the Pillowcase Pouch was to keep in mind the directional nature of the fabric, which you can see illustrated above and below. 
I discovered that for a very flat gift, you really don't need to fold the top over, and with a festive reindeer accent strip, who really even needs a ribbon?
On my last pouch, I used a companion fabric for the top several inches. And since my fabric wasn't quite wide enough for my gift, I decided to add contrasting side insets. . .
then small gussets at the base helped accommodate the thickness of the gift.
So for the little amount of time spent on these handmade wrappings, I got four presents ready to gift, and enjoyed a much needed dose of sewing room time.

Fabric in picture order: from Riley Blake's "Christmas Candy", Kate Spain's "12 days of Christmas", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by Marisa and Creative Thursday (reindeer from Kate Spain's "Flurry" panel), and lastly, "Brrr!" by Laurie Wisbrun. Linking up with Ruby Star Wrap-Along and the Ruby Star Wrapping Contest.

15 comments:

  1. These are great! Almost makes me want to buy some Christmas fabric!

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  2. These are such a lovely way to wrap books or DVD's.

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  3. Love these....and for any season, any reason!

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  4. Was just admiring these on IG - LOVE all of them. Not that I need to add anything to my to-sew list before Tuesday but you're making me think about it...:-)

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  5. These are each beautiful! I love your fabric choices.

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  6. You never cease to amaze me! Cute! Cute!

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  7. Very awesome Debbie. I had a run-in with a directional print yesterday. Let's just say I'll be re-doing a section of a project!!

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  8. These are all so cute! It makes me think I need to add some more fabrics to my already-large selection of Christmas fabrics. And order that book!

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  9. those look wonderful, Debbie. Love all your different fabrics, they will make presents even more special.

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  10. They are all so wonderful! but I do love the Brrr! one at the end!!

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  11. Great idea, hopping on over there now!!!

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  12. Such fun wrapping, Debbie! And your custom bag is great!

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  13. These are really very happy. A gift within a gift. Fun!

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