Category: 2021

How to Make an Altoids Tin Sewing Kit

DH, apparently, has an Altoids habit. I had no idea until he came home and started to work remotely. I asked him to save me a couple of tins and suddenly I had 8 to work with. I wanted to make small sewing kits for the guild officers. I looked for tutorials. The one I liked was DIY Felt Magnet. It turned out, however, that I mostly fumbled along on my own during Craft Nights.

One key was letting everything dry thoroughly after I glued it.

Finished Altoids Sewing Kits
Finished Altoids Sewing Kits

Supply List:

  • Altoids tins – you can use different tins by adjusting the size of the various pieces.
  • cardboard (I used a cereal box)
  •  a few colors of felt**
    • a small band 3/8 inch by 2 1/4 inches
    • rectangle 2 inches x 2 inches
  • stuffing – use wool roving** if you want a really good pincushion or just regular poly Fiberfill** if you won’t use the pincushion that often
  • scissors
  • sewing machine
  • sewing machine thread** which matches your contrasting felt or is a neutral color
  • quilting** or other relatively thick thread
  • Aleene’s glue** – I am sure other glues, like school glue, will work. I found the Aleene’s to be really great. It stuck fast.
  • 3/4 inch bias tape maker**
  • fabric
    • strip 1-1/2 inches wide x 12 inches long
    • rectangle 5.5″ x 8″
  • wax paper**
  • WonderClips**
  • Perl cotton**
  • Hand embroidery needle**

Lining

I wanted to cover all the advertising and nutritional information with fabric. I used felt so I wouldn’t have to worry about the raw edges.

First, I made a cardboard template.  To make the template, I traced around the bottom of the Altoids tin. Then I cut out the template and made sure it fit in the following places:

  • bottom
  • inside bottom
  • inside top

I wanted full coverage in all of those places.

Next, I cut out pieces of felt for the inside top, the inside bottom and the bottom. Set aside the pieces for the inside top and 

Put down some waxed paper to protect your work surface. On the waxed paper, I glued the other two pieces to the the inside bottom and the bottom.

Set the tin aside and let the pieces dry thoroughly.

Trim

Cut a strip of fabric 1-1/2 inches wide x 12 inches long. Use your bias tape maker to make some trim. This piece does not have to be on the bias.

Set aside.

WonderClip Band and Needle Holder

Check to be sure your other pieces are glued securely to the tin and the glue is dry.

Inside of Altoids Sewing Kit
Inside of Altoids Sewing Kit

You will need the piece you cut from the template and set aside.

Third, I cut two pieces of contrasting colored felt (if you want these pieces to show). I cut a small band 3/8 inch by 2 1/4 inches (or the width of your tin) and a rectangle 2 inches x 2 inches.

Fourth, sew the band 1/2 inch up from the bottom of your set aside piece.

Fifth, center your 2×2 rectangle 3/8 inch down from the top and sew the rectangle to your set aside piece. Sew very close to the top edge of the felt rectangle. You may have to adjust it, so you don’t cover the WonderClip band.

Next, put down some waxed paper to protect your work surface. Glue your section with the WonderClip band and needle holder to the inside top of your tin.

Set the tin aside and let it dry thoroughly.

Pincushion

Seventh, take your 5.5″ x 8″ fabric rectangle and baste by hand with large stitches a shape that approximates the shape of the Altoids tin top (rectangle with round corners). 

Next, tighten the basting to the approximate shape of the top of the tin.

Side view of Altoids tin Sewing Kit
Side view of Altoids tin Sewing Kit

Ninth, stuff the fabric with wool roving or Fiber Fill, keeping it in the shape of the top of the tin, but puffy.

Tenth, fold the excess fabric on the bottom so the wool roving stays inside. You may need to trim the fabric if it overlaps too much. Make sure the shape fits the top of the Altoids tin.

Next, put down some waxed paper to protect your work surface. Apply glue to the top of the tin and apply the pincushion. Adjust the shape to fit as needed. Press and hold for a few moments so it stays in place.

Set the tin aside and let it dry thoroughly.

Applying Trim

Check to be sure your pincushion is glued securely to the top of the tin and the glue is dry.

Put down some waxed paper to protect your work surface.

Dot glue on one short end of the tin along the bottom of the lid only.  Press the bottom of the trim piece on the glue. Secure to the pincushion with a pin.

Set the tin aside and let it dry thoroughly.

After the end is dry, dot glue around the rest of the bottom of the tin and press the trim to the glue. Pull tight as you press.

End of Altoids tin
End of Altoids tin

Overlap the end and cut the end of the trim strip so you have piece of the top of the trim that you can fold under to cover the raw edge of the beginning of the strip. Pin in place to allow the glue to dry.

Set the tin aside and let the glue dry thoroughly.

Finishing

Side view of Altoids tin Sewing Kit
Side view of Altoids tin Sewing Kit

Take your Perl Cotton and stitch along the edge of your trim. Use a basic running stitch or some kind of fancy stitch, if you want. Start away from the hem of the trim. Stitch all the way around, catching the pincushion fabric in the stitch as you sew.  You may need to tuck bits of the pincushion under the trim. Finish near the hemmed section and bury the thread as you would in a quilt.

If this is a gift, put a pin and a WonderClip into the tin to show your recipient how the features work.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

BAM Door Prize Organization

BAM January Door Prize
BAM January Door Prize

Yesterday was the first time we gave a door prize in 2021. The bag isn’t as full as some were last year, but we are trying to tone them down a bit.

Tim made the bag. SueG made the zipper pouch. Carrie made the coasters, pattern weights and the thread catcher (not shown). The other items were all donations one way or another. I enjoy the team effort.

Earlier this week, I received a big box of items from Carrie. She made coasters, pattern weights and thread catchers for all of the months of this year. She did the work in record time without any fuss! It was fabulous.

Once I got all of Carrie’s contributions, I decided to organize the offerings. I got everything out of the bag and laid it all out. I put as much as I could into SueG’s zipper pouch. Not everything would fit, so I put each month’s gifts temporarily into a plastic zipper bag until I get more containers for the months.

Door Prize Organization System
Door Prize Organization System

Sewing Kit Officer Thank You Gifts

Finished Altoids Sewing Kits
Finished Altoids Sewing Kits

DH, apparently, has an Altoids habit. I had no idea until he came home and started to work remotely. I asked him to save me a couple of tins and suddenly I had 8 to work with. I wanted to make small sewing kits for the guild officers. I looked for tutorials. The one I liked was DIY Felt Magnet. It turned out, however, that I mostly fumbled along on my own during Craft Nights. Check back in a few days for a tutorial of my own.

One key was letting everything dry thoroughly after I glued it.

Finished Sewing Kits - open
Finished Sewing Kits – open

I am pretty pleased with the way the sewing kits came out. I would have done some things differently if I had known, but I didn’t.

I am particularly pleased with the WonderClips** band. I think that is genius. I know I am tooting my own horn and I don’t want you to think I have a big head, but I was trying to think of a solution for storing some WonderClips along the lines of the clippy pocket I made for the UCAB. I wonder if I can sew some bands and add those instead of going through all of the Clippy pocket steps?

Sewing Kits showing Trim
Sewing Kits showing Trim

The other thing I realized was that I could use the bias tape makers to make almost perfect trim by cutting fabric on the straight of the grain and applying it like trim. There was no messing around with the iron, trying to get the trim straight. No burned fingers or frustration. Those bias tape makers** are fun to use and I am finding them to be more and more helpful.

I delivered these on Wednesday when Mary and I put the Officer Appreciation gift bags together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Gazebo Finished

Journey 2 Nebula icon
Journey 2 Nebula icon

So, the Journey 2 Nebula is finished. I finished all the projects which were part of the ‘Journey’ and the rulers have been returned to Amy. I am not making the Nebula quilt. If you like hexagons, you should try it. It is an interesting design. I am happy with the small projects I made during this Journey 2 Nebula and am moving on to other designs.

Gazebo Finished
Gazebo Finished

Gazebo, as I mentioned, is the one project about which I was really excited. I did all the projects in order and waited patiently to get to this one.

This project, like all the others, was pretty easy. I was able to start and finish it in less than a day. This is an example of the excellent directions provided by the pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog

Finished: Sew Together Bags

I finally finished the Sew Together Bags and they are now in the hands of their new owners.

The outsides used different fabrics and embellishments, as I mentioned, but the insides were similar. I used most of the same fabrics for the insides. While the white insides make tools and supplies easy to find, I think they are a bit boring and might use one or two pieces of colored fabric to break up the white next time (yes, I am sure there will be a next time. 😉  )

As I mentioned in one post, the placement of the hexagon embellishment feature was off. I tried a few different things and considered some others. In the end, I left the original embellishment where it was and added a couple of extra hexagons. I think it looks nice and the original embellishment provides a surprise for the bottom if anyone looks there.

The recipients all claimed to enjoy their new bags. Tim doesn’t do much handwork, so I hope he finds a use for this bag.

Drawstring Bags

Drawstring Bag - Project size
Drawstring Bag – Project size

I have made various sizes of the drawstring bags from the Jeni Baker pattern a number of times. I had an idea to use them as gift bags and, more recently, I made one to house some juggling balls. At the last minute, I grabbed some Marcia Derse fabric that has been nagging me lately to make some more of these bags.

I have made her bags using the free tutorial a few times, including one for the juggling balls, but also bought the pattern, which has a number of different sizes.

Drawstring Bag - Artist size
Drawstring Bag – Artist size

Last week I cut out two – the Artist size and the smaller Project size. They go together very quickly once cut and are really great for wrapping gifts.

I do like that Marcia Derse squares fabric. I think it is a little hard to use, though, except for, maybe, on the back of a quilt. I think this is a good use for it.

I bought some twill tape awhile ago. I used that for the handles, but am not 100% happy with the look. I may go back and make handles that match.

Now that these are made, I am not sure how I will use them.

Retreat Pouch Finished

Sometime ago I bought the frames for the Retreat pouch. The Retreat pouch is a free pattern from Emmaline Bags. The pattern, as I said, is free, but the frames are not.

Retreat Pouch closed
Retreat Pouch closed

Over the New Year holiday, I decided I was going to make some bags, the supplies for which had been hanging around. The Retreat pouch was one of the bags I sewed.

I started out with the small size, which is about 8 inches x 4 inches. I didn’t think the small size was tiny. Once cut out, this is not a difficult bag to put together. I was able to finish it in a couple of hours while I catted with a friend.

Retreat Pouch open
Retreat Pouch open

I thought the installation of the frame was a little weird because the pattern says to remove stitches you have already sewed in order to install the frame. The pattern didn’t say whether to sew up the hole that I made, so I did.

I just used a frame for the Sheffield Tool Bag. That pattern uses a casing to house the frame. Since I haven’t used a lot of frames in bags, I don’t know what is normal. I prefer the casing.

I plan to use this pouch for my bag making tools. I might need to make the larger version for the tools as I have a lot of them, but I plan to make the larger one anyway.

I found a video that shows how to add handles and make some other changes to the bag while showing how to make the pouch. I have watched it, but I didn’t watch while making this pouch. I may add handles to my next one.

N.B. on Frames: I still don’t have a good handle on frames. I know how to install them in a bag or pouch in a couple of ways, but I don’t know if different frames can be interchanged in different bags. I haven’t made enough bags with frames to understand them very well.

Pink Kaffe Quilt Start

Pink Kaffe Quilt Start
Pink Kaffe Quilt Start

I know I talked about my plans a month or so ago, but hadn’t started it yet.  After thinking about this quilt for awhile, I finally started it and it is making me super happy.

I am following the directions in Kaffe’s book, Quilts in the Cotswolds**. However, I am not using many of the fabrics he suggests. I am pulling out the Philip Jacobs fabrics I have stashed for awhile and have not yet used for backs. I am fussy cutting flowers from them and arranging them in a pleasing way. I  have also used, so far, one Anna Maria Horner print and one Martha Negley print.  I’ll probably had more different prints. The flowers are by no means in their final location. I want to spread them out so the pinks are not all together. For now I am placing them in the order I cut them so I can easily count them.

Stash Fabrics Art Gallery solids
Stash Fabrics Art Gallery solids

For the sashing, I am using solids I recently purchased from Stash Fabrics. I plan to arrange them in gradation order and use a different solid for each section, gradating out from light to dark.

Every day I  have been spending a little time cutting. I may need to sew some pieces and parts together to gain space on my design wall, but that is a decision for another day. In the meantime I am enjoying showcasing the beautiful flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Past Gifts for Mom – Revised

Someone commented on the Paint Tube fabric when I was at Sew Day. I sent along the post I wrote about past gifts I have given to my mom. It has been awhile, so I decided to update it. I might do another update after her birthday, but here are the various gifts I have made for her with different artist fabrics I have collected.

I was able to find the Sweet Dreams pillowcase. I forgot I made that for her. I also have a few in the pipeline for Mother’s Day and I am sure I will make more for Christmas.

Gazebo Starts

Journey 2 Nebula icon
Journey 2 Nebula icon

Last week I decided to finish the last project.

The last Journey 2 Nebula project (except for the bonus project, which I am not doing) is Gazebo. I sort of did the whole project in order to do this one for myself. By the time I finished Candy Dish, I was kind of sick of the whole thing. All of the projects were well received by their recipients, was a relief. I don’t know what my problem was. I enjoyed it until December-ish.

I think life ended up overwhelming me. Big surprise since it was December!

Gazebo Progress
Gazebo Progress

However, I like this design, so I decided just to cut it out and do it. I started after lunch one day. I was able to get the whole thing cut out and pieced by the end of the day. I was also able to make the back and start quilting it.

I worked hard on the fabrics. Since this was for me, I really thought about the look I wanted and am pleased with my choices.

Sotak Purse Organizer

Recently, I bought a Purse Organizer pattern from Svetlana at Sotak Handmade. This pattern came out in 2015, but it was new to me. I made two of them in quick succession around New Year and can see this pouch becoming a go-to pattern for a quick, useful gift.

Purse Organizer
Purse Organizer

The excellent thing is that I was reminded how easy Zipper slip pockets (top pocket with the green zipper) are to add! Tim and I have talked about these types of pockets recently, but I was reluctant despite the cool zipper ruler I bought. This pattern got me back into the swing of those zipper slip pockets and I feel more confident that I can put them into any bag. I did have trouble keeping the zipper straight as I sewed it, so that is something to work on.

 

More Progress on the STBs

Green 2020 STB
Green 2020 STB

I made good progress right before Christmas on these bags. I wanted to finish them, but life got in the way.

I was pleased when I attached the lining to the exterior and saw how the embellishment lined up. YAY! It looks like I knew what I was doing!

Dresden Plate 2020 STB
Dresden Plate 2020 STB

The Dresden Plate version came out pretty well also. I like how just part of it shows. I am pleased with the colors, though I wonder if I should have backed the Dresden Plate. I think that dark blue of the exterior is showing through some of the lighter blues. Not a huge deal, but something to consider in the future.

Hexie 2020 STB
Hexie 2020 STB

I need to adjust my hexagon version a little. Almost the entire motif is on the bottom of the bag and mostly unseeable. 🙁 I am still considering taking the exterior off the lining, ripping out the hexies and re-appliqueing them to the exterior higher up.  That is a lot of ripping. I think it is more likely that I will make a new hexie motif and add it to the front where it can be seen. If the exterior fabric weren’t a blender, I would be fine with leaving it as is, but it is a little boring compared to the others.

Two out of three isn’t bad!

STB Lining Progress

Hexie Lining - STB 2020
Hexie Lining – STB 2020

I made good progress on the linings before Christmas. I spent one whole Sunday putting the linings together. As I think I have mentioned, I really need more horizontal surfaces to layout my projects.

I am pleased with how it sewed up into a 3D lining in a relatively straightforward manner. I used a denim needle this time and the sewing went a lot better. I don’t want to say it was easy, but I didn’t fight with the layers as much as I did last time.

I think the white looks very clean and fresh.

Green Lining - STB 2020
Green Lining – STB 2020

The green version looks good, too. i used a scrap of a vintage feedsack for the pincushion. I don’t know if the recipient will appreciate that touch, but I like it.

The zippers for the inside are forest green. A little boring, but the recipient likes green so….

I have to say that as much as I complain about the Ultimate Carry All Tote, the way she makes the pockets to minimize the layers would work very well with this bag, too.

I am really not disliking this process as much as I have in the past. It is possible that I should say, I am not struggling as much as I have in the past.

Gift Post #5: Butterfly Pouch

Butterfly Cotton Candy pouch finished
Butterfly Cotton Candy pouch finished

I finished the Butterfly pouch I talked about the other day. It was a relatively quick project and despite some problems I am happy with how it turned out.

I resolved the size issue by cutting off the excess on the side panels. I think this is a little smaller than others I have made, but I still like it. I am particularly happy with the fussy cutting of the main panel.

Butterfly Cotton Candy pouch finished - inside
Butterfly Cotton Candy pouch finished – inside

The inside fabric is a really good choice, if I do say so myself. It is a bright white and reflects the light really well. I think this means that SIL will be able to see her stuff easily.

Sheffield vs QI Tool Tote

After thinking about the two tool totes, I decided to compare them. I already talked a little about them in the Gift Post, but I think showing photos would help you decide which you want to make. I made the Quilts Illustrated pattern in 2018. I use it for my bag making supplies. It is handy to keep them all in one place.

Sheffield Tool Bag v. Quilts Illustrated Tool Tote
Sheffield Tool Bag v. Quilts Illustrated Tool Tote

As you can see from the photo above, the overall shape of both bags is substantially similar. The Sheffield Tote is larger than the QI Tool Tote. The Sheffield also has some 3D pockets in addition to the slip pockets on the outside. These additional pockets provide extra storage, though I wonder if the items in those pockets would fall out in transit?

The other thing I notice is that the handles are different. They are different widths and made from different techniques. I picked up the QI Tool Tote the other day and found it heavy. With all of my bagmaking hardware and supplies, it would be. That made me worried about the handles breaking. I think if I made the QI version again, I would make the handles wider.

That being said, I have not filled the Sheffield Tool Bag so I don’t know how it will feel with items inside. I do like the padded version of the handles (see tutorial – you can add these to any bag) for a bag like this and will add them next time I made the Sheffield.

The other thing I like about these bags is the frame. I haven’t made a lot of bags with frames, but the wide mouth aspect, enabled by the frame, on both bags is awesome. The maker can see into the entirety of both bags.

Again, the pockets are different. The Sheffield has more 3D pockets on the inside while the QI Tool Tote has slip pockets, including some on the ends. In a way I like the slip pockets better. I can see making a smaller slip pocket for the second pocket on the outside of the Sheffield instead of the 3D pockets. I might also make slip pockets for the inside of the Sheffield.

There is a lot of scope for imagination, as Anne Shirley would say, in this style of bag. I encourage you to try it out.