It's the Bake, Craft & Sew Along ---the sewing edition! Don't forget to skip on over to According to Kelly to see some fun crafty non-sewing gifts and to A Southern Fairytale for edible goodies that will be perfect this holiday season.

Hi! I'm Mique from 30days - most often you can find me chasing after my 3 kids but on my down time I share anything craft related on 30days. I also host giveaways and product reviews there too. I'd love for you to stop by and say hi. I'm so excited to be involved in such an amaaazing handmade week.

For me I don't have a hard time finding gifts for little girls and boys, but beyond on that I struggle. I think I have a little inexpensive idea that is super easy to make and could fit into a few gift giving categories- teens, techies, impossible to buy for guys, etc.

Today I'm sharing a super simple soft sock iPod, iPhone, or anything gadgety cozy (how's that for a short name?). It would be perfect for all those single Ilosttheotheroneinthedryersomehow socks. Or you could buy a cute pair at the dollar spot at Target for, you guessed it, a dollar.

Next fold sock right sides together and sew from just below the top of the sock (in my case the blue part) down the side and the bottom. It should look like this.

Clip the corners.
Turn right side out.

Ta-da- you have a super soft sock cozy. Easy as 1-2-3.

For a girl you could add a flower clip to the top to make it cute.

Since some people might not "get it" at first,
I would attach a card like this one:

You can right click & save & print on the
actual card here:

I think these would be good stocking stuffers or
to give with the gadget you're giving.

Thanks so much to Cindy (and Kelly & Rachel)
for letting me join in on the fun!
I can't wait to jump in and get busy on all these
projects- maybe this time I'll be done before Christmas Eve.

Updating...

It's the  Bake, Craft & Sew Along ---the sewing edition! Don't forget to skip on over to According to Kelly to see some fun crafty non-sewing gifts and to A Southern Fairytale for edible goodies that will be perfect this holiday season.

I know this is a handmade gift series but Char from Crap I've Made shows how to make a simple and cool laptop sleeve that I must make for myself! It would make a great gift too! Don't miss all the lovely  things (crap) she makes on her blog!

Char writes...

I’m Char from Crap I’ve Made. I don’t like pudding or hugging. I love Diet Coke and naps. I readily admit to fake crying in an attempt to get out of sewing class in the 9th grade. My teacher didn’t buy it, and the rest is history. And, I’m thrilled to be here participating in the Holiday Bake, Craft, & Sew Along.

Here’s my tutorial for a zippered laptop sleeve. Since it’s measurement based, you could adapt it to fit an iPad or other electronic gadget, too.

How to Make a Zippered Laptop Sleeve

Supplies:
Outer fabric
Lining fabric
Fusible fleece
Zipper (approximately 4” longer than your laptop)
Embellishments

Measure your laptop, wrapping your tape measure all the way around.

Mine measures 18.5” X 24.5”. (Yes, it’s tiny.)

Split both of those measurements in half. In my example, that would be 9.25” X 12.25”. Add 1.25” to both of those measurements. In my example that’s 10.5” X 13.5”. We’re finished with the math. Cut 2 pieces from your outer fabric this size. Cut 2 pieces from your lining fabric this size. Cut 2 pieces of fusible fleece this size. I then trimmed 1/2” off all around my fusible fleece because I didn’t want the bulk in my seams.

Embellish one of your exterior pieces as desired now. I’m including directions for exactly how I made mine, but feel free to change that up to personalize your laptop sleeve.

Cut a strip of fabric 3.5” wide and then press under 1/4” on the top and bottom edges.

Position on the front of your laptop sleeve and stitch in place along both edges.

Cut a strip of fabric 3” high by at least twice the width of your laptop case. Fold under 1/2” on both long edges and press.

Run a long gathering stitch (do not backstitch) about 1/4” in along both long edges. Pull your bobbin threads to gather evenly. Position in the middle of the larger strip and stitch in place.

(I made the decorative flower using these directions on WiseCraft. It’s attached to a pin and is removable so you won’t see it until the final pictures.)

Iron your fusible fleece to the wrong sides of both pieces of outer fabric, following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Take your zipper and place it face down and centered along the top edge of your front piece. You should have excess zipper on both ends.

Pin the zipper in place in the center. In order to get the zipper to go around the corners nicely, you’re going to make a few shallow snips along the part you need to bend.

Keep on pinning around both corners. I like to use A LOT of pins.

Baste the zipper in place. I used white thread so it would show up better for photographic purposes.

Position your lining fabric directly on top of your front piece, right sides facing.

Sew just inside of your basting line. Turn your pieces right side out. Press your exterior and lining fabrics away from the zipper.

Close the zipper. Position your other exterior piece on top, so the sides are even. Slide it up until it’s even with the zipper and pin. Unzip and repeat the zipper installation steps for the back half of the case.

Here’s what you’ve got now…nice neat zipper and ugly unfinished seams everywhere else.

Pull your exterior fabrics over so the right sides are facing, like this:

Keep turning until you’ve got both exterior pieces facing and both lining pieces facing.

Don’t be alarmed by the hot mess it appears to be right now. You’re *almost* there!

Reach up between the exterior layers and undo the zipper a few inches (big enough to fit your hand through and reach to undo the zipper the rest of the way later).

You’re going to sew ONLY on the exterior pieces. Fold, pull, and otherwise maneuver the lining pieces out of the way. You’ll be sewing from one end of the zipper to the other.

In the above picture, you’d sew from one pin, down around the bottom edge and then up to the other pin.

Repeat with the lining pieces, BUT leave a 4-5” hole in the bottom (again, big enough to fit your hand through).

Stick your hand way up in there and grab the bottom seam on the exterior fabrics.

And pull it out through the hole.

Close up the hole in the lining. I usually pull it all the way out and machine stitch close to the edge, but you could hand stitch if you prefer.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand you’re done!

Pleated Zippered Pouch

Lined Zippered Pouch

How To Make A Gathered Zippered Pouch

Materials needed:

• 1/4 yard each of three coordinating fabrics (you'll definitely have scraps leftover)
• 8" zipper (you can always purchase a longer zipper and shorten it, just follow the directions on the package
• scraps of medium weight fusible interfacing

Cutting the pieces:
For the main exterior, cut two pieces, one 5.5" tall by 9" wide, and one 5.5" tall by 13" wide (this will be the gathered front)
Pieces of medium weight fusible interfacing for exterior pieces of clutch: (2) 5.5" tall by 9" wide
For the front band, cut one piece 4" tall by 9" wide.
For the lining, cut two pieces 5.5" tall by 9" wide
For the zipper end covers: two pieces 1.5" tall by 2.5" wide.
Optional Parts:
For the divider pocket, cut one piece 8" tall by 9" wide (apply interfacing to half, you'll need at 4" x 9" piece)
For the card holders, cut one piece 7" tall by 9" wide (apply interfacing to half, you'll need at 3.5" x 9" piece)

Take the front band piece and fold it in half the long way (right sides together) and sew together using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Turn tube right side out and press with seam in the middle.  Set aside.

Grab the 13" wide main exterior piece.  Sew two lines of gathering stitches down the middle, about 1" apart.

Pull the top threads to gather, pull until the length is 9" long.  Press the gathers in place.

Take the front band and pin it in the middle of the exterior piece you just finished.

Top stitch along each side of the band.  Take the 5.5" tall by 9" interfacing piece and iron it to the WRONG side of the gathered piece.  This makes all the gathering and stitching stay in place nicely.  Set aside.

Make the divider pocket:

Fuse interfacing to half of the piece.

Fold fabric in half with WRONG sides together, press.  Topstitch along folded edge and then add another line of topstiching about 1/4" below the first line of topstitching.  Set aside.

Make the card holders:

Fuse interfacing to half of the piece.  Fold fabric in half with WRONG sides together, press.

Topstitch along folded edge and then add another line of topstiching about 1/8" below the first line of topstitching.

Take one piece of the lining fabric and line up the card holder with raw edges together, one on top of the other baste along side and bottom edged of card holder (the plaid fabric).

Grab your credit card or driver's license and mark with a pin how far you want your card to stick up from the slot.  Sew a line across the lining/card holder piece where you marked with the pin.  Sew one line of stitching down the center of the card holder.

Take your card again and mark with a pin where the edge of your card is (you can leave a little wiggle room, but it's nice to keep it pretty snug to hold your cards in place).  Sew a line for the side of the card, repeat for other side.  Now you should have two card holders!  Set aside.

Making the end tabs for the zipper:

Fold the piece of fabric in half width wise, turn down each raw edge to the center crease and press (the pic above doesn't show it pressed in far enough).  Repeat for other end tab.

Take your zipper and sandwich the fabric around the zipper, just poking over the little metal bits.

Topstitch a line straight across the zipper with a very small seam allowance being careful not to hit those metal parts!  Repeat for other end.  Trim the fabric tabs to the width of the zipper.  IMPORTANT!  The length of the zipper with the tabs on should measure about 8.5" end to end.

Baste the card holders to one piece of lining and the divider pocket to the other piece of  lining, aligning the raw edges at the bottom.

Almost done!

Assembling the clutch:

Place your gathered exterior piece RIGHT side up (whoops!, had it wrong in the pic, don't worry, just get out your seam ripper and start again).  Put the zipper teeth side down with the pull tab to the LEFT.  Then put the lining piece WRONG side up.  Pin in place.

Using your zipper foot sew along the edge of this zipper sandwich.  Flip pieces so the WRONG sides are together.

Grab the other exterior piece, place RIGHT side up.  Put the zipper teeth side down with the pull tab on the RIGHT this time. Place the remaining lining piece WRONG side up on top of the zipper.  Pin in place, sew.  Flip pieces so the WRONG side are facing eachother.  Press!

Put your regular sewing foot back on and sew a line of topstitching on either side of the zipper.

Now open your zipper about halfway, don't forget this! I actually forgot to do this on all three clutches, don't worry, you can still wiggle the zipper open if you carefully pull at it through the fabric.

Have a great Mother's Day!

** UPDATE**  Interior shots

interior card holders (2 - side by side)

interior pocket divider (it's the green polka dot fabric)

Click here to see all the handmade gift ideas in our Bake, Craft & Sew Along (updated daily).

Looking for beautiful fabrics to sew up your holiday gifts? Please check out my sponsor Maisonnette Designer Fabrics! --Beautiful site~

Makeup Brush Holder Tutorial

Think of this as your last minute gift idea, you could whip it up next Saturday right before Mothers Day. Seriously, this tutorial is so easy peasy, even if you are a beginner, you can do it in about an hour.

Materials needed:

• fabric 3 10x11inch pieces - contrasting, coordinating or all the same
• one piece for lining, one piece for the top + one piece for your brush pocket
• fusible interfacing 1 9.25x10.25 piece - whatever kind you have on hand
• ribbon 16-17 inches - or bias tape or whatever you have on hand

Start by ironing (fusing) your interfacing to the back of your lining piece.

Then iron your pocket piece in half lengthwise, it should now measure 5x11 inches.

Mark your pocket stitches. The big brushes need about 2 inches of pocket space + the little brushes need about 1 inch. Your pockets should vary depending on what kind of brushes you have.

Give yourself a 1/2 seam allowance on the ends when you mark, if you are doing a 2 inch pocket on the end, then mark your fist pocket at 2 1/2 inches, for the seam allowance. All other pockets mark true to size.

Sew your pockets to your lining.

You don't have to sew down the edges of the outside pockets, you can if you want, but I always leave mine open + sew them down when I sew the whole piece together.

Start with your top piece face up, place your ribbon or bias tape on either side of the top piece about 4 inches from the bottom.

Place your sewn lining + pockets face down on top of your top piece.

Pin your ribbon in place.

With a 1/2 inch seam allowance, stitch around the entire piece,

leaving a 3-4 inch opening at the top.

Turn right side out.

There are so many fancy corner poker outers that you can buy, but I always just use a chopstick.

Poke out your corners.

Tuck under your opening, making it flush

Iron your piece flat.

Use an 1/8 inch top-stitch. See where the seam riper is pointing? If you line your piece up with the inside of that feed dog, that will give you an 1/8 inch stitch.

Like so.

Stitch all the way around the piece.

Fold + iron down the top piece about 2 inches.

Stitch across the top of the folded down piece.

I also stitched one of the edges of the flap down to give it some structure, you can ignore this step or do it.

Now fill it with brushes + enjoy!

Or maybe if you don't have enough brushes, you should get some for Mothers Day so you can fill up your holder.

Make one + put it in a prominent place, leaving your husband a hint. Or if your like me, you could make one + hit your husband upside the head with it, for an even better hint.

Looking for more gift ideas? Look through the Handmade Gift Guide.