Handmade Gift Exchange

I thought I would post about something I have been up to lately…This past year I have been following some trendy craft blogs that I like for some more inspiration in the sewing and craft department.  I came across a blog a while ago that recently hosted a handmade gift exchange.  The idea behind it was that if you signed up you would be randomly paired with another person to email with and then ultimately exchange a handmade gift.  It sounded like a fun idea to me so I signed up.  I am always amazed at how God continually shows himself to you time and time again even in just little ways.  Turns out the girl that I was paired with is a Christian and not only that but lives in the same area Jesse and I did when we were in Bemidji several years ago.  That has to be the hand of God connecting us like that!  In fact she even knows about Oak Hills Christian college where Jesse and I met.   

Anyway, we enjoyed corresponding through email and then when the time came we surprised each other with our gifts.  It was a fun surprise and turned out each of us made the other a purse.  She did a great job on mine and picked the perfect colors that I would naturally gravitate towards.  She blogged about the bag she made for me here if you’d like to see what I received.

For her I followed a tutorial that I found over here at “The Boy Trifecta” (another craft blog I found).  The tutorial was pretty straight forward and the bag came together quite easily (just time consuming).  I think if I were to make this bag again I would shorten the strap a bit.  I made it long to be able to be worn across the chest or also over one shoulder if tied in a knot.  I like mine to go just over the shoulder so I would probably make my straps shorter if it were for me.  But hopefully Lisa liked it the way I did it! 

Anyway, here are some pictures of the finished bag that I made…

For the exterior I used a slate grey velvet material that I had in my stash. 

For the lining I used one of Jesse’s dress shirts he had in his closet (don’t worry I asked!) and just used the existing pocket on the front of the shirt for the pocket in the bag.  I also found out that one of my partners favorite Bible verses was Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile”.  So, I fired up my Silhouette (a die cutting machine) and cut myself some letters out of heat transfer, grabbed some grosgrain ribbon and ironed them on, and then sewed that to the top of the pocket. 

All in all I had a great time sewing something special for someone I’ve never met.  I am so thankful that the Lord allows me to use sewing in my life as a means to glorify Him!