Brown velveteen pouch

I'm playing around with some different purse patterns and am currently working on this one: http://wychwood.wikidot.com/kit-pouches . The first thing that is obvious about this pattern is that there are a lot of eyelets! Once I got the pieces sewn together and everything marked, I began to wonder if I had the fortitude for that many eyelets. However, the journey of a thousand eyelets starts with a single stitch. I couldn't believe that I managed to get all those eyelets done! At this point I was really hoping that this pattern worked and regretting not doing a mock-up like I usually do.

I was impatient so I used some shoelaces to string it together and make sure that the gathering worked correctly. It works! Hooray! It's kind of hard to see on this picture but the gathers lay nearly perfect with a graceful curve into a nice round bottom. The next step will be to cut and sew the top flap, which will be attached at the little tab sticking up. Also, I need to make some pretty drawstrings to replace those shoelaces.

(Very) Tiny Purse

I was chatting with our gift coordinator for the crown and she mentioned that they were a bit low on largess, so I decided to make a little something to make her job easier. This little project combines three "to-do" things on my list: eyelet practice, twisted cords, and up-cycled shirts. I've been meaning to practice eyelets and have yet to feel comfortable with them. This little project had 12 of them - and I think I've got the hang of it now. Recently one of the blogs I read posted a tutorial on quick twisted cords and I had been meaning to try it out since I don't seem to have a good track record on finishing long finger loop braids to finish out projects. Finally, I was gifted a box of old silk shirts from my sister a while back and I have been wanting to use them for more projects. Most of the shirts have large chunks of silk that is still nice, so I just have to dissect them and pull out the good bits as I go. The silk for my apron dress is my first shirt project. This is my second. This is a simple little circle purse in silk with twisted cord silk drawstring. I put my favorite teas in it as a little bonus :) When I patterned it, I had intended that it be large enough to have the tea totally inside, but drafting patterns just really isn't my strong suite. Oh well, another skill to work on. The eyelets turned out very nice and surprisingly consistent. They are a little snug for the draw string, but they work. Even as a tiny purse I think it works out well with the tea and the silk is so shiny and soft that it still makes me happy.