These pincushions are part of Minki's collection of amazing artistic creations. You can visit her place and sink into the delicate designs and perfect makes she has. She is such an inspiration! I have been following Minki for years now, and for the first time dare to try one of her designs - the pincushions. The pattern could be found in Sewing Illustrations.
I made only seven of them, and have to admit that these little charms surprised me with the attention they needed.
I love how they look like, made with the Haori textured fabric and appliquéd with gentle cottons.
The great thing about Minki's designs is that they are purely inspired by her life. She tells stories with her sewn illustrations in such a simple way, that one starts feeling these are stories from a childhood friend. I am sure you would spend wonderful time visiting her corner.
I am in love with this one. Is it because of the little french knot-ed berries :), or because of the clean lines, I don't know, I just found out this to be my favourite, when they were all done and proudly displayed for evaluation on my desk.
How lovely the vintage scale is! And the delicate strawberries...
This gentle vintage china I achieved with the lovely 'Thyme with Friends' collection by Kris Lammers for Maywood Studio. I love it so much. And to my taste this looks so much like morning espresso shot. To my little daughter is the chamomile tea she drinks every night before bed.
It is impossible not to fall in love with these little babies! Off I go to visit Minki's 'home' back again to charge my cloudy day with a ray of sunshine.
This case is a gift for my beautiful and loving daughter, who still has a heart of a child and loves everything colourful, adventures and Disney related. She has her moments of favouriting some Disney characters, but the stories of Winnie the Pooh are a classic and very precious to her. When she bought her first laptop herself, she wanted to wait for our vacation to DisneyWorld (yay, soon to be... in March) and buy a case there. I decided to surprise her and make something unique, that she would love. It was meant to be a Christmas present, but unfortunately, wasn't finished in time.
Here it is, a month later, her new and custom sewn, hand-quilted and Pooh and Piglet appliquéd computer case for her to enjoy:
The computer case measurements are for MacBook Air 13.3 ". The case is made tight for better protection.
9. double zipper in mustard colour
10. Batting - thick cotton batting for the sides of the case
11. Heavy fusible interfacing
12. Matching thread for the hand-quilting/ I used embroidery floss DMC
Finished size of the case: 38 cm x 26 cm
cut size fabric for the face: 36 cm x 25 cm / cut 2 pc
cut size fabric for the lining: 36 cm x 25 cm /cut 2 pc
cut size batting: 35 cm x 24 cm / cut 2 pc
cut size fusible interfacing: 35 cm X 24 cm / cut 2 pc
zipper size: 55 cm, double sided zipper
bias tape size: 2 m length, 4 cm width /check the Haori bias tape
make the case:
1. Prepare all the necessary materials (cutting the fabric and gathering the notions)
2. Make the appliqué. it is like a puzzle - to have a design complete, the most important thing id to b aware which piece is sewn first on the canvas, and in what order will go the other pieces.
3. Stitch along the lines to fix each piece on the right place.
4. Complete all the sewing before the next step.
5. With the batting underneath, quilt the face and the back of the case.
6. Interface both pieces of lining.
7. Place the quilted face and the lining together, wrong sides down and baste all around.
8. Pin the wrong side of the zipper to the right side of the lining all around, starting from the edge of the longer side of the rectangular and finishing when the zipper ends.
9. Baste the bias tape at the zipper area (both sides of the case seperately: face and back). With right sides down, baste the bias tape to the face fabric, including the lining and the zipper that is already pinned.
10. Machine stitch the zipper (there would be all layers stitched together: bias tape, face fabric, batting. interfaced lining and zipper).
11. Fold down the bias tape covering the seam and slip stitch to the zipper on the inside of the case. Repeat for the other side.
12. Baste together front and back side of the case.
13. Attach the bias tape.
14. Make the zipper pull.
I had these two cute Disney buttons handy - a generous offer from a British friend. I wanted her to have them, but she was convinced I was going to find a good use for them. I am so thankful for these. They are a perfect charming addition to the case and keep the two friends together on the front.
If you haven't read the book, you could spend a wonderful time discovering that it is not only about the stories from the Disney movies, but so much more.
I think I will never be able to grow completely, until I have my daughter and her contagious love for gentle characters around. She inspire me to stay happy and believe in magic. How difficult this could be?
Hope you get inspired by the book you love and share with me.
Thank you for being my guest, ♥ Ivelina
Listening to Carly Simon "With a Few Good Friends" while writing this post :)))
