We are baking, sewing & crafting up a storm, preparing handmade gifts for this holiday season. I am sharing 30 wonderful sewn gifts from 30 amazing bloggers! Head on over to According to Kelly for 30 fabulous crafty gifts. A Southern Fairytale is spotlighting 30 edible yummies & holiday-inspired recipes.You definitely don’t want to miss a day! Check out ALL of our creative projects HERE.

Hi, I'm Anna from noodlehead.  I'm excited to join in again for Skip to My Lou's Holiday Bake, Craft and Sew Along!  This year's project is really fun because you can make it as simple or complex as you'd like and there's really no rules, love that.  So for making a really fun customizable fabric tray read on...

I had made a tray earlier this year for my dad and I figured this would be a simple project to share!

This is a great project to make to combine with a few other goodies for a hostess gift, a gift for your not-so-organized husband as a place for him to set his glasses and wallet and spare change, or for a special friend.  Fill it with treats, magazines, recipes, anything works!  I've included dimensions to make three different sized fabric trays: pencil size (small), spare change size (medium), and magazine size (large).  This is also a great scrap busting project, so dig into your scrap bin and pull out your favs.  Enjoy!

Materials:

For small fabric pencil tray:

• 2 pieces of fabric 10"Wx6"T (this is where you can get as fancy or simple as you'd like, think of patchwork, quilt blocks, anything goes - just trim it down to this size)
• one piece cotton batting or fusible fleece 10"Wx6"T
• one piece peltex 7"Wx3"T stiff double side fusible interfacing (I used Peltex 72F, found at Walmart/joanns, etc.)

For medium fabric spare change tray:

• 2 pieces of fabric 12"Wx10"T
• one piece cotton batting or fusible fleece 12"Wx10"T
• one piece peltex 9"Wx7"T stiff double side fusible interfacing (I used Peltex 72F, found at Walmart/joanns, etc.)

For large fabric magazine tray:

• 2 pieces of fabric 16x15
• one piece cotton batting or fusible fleece 16x15
• one piece peltex 11x12 stiff double side fusible interfacing (I used Peltex 72F,e found at Walmart/joanns, etc.)

Directions:

Fuse fleece to one of the main fabric piece (if using fusible fleece), fuse peltex centered onto the fabric you've selected for the bottom of your tray.

Layer batting (no need if you've already used fusible fleece), fabric for inside of tray RIGHT side up, fabric for bottom of tray RIGHT side down (see picture, the peltex is fused center, leaving the plastic layer on for now).

Pin.  Sew along all four edges using a 1/4" seam allowance, but leaving a 3-4" opening for turning (5" opening for the large tray).  Clip corners.  Remove plastic film from peltex. Turn right side out, push out corners with a chopstick or other dull instrument.  Press, tucking the raw edges of the opening inside. Also press the peltex rectangle to fuse it to the tray interior.

Topstitch along all edges, thus closing the opening you left for turning.

Sew a rectangle along the edges of the peltex rectangle.  You'll be able to feel the edge of it through the fabric, if not, sewing through it isn't a big deal.  A water soluble pen might come in handy to keep your rectangle looking like a rectangle! You can even do more quilting at this point if you wish.

Pinch each corner at the edge of the peltex, bending the fabric up to meet at the edges.

Here you can either use floss (or even thread) and sew a few stitches through the two edges to hold them together.

Or you can pin them together and stitch straight up the corner you pinched (remembering to backstitch).  Repeat for the remaining 3 corners and you're set!

Fill with whatever your heart desires and give that gift!!

I'd also like to note that there are a lot of similar projects out there, so if this isn't your cup of tea, try one of these fab tutorials:

• fabric tray by chic chic sewing
• trinket tray by heather bailey
• fabric basket tutorial by Make, Do & Send
• fabric scrap basket by The Sometimes Crafter
• happy hostess gift box by Jennifer Casa for Sew Mama Sew

Or better yet, stop by my blog and check out all my tutorials and patterns, maybe you'll find something else you just HAVE to make!  Thanks for having me Cindy!

[fabrics: linen, lizzy house 1001 peeps (blue), tula pink parisville (yellow), greenfield hill denyse schmidt (green)]

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We are baking, sewing & crafting up a storm, preparing handmade gifts for this holiday season. I am sharing 30 wonderful sewn gifts from 30 amazing bloggers! Head on over to According to Kelly for 30 fabulous crafty gifts. A Southern Fairytale is spotlighting 30 edible yummies & holiday-inspired recipes.You definitely don’t want to miss a day! Check out ALL of our creative projects HERE.

Hello! I'm Andrea from The Train To Crazy (aren't we all?). I love sewing gifts for the holidays so I'm thrilled to share a great tutorial here today on Skip To My Lou!

This simple leather wallet is great for the back pocket. Slim so it doesn't wear out pockets and easy to access money. You may omit the "money clip" elastic and store the money in the middle pocket if that suits your style.

Gather Supplies:

• leather (I bought an old leather purse at a thrift shop)
• clear vinyl
• leather sewing machine needles
• upholstry thread
• 1/2" wide elastic to match your leather

Sewing with leather can be scary but you may find it isn't as you thought! A few tips:

1. Use the correct needle and thread
2. Go slow
3. Do not start right on the edge of your leather
4. Use a scrap piece of leather to check your tension

Cut leather:

• 3" x 4.5" (cut 2)
• 3" x 3.75" (cut 2)
• 3" x 3" (cut 1)

Cut vinyl:

• 3" x 3" (cut 1)

Cut a "window" out of one piece of 3' x 3.75" piece of leather. I use an exacto knife for precision.

Line the vinyl up behind the window and sew the top together. You may also use an appropriate glue if you'd rather to attach the vinyl to the leather.

Cut slits for the elastic. Line the elastic up near the top of the 3" x 3" piece of leather. Cut a slit about 1/4" inside the leather on each side. The slit should be just as wide as the leather.
Tuck the elastic into the leather as above.

Stack your wallet together. The window piece should be on top of one of the largest pieces. This will make one side of your wallet.

The elastic piece should go on top of the mid sized piece and then on top of the other largest piece. This will be the opposite side of the wallet.

Line your pieces up so the edges are straight. You can't use pins so I used binder clips. Sew the sides and bottom of the wallet. Do not sew the top!

You're done! Now fill that wallet or give it as a gift!

I hope you'll stop by The Train To Crazy to check out my other tutorials for your holiday sewing! You might be interested in my Hooded Towel Backpack or the Go To Dress (free pattern sizes 12 months to 5T). If you have a school aged boy or girl you'll want to check out my recent Dress Your (School) Boy & Girl series where you'll find lots of tutorials. And you'll definitely want to stop by next week when the Handmade Dress Up series begins. I'll be featuring costume tutorials from 25 of your favorite bloggers!

We are baking, sewing & crafting up a storm, preparing handmade gifts for this holiday season. I am sharing 30 wonderful sewn gifts from 30 amazing bloggers! Head on over to According to Kelly for 30 fabulous crafty gifts. A Southern Fairytale is spotlighting 30 edible yummies & holiday-inspired recipes.You definitely don’t want to miss a day! Check out ALL of our creative projects HERE.

I am so excited to be a part of theHoliday Craft Along!

Today I'm going to show you how to make this Ruffled Infinity scarf. It would make a great gift for your mom, a neighbor, a teacher, or just about anyone who likes scarves.

All you need is some knit fabric and coordinating thread. Okay, lets get started.

Usually knit fabric is about 60 inches wide.  If you come across a fabric that is significantly less wide, I wouldn't recommend using it for this project.  Your scarf will turn out too short.

Cut two strips of fabric across the whole width of your fabric.  They should be the width that you want your finished scarf to be.

Lay one on top of the other, WRONG sides together.  I know, it feels like you're violating a cardinal rule of sewing, right?

Now we're going to ruffle the edges.  First, set your machine to a zig zag stitch.  I like to make the stitch wider and shorter than the default settings on my machine.  As you sew both pieces together, you want half of the zig zag to land on your fabric and the other half to land off the edge of your fabric {see below} so that it kind of wraps around the edge of your scarf.

Also, make sure to stretch your fabric as you sew. Yep, breaking rules all over the place here.  As you sew, the stretched fabric will shrink back up behind the stitches, creating the ruffles.  Do this along both long sides, leaving the short ends open.

Turn the raw edges to the inside.  Press.

Now match both ends up.  Make sure your scarf isn't twisted.  You want one smooth loop.

Use a blind stitch to sew both ends together.  Using a hand needle, slip your needle into the fold of one end of your scarf, as pictured below.

Then do the same thing on the other side of the scarf.  Keep going back and forth all the way around your scarf, until you end up where you started.

Finish by knotting your thread.  Clip any loose threads and you're done!

You can change the look by wrapping it or tying it different ways.

If you have lots of time on your hands, you can get more elaborate by making this scarf.  The tutorial is here.

Thanks for having me here today! You're welcome to stop by my place anytime.