Handmade Gifts ~ Citrus Pouch

Happy Friday!

Today I am sharing another handmade gift idea for my Handmade Holidays series.

I designed the citrus pouch for the Liberty Craft Blog.  

It is the perfect size for a pencil pouch.

I have shown it here with a lovely, colorful Moleskin Sketch book and some fun colored pencils.
Another perfect gift for your creative friends and family.

It is also the perfect size for portable sewing supplies or a make-up pouch.

The fabrics used in the pouches pictured are from Liberty of London. They are a lightweight cotton lawn, but any quilting weight cotton print or solid would work nicely, too.

You can find the pattern and instructions on the Liberty Craft Blog [HERE]

  Happy Sewing

xo

Charise

The Anna Blouse Sew Along - Designing your Anna

This is by far my favorite part - designing your Anna!

It is a perfect style for print fabrics.  I had fun dropping this pretty Chevron Cloud 9 Palos Verdes Voile fabric into the style.

You can also make yours with a contrast trim.

A light weight chambray with a print trim would be adorable. 

Or a print with a solid trim.

You can even change the tucks to gathers

The possibilities are endless!

I have more pics on my Anna Blouse Sew Along Page on Flickr.

Stop by on Thursday for instructions on how to put you pattern together and pick your size.

xo

Charise

Citrus Pouch on the Liberty of London Craft Blog!

I absolutely love Liberty fabrics!  The colors, quality, drape - they are divine.  My inspiration for the latest project I designed for the Liberty Craft Blog came from a paper piecing pattern. I thought the Citrus wedges would make an adorable pouch! 

You can find the pattern and instruction on the Liberty Craft Blog.

At 10" x 5 1/4" it is the perfect size to use as a pencil pouch, make-up bag or to carry a small, portable sewing project.

Happy Sewing.

xo

Charise

Sunday Stash with Liberty Tana Lawns

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.  I picked the last of the lavender from my garden that I will use for sachets and cooking.  My husband makes killer Lavender lemon scones!  The recipe is from my favorite Seattle bakery - Macrina.  

My roses are still blooming - you can see a little peek in the upper right hand corner of the photo.

My house is full of vases with the luscious smelling blooms.  I will be sad when they are gone.

I could't resist making a sachet with the my Liberty Tana 

Lawn scraps  and lavender from my garden!  The pattern is one I designed, way back when, for Stitch Gifts 2012.

You could also use my tutorial for a simple four patch sachet - tutorial is [here].  It is a great project for using your favorite scraps.  

Here is a little sneak peek of a project I am working on for the Liberty Craft Blog with these beautiful fabrics!  They are so summery which is nice since summer is coming to an end.  I love the citrus colors (hint, hint).

Have a lovely evening!

xo

Charise

~Inspiration from Across the Pond~

Cath Kidson ~ Covent Garden ~ London

A few weeks  ago my hubs found out he needed to go to London on business.  I haven't been to London in 10 years (I was pregnant with my son Liam on my last trip) and thought how nice it would be to head across the pond for a little vacation and a much needed dose of inspiration.  Well...... after a bit of quick planning, an agreeable grandfather come kid sitter,  and a ticket purchased just 4 days before my flight, I was on my way!

Carnaby Street London ~ Spring Fashion Inspiration

How I have missed traveling to Europe!  When I worked as a fashion designer I would make the trip twice a year.  The travel would start in London and then on to Paris and usually end in Rome or Florence.  The trips consisted of research or shopping the stores and streets to find the latest fashion trends that were applicable to the clothing line I was designing for.  London was always a quick stop -  so it was nice to have a full week to explore the city.

Inside Liberty of London ~ a heavenly oasis from the busy streets of London 

My first trip, seriously jet lagged, was Liberty of London.  I swear, I could spend days here.  The store is beautiful and is a manageable size so shopping is a truly lovely experience.  London is quite hectic (makes living in Seattle seem like living in the country) so it was a nice diversion from the crazy streets.

Liberty of London

Bolts of beautiful Liberty Fabrics!



I must have spent at least an hour walking up and down the aisle of Liberty fabrics trying to decide on the right one.  They are all so beautiful it was hard to decide!  I didn't purchase fabric on my first trip but came back a few days later and decided on some beauties.

I was attracted to these lovely pinks and purples.....

And have started a Kaleidoscope quilt - the same pattern as my Kaleidoscope pillow you can find here!

I also purchased a few lengths of fabric that will become my short sleeved Anna Blouse.

Of course I couldn't leave London without coming home with a few items from the Cath Kidson shoppe!!

All in all it was a wonderful trip.  Stay tuned for part two!

xo
Charise

* Ruffle Clutch Tutorial on the Liberty Craft Blog *

I can't even begin to tell you how excited and honored I am to have a tutorial on the Liberty Craft Blog!!!  I created a sweet ruffle clutch using Liberty Lifestyle Stile collection. It is a fun little project - perfect for summer when you want a smaller purse to hold all you essentials.   Please head on over and visit the blog.  They have some great tutorials and patterns there!

 

 

You can find some of the Stile Fabrics I used here at Drygood Design and Pink Castle Fabrics.

Happy Sewing!!!

xo

Charise

Random Bits

I have been working on the pattern for my "Penelope" bag this week.  I did a first run with some of my favorite Liberty Lifestyle Fabrics. I was pretty happy with the results but decided to make a few changes - one being adding a paper pieced flower of one side.  This is completely optional-  but the pattern for the flower will be included in the Penelope bag pattern. 

Brenda at Pink Castle is having a 20% off sale on everything!  Yes everything!
Use code EVERYTHING20 at checkout!  She has the new Liberty Lifestyle Stile line which I love!

Ok....off to get ready for my 6 year olds birthday party with his friends!!!!

Royal Tea

I'm very excited to have a project in Issue 10 -Fat Quarterly  ~  Sew Brittania. The issue is full of wonderful projects inspired by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Summer Olympics in London..

I created "Royal Tea" a pillow pair using vintage crown and tea pot images I applied to fabric 

via transfer paper. The images were found at Graphics Fairy. 

I was going for a vintage, antique feel and used Moda Etchings by 3 sisters for the background fabric and the fabric I applied the transfers to.   The prints are Liberty Tana Lawn.  The project requires  very little fabric so I was able to splurge on Liberty fabric!!

The pillow back fabric is Botanika Collection by Paula Prass.
I hope you will take a peek at FQ Issue 10!

xo
Charise

Liberty Past and Present

Seems I have been seeing lots of lovely Liberty fabric projects popping up.  Kerry made this lovely tea set for the Liberty Cafe  - how cool is that?  Leila made an absolutely adorable frame pouch.

I thought I would share my past experience with Liberty Fabrics.  You may or may not know this, but I have been a fashion designer for the past 23 years.  I have taken the past few years away from my career to spend time with my youngest son who goes to Kindergarten in the Fall. 

Way back when in 1999 : )  I worked as the women's woven designer for Nordstrom's Evergreen, now Halogen, line of women's clothing.  It was a wonderful job.  Halogen was a new line for Nordstrom and I was the first of two designers.  Those of you who are familiar with Nordstrom may know a bit about the different departments. At the time, Halogen was to sit in the Savvy department at Nordstrom.  The Savvy department houses young, fresh, higher end fashion.  I was lucky enough to travel to Europe for design inspiration, work with factories in Italy and even more exciting, to shop the most wonderful fabric show - Premiére Vision -  outside Paris!  We purchased fabulous Europen fabrics and that is where the connection comes to Liberty Fabrics.  I chose Liberty lawn for this little top I designed, bottom right.

I even still have the swatch booklet from the 1999 Liberty Fabrics line.

Can you tell it is well loved?  It has been travelling with me for the past 13 years : )
I love to open it and admire all the wonderful designs.

Someday I'll muster the courage to cut into it........

So... all that being said, and thanks for listening, but I couldn't resist this F8 pack of Liberty from Pink Chalk fabrics!!  I think I'll make the Rose Dream block into a zip pouch.

 

xo

Charise