Birthday Gift | Abby - Skirt & Bag

This week we had a last minute invitation to a birthday party on Saturday -- 3 days notice. Sounds like me when life creeps up on you!  While we have been having non-gift parties (we take food-bank donations in lieu of gifts and gift-bags), we do realize that others do expect a gift.  So I started to think, what can we give that's not a disposable plastic toy...

That's when it hit me!  Why don't I use some of the quilting fabric I was given to make a fun little skirt and say a matching bag.  We also threw in a small knitting-in-the-round toy.  Thought that and yarn could 'live' in the bag after the present had been given.

The Skirt - Oliver + S Lazy Days Skirt | Free downloadable pattern

Used up a fat quarter for the bottom trim (pieced diagonally to reduce bulk) and the full piece of fabric was used for the skirt.  Of course we had to personalize it...so Imogen helped me make the labels with the birthday girl's name.  She helped cut the tags apart and showed me where to place them in the skirt and on the bag.

  

 

The Bag - Beads of Courage Bags | Free downloadable pattern

I've been working with a local charity Cloth for Kids who make clothes and items for needy children here. An item I saw last week -- they we're sewing up a storm of them -- were Beads of Courage Bags for our hospital RUH. I loved the bags they did, so I made one too...but for the birthday.

And to give you an idea of how large the bag is, here's Imogen off to the party!