Tuesday, January 03, 2012

A Lotta Holiday

Lotta tote

Now that all the holiday presents have been gifted, I can show off some of the things I have been working on!  I ended up making nearly all my sewn holiday gifts with Lotta Jansdotter's fabric line, Echo, so I'm putting all of those gifts in this post and will come back and share the others after I finish up one last (totally late) gift.  It's funny, when I first saw Echo I wasn't sure if I would get any - which is crazy, since I have several of Lotta's books and love her designs.  But I just wasn't sure it would play well with other fabrics and I didn't want to make a whole quilt out of it.  Then when I started thinking about making holiday gifts, I decided to use it to make a few gifts... and then realized that it would be great for a number of folks on my list and ended up going back to get more fabric!  Getting to use a fabric that I loved made the last minute frantic holiday sewing still feel fun, and I think everyone really liked their gifts.

Lotta Bag and Pouch

I made a couple totes using my easy tote bag tutorial - the one at the top was sized up quite a bit to make a more substantial bag, while the one above was the regular size.

Lotta zip pouch

I also made a matching zip pouch to go with this tote, with some essex linen and a line of hand-stitching as an accent.

Lotta circle tote

I think this tote bag with a reverse applique circle was my favorite sewn gift that I made - the idea of the circle with the off-kilter stitches was inspired by this bag on flickr.

Reverse applique circle

The inside is lined with another Echo print and has a pocket.

Circle tote inside pocket

Finally, I made a couple potholders, using a cut up bath towel as the inner layer rather than batting - I made a whole slew of potholders as gifts five or six years ago and that was the method I came up with at the time, it makes a nice, well-insulated potholder although the terry sheds everywhere in the process.

Lotta potholders

More essex linen on the back of this one.

back of lotta potholder

Luckily I still have a bit of Echo left so I can make myself a little something too!

15 comments:

  1. Oh, I like the middle tote with the matching zippered pouch. It's amazing how a line of stitching can finish off an item. It looks great. Thanks for the tip on using an old towel to make pot holders!!!

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  2. Hi Kate! I love your bags and the fabrics!
    The bag with the circle is special! x Teje

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  3. I love Echo so much and it's fun to see what you made with it. The bag with the circle is FABULOUS, love it love it, what a great idea!

    Happy New Year! :)

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  4. Oh, I absolutely adore what you've made! I love that line of fabric. Isn't it adorable.
    Esther.

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  5. They look fantastic Kate! I love the bag with the circle especially :)

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  6. Great gifts! You were one BUSY sewist.

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  7. I love the reverse applique tote!
    Echo is such a great line!!

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  8. What lovely gifts. My favorite is the sweet pouch. Getting use of every scrap of favorite fabrics is so satisfying.

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  9. Ohhh, especially love the tote with the reverse applique. Love Lotta's fabric!

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  10. Ahh, these are gorgeous! It's funny, but I love this fabric too and haven't purchased any yet. Now I really want to, though-- it looks amazing in these projects, I think the reverse applique looks amazing! Very good use of this line of fabric!

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  11. Oh Kate, everything is so beautiful! I can't wait until I can finally get my hands on some Echo too!

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  12. Beautiful gifts! The Essex fabric looks great with the navy/white. Is it any more difficult to sew with than regular cotton quilt fabric? If you have it handy, which color of Essex did you use? TIA!

    jenny@youmansfamily.com

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  13. Yep, I love the line, and I think you used it well in these gifts. My favorite is the reverse applique, too. So very cute!

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  14. I love each of those, the fabric is one of my current favourites.

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  15. Wow these are all beautiful projects!

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