It's really hard for an inveterate revealer like me to keep crafting under my hat for the sake of gift-giving. Even to the person involved, let alone cyberspace. I just want to share every step of the way (particularly the frustrating glitches, but also the triumphs), and Christmas or birthdays can't come too soon for me!
Today, now that it's no longer secret, I will show you my very first fabric bucket.
I've made
plenty of
bags, which are so very appealing in their easy cuteness. Once you have the basic idea (which is super challenging in that spatial way, at least to people like me -- you feel like you are straining every nerve to visualize how this flat, odd shape becomes the final three-dimensional product, and there is an origami moment in there that is a little breathless).
After going to
the Music Together class with the little outlaws, and of course after raising my own children with various castanets, tambourines, and, yes, drums, I was excited to find a little music set for my darling Pippo.
Something like this, only it was at Marshall's and not in a cute wooden box like this one.
So I thought it would be nice to make a little fabric bucket to store the noisemakers in, as well as any future additions to the set.
The chicken fabric has been in my stash since forever (October 6, 2007, to be precise) and, while perhaps a music-themed design would have been more appropriate, the cuteness is undeniable.
I used muslin for the lining, leftover batting pieces for the inner layer, and some blue solid that was in my stash for the bottom.
The handles are cotton twill that was used at one point to wrap something. Always keep nice ribbons and twill tape!
Some tutorials tell you to put interfacing in there for stiffness. It happened that I don't really have enough interfacing for this project, but in any case I'm a little wary of it. It seems so wrinkly/bunchy. If you use it, iron it onto the lining, not the outer fabric. The batting does seem to provide enough heft. I think that, although I did actually machine-quilt the bottom of this bucket, the sides should have some quilting as well. That way, when the thing is tossed in the washer, the batting won't shift. But since it's now on its way to California, that will have to wait until I get out there!
{By the way, when you are making a quilt, you will almost always have leftover batting. Never throw these smallish pieces away. There are plenty of little crafts that use batting (pot holders, place mats, bags, buckets, doll quilts) and why cut into a new one for that? Not to mention that many a time my brainstormed quilt has been a wee bit too big for the batting I have, and I've pieced my remnants to make up the difference. After all, once it's quilted, no one knows whether the batting was all in one piece or not.}
For this fabric bucket, I used a tutorial that I found on another blog. A nice round-up of tutorials is on this Skip-to-My-Lou blog.
Of course I can't point to one in particular because I jumped around and hacked away until I got what I was thinking of.
While I was motivated in my crafting and buying by thoughts of my little angel's musical career and overall integrated development, the Chief calls this gift "The Grandparents' Revenge."
Funny Chief.
Are you up for {pretty, funny, happy, real} tomorrow? We'd love to see you!
