Housewife

I have recently been doing a lot more hand sewing. All the kimono that I've made this year, have been actually entirely hand sewn (see here, here, here and here). Which is kind of fine when I'm sitting a home sewing in front of the TV and I can just leave my little stash of fabric and supplies in a corner, but for that last kimono, I did a stack of travel sewing, from our winter holiday, to church each week. 

When I did this, I just threw everything into a brown gift bag, which worked, but was pretty average. Towards the end of it's life, it was also falling apart. I was toying with the idea of finding a better solution, or making something to pop all the supplies in, when I stumbled across this video from Sewstine on YouTube, about the 18th century sewing kits known as a "Housewife". 

Lots of information there, but suffice to say, these little sewing kits were well used by males and females throughout history. I loved the idea of having all my gear in something that could just roll up and out with everything easily accessible, so of course, I made one. 

I used the measurements roughly from the one that Sewstine does, though I didn't bother to embroider all the panels. I did consider some embellishments, but in the end, I just wanted to have something I could use and didn't want to take extra time. 

Maybe I'll make another one that's fancier, but this one is pretty great. I used up material from my stash for it. Rachel actually commented to me the other day "Mum, how come when you want to make something, you have everything already?" which I thought was pretty funny. You might recognise the outer fabric from this skirt, these skorts and this dress. The inner lining (and binding on the edge and the tie) was just from my stash, probably from my mum or even my Yia-yia. 

The watermelon pockets are actually some fabric I salvaged from taking apart a pencil case. A pen had leaked on the outer fabric, but the zips were still good, and the inner fabric was this beautiful watermelon print. There wasn't much, but I'm glad I saved it, because it was perfect for this. The scissors pouch was lined with a scrap of wool from my cape, and the outer fabric is a final remnant from my mum, which I used for the purple skirt in this post. 

On the inside, there is a big pocket at the bottom for threads, the scissors pouch, with a ribbon to keep them from slipping out and a scrap of felt (from Vulpix) for needles. Going up there is another little pocket and a pin cushion next to it. Then there is a little loop of elastic for my unpicker. Made it slightly fancier with a little silk flower. 

When I was sorting out the layout, I thought the small pocket near the pin cushion was a bit silly, but I didn't want a bigger pin cushion and I also didn't want a gap, so I put it in anyway. I'm actually really glad I did, because it's great for storing any little scraps or bits of thread that I cut off when I'm sewing until I can get home and pop them in the bin. 

I hand stitched most of the inside bits on, and even secured the ribbon with a bit of fancy embroidery. I think it kind of looks like the rose/flower that I was going for. I did stitch the first round of the binding on with Sally, but then I did finish it by hand. 

There's the other side, just so you know how it looks. The tie is only stitched on near one end, and it all folds up so nicely. Pretty chuffed with this little housewife.