Now that I know my Secret Valentine Exchange gift has arrived safely at its destination, I wanted to share it here!
If you're not familiar with the Secret Valentine Exchange, it's a fun international handmade gift exchange organized by Sanae and Ute. It's secret, as the name implies, which adds to the fun. 2018 was the fifth year running of this fun mid-winter pick-me-up! Check out the hashtag #2018sve on Instagram to gawk at all the goodies exchanged this year by the 576(!!!) makers out there.
This was my first time participating since in years past, I didn't really have reliable or quick mail service. I was really excited both about the making and the receiving. How fun to get mysterious happy mail!
When you receive your your partner's information, you may or may not get some snippets of information about their interests, tastes, and color preferences. Or you might not. My partner, Kathryn, gave me some good clues (favorite colors: pastels (especially pink) and neutrals,
preferred designs, symbols, etc.: vintage florals, cotton, wool, anything comfortable and breathable really) and a Pinterest board to peruse, which was really helpful in deciding what to make.
I don't have many pink, pastels, or vintage florals in my stash (you're meant to use stash materials as much as possible), but I did have a few and they were perfect!
Specifically, I had some pink vintage floral and pink polka dot heavyweight cotton scraps left over from this Pajama Eater I made my nieces a few years back. I also had a length of vaguely vintage-y rose print cotton lawn that I bought at Belleboo on my last trip through Bangkok's fabric district (when I took photos for my Bangkok fabric shopping guide!). I loved the green color of the background...
For my projects, I obviously went for some bunting for the pink floral and polka dots. I used the same method I used for my Christmas bunting (check out the tutorial!), connecting the triangles together with some pink double-fold bias tape.
With the green rose print lawn, I opted for the Designer Stitch Willow Kimono. Having made it for myself before, I knew it was a lovely design, and pretty forgiving size-wise. I was about to just barely eke a high/low Willow the out of the yardage I had. So pretty and floaty!
I think Kathryn liked her gifts, so I am delighted. And equally delightful is the gift I received from Carly, a fabulous sewing kit/case made from Cotton + Steel thread snip print fabric and a Liberty (swoon!) eyemask. Check out my stunning gift here! Thanks, Carly!