Back to School (or maybe not!)

Good morning Bloglanders

It is a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning in Stellenbosch and I thought I'd show you what I did yesterday. Wynand went away on business and I had the whole day to spend on my own. This is what I made:

The idea of an art kit has been at the back of my mind for some time. Wynand and I went to a luxury lodge in the Cederberge a while ago and in each room they had a mini art kit.  I totally loved the idea and thought I would make one for my guest room. Just love the idea of my visitors having fun while being artistic.  I just couldn't decide how it should look like as I didn't want to buy a leather version like the lodge (much too expensive and un-creative for IMPERFECT ME). Then I saw this:

I love Twine from The Twinery and I love challenges BUT I don't have any children at school so I decided to make the challenge work for me. (and I'll show how you can easily adapt it for school).  Here is the one for my art supplies:

And the adapted version for pens, pencils and a notebook:

For those of you who want to make one - this is what I did:

Cut two rectangular pieces of fabric - I have laid everything out on my table and measured around it. Remember to leave some extra space for a "spine" for your folder if you want to add bulky supplies.

Cut one piece of iron-on batting slightly smaller than your cover pieces.

For the pocket I used the cover piece as a template - just added about a third to the width and subtracted about a quarter of the height.

Iron the batting to one of your cover pieces.

Fold over the top edge of the pocket piece. Sew in place.

Stitch the pocket piece to the outside of the cover piece (the one with the batting on). I did add a little pleat to one of the pockets - easy!  Insert the paint set and pin in place - then stitch. In my picture you can see it in my middle pocket. Cut the excess fabric from the pocket piece off (if you have any).

For the front I worked lines of twine over the whole piece - you can do whatever you want - I just liked the artsy, colorful look.

Now sandwich everything together.  Right sides to the outside.

Stitch around the whole thing - about 1 cm from the edge.

Trim the edges to about half a cm.

Zig-zag around the edges. I use a big zigzag and go around twice.

Actually, the folder is done now but I wanted to add more color (and twine, of course!). Blanket stitch all around to cover the zig-zags.

For a closure I added 2 buttons to the front and some multi colored twine to wrap around my folder.

A close-up:

This would make great gifts and to take along while traveling - the options are endless.  While everything is out, I think I'll do some more for my pressie stash.

That's it - 2 inspirations covered in one project!  I'm off for a walk in the park, a "braai" (barbeque for my non SA Bloglanders) and glass of wine on my "stoep" (porch).  Thank you for looking at my blog and please check back as I have a lot more to share right here.  Have a Sunny Sunday!

Hazel