A Very Merry Michigan Crochetmas!

Hey guys! 

So I decided to hand make all of the gifts for my family back in Michigan this year. This was both practical and meaningful; I got to choose which item that I made for each person, they were all hand-made with love, and I could make them all in advance and then ship them all back at once so that I could save on shipping (versus purchasing a gift for each person and having it shipped). Given that we went back to Michigan for Christmas this year, the trip was already costing us an arm and a leg, so anywhere I could save on Christmas presents and still give everyone something was a plus for me! So I set out to Joann's (actually, I went many, many times) and I taught myself how to crochet amigurumi!

I'll include links to the patterns if I have them so that if you'd like, you can make them yourself! I'm also not going to include who each item is for (except it is probably obvious in a couple of cases) simply because I didn't actually give some of the gifts to their recipients for various reasons.

Dolls

Follow along video for Coraline Doll Pattern

Written Coraline Doll Pattern

It's probably obvious based on the dolls who these are for, but let's see if you can guess which doll is for which sister! I did change a lot of things about the pattern as I was going along so it is by NO means the exact pattern that I found to make them, but it is a fantastic pattern to build on and fantastic on its own!

"Mr. Fuzzhead" the Cat

Cat Doll Pattern 

Unrelated to Crochetmas, I stopped in the middle of crocheting the Christmas presents to whip up this little guy. He is based on a real cat, who was named Mr. Fuzzhead. When I found out from my friend that he had passed, I decided to make this for her. He is based off of a drawing that another friend did for her of Mr. Fuzz before his passing, then she had the drawing tattooed on her, so I thought a fuzzy embodiment was fitting. 

 MicroPig

Micropig Pattern

Stanley the Octopus

Octopus Pattern

His eyes are made from felt and fabric and his mouth is hand-embroidered.

Jack Skellington Coin Purse

Jack Skellington Coin Purse Pattern

This was my first time actually mixing medias. After crocheting the pieces, I had to use my sewing machine to stitch the zipper on. I'm super proud that it turned out well!

Snowman

Snowman Pattern

Tiny Snowman! His hat is hand made from glittery felt. I had originally purchased a small hat that you would use on a hand made doll, but the hat was more cowboy hat shaped than top hat shaped.

 Cupcake Card Holder

Pattern for the Cupcake

Cupcake! The wire (which is actual thick floral wire) is hand-shaped and is intended for bingo cards or photos. The sprinkles are glass beads stitched randomly into the surface.

Hershey's Kiss Card Holder

 Pattern for the Kiss

Hershey's Kiss! The wire, again, is intended for bingo cards or photos. The actual "tag" is hand embroidered and made from felt, hot glue, and embroidery thread.

Fish Plaques

 Fish Pattern

The fish plaques are actually going to get their own separate blog because I did follow the fish pattern but I also made the plaques so I thought it would be good to fully explain that as well. Yes, one is unintentionally larger, but funny enough that worked out in my favor!

Puppy

Puppy Pattern

Piggy

Piggy Pattern

This piggy is much MUCH larger than the pattern is written for because the hook it called for was 3-4 sizes smaller than my smallest hook (which honestly makes no sense to me... Your hook can only be so small when working with the weight of yarn this called for and I honestly would not have gone any smaller than I did).

I also have two other gifts for my Michigan family that haven't been given yet so I won't be spoiling the surprise :) I'll tack those onto another post later on. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I know I did!

"Large Mail Sack" Purse by Pink Chalk, Made by Brook

Hey guys!

Differing from anything I've ever posted before (except for maybe my Tie Dye Sharpie Shoes post) I'm blogging today to show you all something I've made! At the very least I know my grandma will enjoy seeing this :)

So back in 2011, my grandma and I found this great purse pattern at a quilt shop. It's called "The Mail Sack" by Pink Chalk, and it is so great! For someone who gets frustrated at every turn when sewing, this bag is a really quick thing to whip up without pulling out too many hairs. My grandmother and I have probably made over a dozen bags total over the years and have no plans to stop. That Christmas, everyone got a bag. I felt like Oprah. 

When I moved here, I obviously couldn't take grandma, her pattern, and her entire sewing room (complete with every tool you could ever think you'd possibly need) with me. But then Patrick bought the pattern for me for Easter a few months ago and I was excited to make another bag!

When Patrick got his new desk last week for work (it's a 3 sided desk) I finally had a place to sew without having to move computers and the like to do so, so I decided it was time to start a project.

I spent about an hour at Joann's picking out the perfect fabrics and started on it the next day. 

Unfortunately I did make a mistake and I bought the wrong type of interfacing for the project (it calls for fusible, I got the regular kind), but I was able to run over to Wal Mart where they had exactly what I needed (and for super cheap, too! I was tempted to buy the whole bolt!). While I was there, I also picked up a zipper, which the bag calls for but I initially thought that was too adventurous for me to try.

Up until this point, I had only made the "Mini Mail Sack" but they did provide a pattern for the "Large Mail Sack," which I opted for this time because I've always found that the mini one doesn't hold enough stuff for me. 

Here is the fabric I went with:

This was for the "base."

This was for the "yoke and strap" and also the pockets.

This was for the lining. The picture doesn't do it justice. The fabric is a little darker than this and less yellow, which you can see in other photos.

I believe the two multi-colored fabrics I chose were from the same line and I just happened to find them in different sections of the store. I always love making bags with fabrics from the same line so that I know they will effortlessly go together. When I go to fabric stores I often mentally shut down because there are TOO MANY OPTIONS but if I choose one fabric that I like and it has color matching fabric from the same line, it makes it much easier on my poor brain. Then I simply have to choose a lining fabric. Sometimes I get lucky and there are multiple fabrics in the same line and I don't even have to search for a lining!

Please excuse the mess, it was so late by the time I finished the bag and I was falling asleep.

I've placed a DVD here for size reference.

Here is the bag inside out to show you the zipper pocket. This is a much more accurate photo of the color of the orange fabric.

(Sorry about the pale photo, I don't know what that's about!) 

This is my zipper! I'm pleased with how well I did on it for my first time. The pattern called for a zipper "the same color as the lining fabric" but I thought, "how will I see the zipper if there is poor lighting?" and I went with the green one. Actually, it's because there were no other colors at Wal Mart that matched the pattern except for this one, so green it was! But I really like it :)

Here is the bag inside out to show you the other side of the pockets. It's a simple large pocket divided with a line of stitching. But I thought that wouldn't be good as-is because I would lose things like bobby pins in such a large pocket...

So I added baby pockets underneath the large pocket! I can never make one of these bags without customizing something. 

Here is our lovely model, Patrick, showing you how the bag looks on a human. 

Overall I'm super pleased with the outcome and I can't wait to show it off! Initially I went to the store intending to make a Marvel Avengers purse because I'm in love with The Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man (in that order), but they had some really terrible options and I was really bummed about them. 

And because I still have my "Mini Mail Sack," I'll include photos of that one as well so you can see the size difference! 

The "Mini Mail Sack"

My "customization" (I added a tab and a button)

The "base" fabric. Also the fabric of one of the pockets.

The "yoke and strap" fabric. Also the fabric of one the other pocket.

The "regular" pocket (no stitching in the middle). I believe this was an addition of my own and the pattern only called for one divided pocket, as shown in the next photo.

My divided pocket.

Comparison

As you can see, the size difference is pretty great. I almost wish there were a third "middle" option for the bag size! I'm sure I could eventually whip something up on my own, though. 

Again, our lovely model Patrick :)

So there you have it! If you're interested, the materials for the large bag were about $22 (but all of the fabrics were 40% off). Additionally, you can purchase the pattern from Amazon here.