2009 Ornaments

A few years ago I began making ornaments for my Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents and Parents, and anyone else I needed a quick, easily made Christmas gift. For 2009 I got started early. I got a beaded snowflake kit from Herrschners for a deeply discounted price.They were fairly easy to make, once I got the hang of it. There were two color combinations; the blue one pictured below, and a white one with blue accent beads. It's almost entirely the reverse of the one below.

Mom's Shawl

This was a Christmas gift for Mom. It is the Travel & Television Shawl from Mary Mulari's Accessories With Style, page 50.

As with most of Mary's patterns, I would make a few changes. I would have sewn the cuffs on before the pockets and binding so that the seams could be hidden under the pocket and binding edges. I think that I would also have preferred to turn under the pocket edges or do a decorative stitch, rather than using the binding. Otherwise, it was quick and easy to sew.

Backpack Purse

As I was working on updating my blog today, I realized there are several FO's that I have yet to blog about. First up, this Backpack Purse by Mary Mulari.

This is from Made For Travel, Page 57. There are two changes I would make to the directions. First, as with the Beach Tote, I would serge all pieces before beginning sewing. Second, use a reinforcing stitch on the seams at the top. The fabric is not holding up well at the top. I think sergeing and a good reinforcing stitch would have prevented the problem. Other than that, I'm happy with my new purse. It has nearly eliminated the shoulder soreness caused by regular purses. One other change I made was to make beaded zipper pulls for the front zippers.