Binding kits

I have been meaning to make some Goody Goody Binding Kits for a while, but I could not choose which fabrics to use. I wanted to make one to use something from my stash of heavier cotton and linen fat quarters, but I also wanted to make something really girly. Dozens of fabrics were pulled from my stash, sorted into groups and colour combinations, resorted, piled up on my sewing table, agonised over, moved onto the floor because they were in the way of my cutting mat, put back into my stash because I was worried about tripping on them on the floor, pulled out again … you get the picture.

In the end, I made two. I would have made three if I could have made a decision on a third fabric combination.

The girly hexies on the front make me happy.

Weirdly, I cannot bring myself to cut off all the extra ribbon. Perhaps the new owner will be more sensible.

I modified the pattern in a number of small ways:

• I cut the inside piece as two pieces, each 6 × 7 inches instead of one 11½ × 7 inches, as this allowed me to avoid any raw edges inside the zipper pocket.
• I added a rectangle of accent fabric behind the felt needle holder.
• I cut two pieces 4½ × 5½ inches for the pocket, one of lining and one of front, so the pocket is half an inch deeper and lined with a different fabric.
• I cut my pocket binding 1¼ × 5½ inches, so it was only a single thickness and less bulky, and hand stitched it for a neat finish.
• I cut my binding on the bias and hand stitched it. It seemed silly to make a binding kit and not finish it neatly with hand binding.
• I used ribbons for the thread holders and the outside ties. Much simpler and very neat!
• I quilted the black one with a chevron that loosely follows the design of the print. I quilted the pink one with vertical lines. I deliberately missed two of the vertical quilting lines on the pink one so they could be sewn when joining the inside to the outside. This avoided overstitching along the same lines and gave a neater finish.
• I needle-turn appliquéd my strawberry stem instead of using the fusible raw-edged appliqué method, and I added some embroidery stitches to finish it.

The black fabric is one from the Japanese Colour Club. I am giving this away today as my sewing group Kris Kringle gift. Black is not a colour I have a lot of in my stash, so I had to buy some extra black fabric for the binding and some solid black to line the pockets. I was trying to find a pink that would work as the binding, but I had no luck. That is probably for the best. I do not know who will receive this in the lucky dip, and not everyone loves bright pink as much as I do.

I made the scissor pocket to fit a pair of black-handled scissors I bought to be given away along with the kit. I am keeping my Aurifil thread spools!

Hmm. The fluff from the wadding really shows up on the black fabric in the photos. I will have to de-fluff it before I wrap it and give it away.

The pink one started with Essex yarn-dyed linen and some Lakehouse floral prints, which I mixed in with a few prints from my stash. The red spot I used to line the pockets is positively ancient and is not a quilting weight, but as this is not a quilt, I used it. Everything except the zipper came from my stash. I was really happy with how the Lakehouse print has tiny strawberries to match the pocket. Cuteness overload! This one I get to keep!

The inside features several Lakehouse prints.

If you look closely, I think you can see where I added buttonhole stitch embroidery around the strawberry stem.

The pockets are lined with a red polka dot, and I was able to stitch the inside to the outside very neatly in the ditch.

I roughly fussy cut a bouquet of flowers and tiny strawberries for the pocket.

As much as I love my girly kit, I think the other is better to give away as its relatively grown-up colours will appeal to more people in my sewing group.

Do you find choosing fabrics almost as time-consuming as sewing the project, or is that just me? I even have a bit of a reputation at my local quilt shop. ‘Do not worry about Carla just yet. She is happy playing in the corner and will need another half hour at least before she is ready to make a decision.’ When I made an uncharacteristically snap decision recently, they almost died of shock!