for a daughter

I have two very lovely daughters. They are both, well, would you say, adult?
I think so, most of the time...
So my second daughter is off to college in the autumn, and, among other things, she needs to take a sewing kit with her. She will want a sewing machine, but that is not really feasible, a sewing kit is.

As a young adult, my aunt gave me a small sewing kit, in a roll. She made it herself, based on one she had been given at the age of 8. That makes it 1926. A long time ago. Her mother was abed of having my Dad, and she needed the kit for school, so my grandfather was tasked with buying it for her. He went to a small drapery in Cork, and brought back the roll, which is still being used now, by said aunt, though the silk cover is somewhat the worse for wear.
Anyway, she copied the design for me, and I have now amended it, for DD2. Apart from anything else, she has to have dressmaking scissors in hers, which would be too large for a kit the size of mine!

She will also require the usual, pins, needles, tape measure etc, so these need a place to go, and also somewhere to stash a few cotton  reels makes sense. This has been swirling round my head for a few days- well, weeks really- and so it came into being yesterday. Isn't it strange, you gradually gather a stash, and then, with a project in mind, there is great difficulty choosing exactly what you require from your stash. No shortage of actual fabric. Not even a shortage of suitable, or co-ordinating fabric, but your actual, 'I want to use this for the job in hand' fabric? Different matter.

But I am quite pleased with the result. Of course, I would make changes if I did it again, but wouldn't anyone?

Looky!

This is where I started, as she also needs 'small pointed scissors' and I got some of these years ago for the girls, when they got to the point when they would be needed. DD1 got hers in her kit for her 21st, when she got her sewing machine, D2 has hers now. And, I hope, with the attached mini-pinny, it should be obvious to whom it belongs.

And here is the inside of the etui. Elastic loops to hold reels of cotton, to the left. A double pocket and top flap for big scissors, next to that. A felt needle book next, and then an elasticated pocket for other notions.

We will have tape measure, pins etc, and I have put in a tailors chalk, but I must get her a thimble. Not a thing I use a lot. I have a couple, but really do not get the hang of them at all.

Outside?  Yes that is her pin cushion/ measuring tape in the shape of a cup cake. Pretty but not always quite practical.


I got this 'frosty' fabric before Christmas, and it will still be pretty when the glitter falls off.

And with bits in, it starts to look ok. If you look carefully, there are a pair of pinking shears in that pocket on the left, tucked under the flap, so they won't fall out!

Do you know?  The binding was the hardest to choose. And then I got it wrong. You would think I would remember how to put a binding on by now!

First, when I cut it, I looked at the width I was cutting, and thought, 'that is far too wide, where on earth is all that going to go?' quite forgetting I would be ironing it in half along it's length!

So then, having, luckily, cut it the 'too wide' anyway, I started sewing it on.Wrong side out. Stooopid!

So halfway round, when I came to the seam, I realise, and it had to come off, be ironed in half, and restarted!

But te mitred corners worked better than usual. Oh, I have the theory of them off pat. It is only the execution that doesn't always quite work as the theory says.

So all done and rolled up- Sewing scissors do not quite roll...

so it may look a bit lop-sided.

Oh, the one I was given- you want to see?
Not quite large enough to hold a pair of dressmaking scissors, and originally held three cotton reels. The ends were cut off old wooden Silko reels, as templates for the endsbut only two gutermann reels fit in. There is a mini pocket for a packet of needles, and a pocket with flap for scissors and tape measure.