Festive Sewing part 2: Secret Santa Scarf (maybe…)

I’m really not sure how I feel about my post today! Its supposed to be my gift for our work Secret Santa swap, but I’m not sure if it’ll be appropriate…I don’t know the girl who’s name I pulled out of the hat (ok, it was a kidney dish, cos that’s how we roll in theatre), and I’m not sure if its the sort of thing she’s wear! I quite like it, but I’m willing to admit that pink pom poms may not be for everyone. Its especially hard to tell when you only ever see each other in blue scrubs!

I made the scarf out of the remains of the fabric from the dress I am currently making, its a lovely soft Italian cotton lawn from The Fabric Store. I really wanted navy pom pom trim, after seeing the pom pom trimmed scarf tutorial on Indiesew, but apparently no one in Wellington stocks pom pom trim in sensible colours like navy or grey, and black or white didn’t look right. So I went with pale pink, which I thought would be a nice contrast but not too childlike.

I had a bit of a brain fail trying to sew the scarf together, I sewed the whole lot inside out, then tried to turn it through a hole in the seam. I must have been tired, because that was obviously never going to work! I ended up with a pom pom trimmed tube, like a muff. After a bit of swearing, I got it back inside out, and unpicked the long seam. That was a total bastard to unpick, because the trim meant I couldn’t just pull lengths of the thread out, I had to undo it stitch by stitch! Once I had it unpicked, I just folded under the raw edge and topstitched it over the pom pom tape. Its not quite as neat, but it looks ok.

I think its quite cute, but I’m not sure it’ll make a great gift. What do you guys think? Does it look too much like a pillowcase? Will it be a confusing present, should I just go with the Body Shop stuff I bought originally? I am deeply conflicted here!

Meanwhile, I thought I would participate in the Top Five annual roundup which is hosted by Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow. I’ll do Highlights today, and then combine Hits and Misses, and Goals and Reflections. So…

Top 5 Highlights of my year (in no particular order)

-Starting a new job! I did love working in a big public hospital, but I think i love having regular working hours and not having to work weekend, evening and nightshifts more. I miss (some of) my colleagues, and I sometimes miss the excitement, but I do enjoy how busy and stable my new job is.

-My summer trip around the West Coast. It was awesome to see parts of the country I hadn’t visited before, and it was really nice spending time with Monsieur’s extended family.

-Getting through my first year of big girl post graduate study. I was pretty unsure about the course when I started, but by the end of the second trimester I was really enjoying it, and I’m looking forward to my papers next year. I’m working towards a Masters in Information Studies, if you’re interested!

-Getting the ball rolling on looking for a house of our own. The house hunting process has been a bit soul destroying, and missing out on a house you really want sucks, but its all a learning curve, and I can’t wait until we find (and actually manage to buy) our first home. Then I’ll be a real adult, right?

-Starting and maintaining this blog! I’ve met some seriously awesome people in the online sewing community, and I don’t know if I would have kept up with my weekly challenges or made such a huge variety of garments without your support and the incredible amount of inspiration you all provide! So thank you all 🙂

Finally, this week I was invited to become a part of the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network, or WSBN, which is very exciting! I’m looking forward to drinking tea and having sewing geek outs with the rest of the ladies in the group in the new year.