I’ve been seeing a bunch of nice clutches around and about lately, so I decided to make myself one. The nifty fabric is from Joann’s, the flower is from corsage and something like corsage, and the design is my own. The corsage is a pin because one day I’m going to come across a piece of woven ribbon that would look perfect sewn across the front. If you have anything you think would fit the bill, I’m always up for swaps. :)

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The April theme for Tie One On was yellow and white, which by some cosmic coincidence is the color scheme I used on my redesign about a month ago. So, I knew I had to make an apron to match the site, which called for scallops and dots.

The scallops are off a curtain from Sew Easy by Jane Cumberbatch, which was put out by Barnes & Noble and now seems to be out of print unfortunately. I should’ve followed the instructions more carefully, though. The bit of pucker is because I forgot to leave a little space between the scallops to allow some ease in turning them. Oh well. The dots are from the cover bag in this Japanese craft book. Finally, the scallop along the top is a piece of eyelet lace I ever-so-carefully clipped off the bottom of a sadly stained slip (lace also used on my little sister doll from month of softies).

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I really hate my ironing board. It’s dingy and flimsy and too small and it bows in the middle. I’ve been looking around for a new one, but I refuse to buy another flimsy one, and the nice sturdy ones are more expensive than I’m willing to pay at the moment. It seems like it should be a classic yard sale find, some ancient, indestructible ironing board that I will use forever. So, until I find this mythical ironing board, I can at least stop hating my poor current one.

First, I tore off the old cover, and the disintegrating foam underneath, both of which were attached to the particle board base with staples. After trying to pry out a few of the staples, I decided that it would be just fine if I left the darn things in. I put a length of not-too-lofty quilt batting down the center to pad where it bows, and wrapped the whole thing in another layer of batting that was long enough to wrap under the bottom by about 2 inches all around. Next, I flipped it over and used a staple gun to pull it tight. Then I did the same thing with this sweet cotton that was on the sale rack at Joann’s (a pink version of the green fabric I used for the fabric envelope from a while back). The old cover had a piece of seam binding stapled over the raw edges to finish, but I didn’t bother. It’s *much* better now, not just aesthetically but practically as well. I hadn’t even noticed how the lack of good padding was making my ironing life harder.

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Whew, all done. Here’s the drawer organizer, though I think it’s pretty enough that you could keep it on your desk. Thanks Lisa and Ali for the suggestion of replacing the rubber bands with pins. I attempted tacks and pushpins before going with the T-pins, which are my favorite at lab and which also turn out to look the best embroidered. I also tried a staple remover, which my sister suggested. It actually didn’t turn out too bad, but it seemed a little superfluous without also doing a stapler, which is a little too 3D for this sketchy style I think. Another try with a ruler turned out really bad. The background fabric is another thrift store pillowcase that I fused to the back of the embroidery.

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Here’s the first one all put together. I started out thinking of it as just a desk organizer, but now I’m thinking it’s almost a modern take on the sewing box. The fabric in the background is a thrift store pillowcase that I fused to the backs of the embroidered pieces to keep the thread ends safe. For the rest of the directions, you’ll just have to wait for the book! Now on to the second one, which really is a desk organizer.

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Here’s my last one: embroidered embroidery floss. Very meta, as my husband said. This was the hardest one from a design perspective. I tried it three times before settling on this version. Kelly from Buzzville was the only one to guess correctly, so she gets the office supplies machine embroidery from a few posts back if she emails me with her address. :)

The final projects, two felt box desk organizers, should be done tomorrow, so stay tuned. For those of you who’ve been asking, this is for a craft book featuring a bunch of craft bloggers.

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I’m in the home stretch. Any guesses what the last one is?

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My beloved crystallites, immortalized in embroidery.

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I’m going to need a whole scissors category pretty soon. This pair came with a vintage Singer sewing box my sister got me for Christmas. The sewing box makes a *perfect* jewelry box.

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There is some debate in the house about whether my cursive writing is legible, so I might redo that part. I seem to recall having trouble with lower case b’s when I was in second grade, too.

I’m so relieved these are turning out more or less how I imagined. I think one reason I procrastinated so long was that I was really worried it wouldn’t work.

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