Friday, November 8, 2013

For the Boys (Men)!

Welcome to The Reluctant Quiter and my turn on the blog hop! If this is your first visit to the blog, please take a moment and check out the tabs across the top.  If you are so inclined, I would love to have you follow me!

While I can always find some kind of quilt pattern and fabric to make a masculine quilt, trying to find other things that I can craft for a man is always a challenge. I came across a tutorial for something that I think will both appeal to a man and be very useful - a wood carrier.


(The full tutorial from Fiskars can be found here.)

I purchased a piece of heavy cotton duck and a piece of faux reptile skin at Joann's.


I had originally thought I would use a faux tooled leather but I liked this piece of fabric better. There was a decent discount on the reptile fabric so that was a really nice surprise.

While I followed most of the tutorial, I also made some changes that worked better for me. I tried using my Clover Wonder Clips to secure the edges but found that they were just in the way. Instead, I pinned INSIDE the seam allowance and pulled the pins as I sewed.



Do not pin into the body of faux leather fabric. (The pin holes will remain.) I also used my walking foot.



When I turned the carrier right side out, I used my finger as a pressing tool against the inside seams to help them lie flat. Do not iron the faux leather. The design will melt! When I topstitched I just wiggled the seam to make sure the duck fabric was rolled to the back as I stitched and used the inside edge of my walking foot as a guide. I decided not to cover the handles with the faux leather fabric and simply used the webbing. I used a chalk marker to draw the placement lines, secured the webbing with pins and then edge stitched.



(If I had chosen a different color of faux leather I would probably have covered the webbing but the plain black looked fine against the outer fabric.)

If I had a fireplace (or some logs) I could have styled my photo of the finished product. Hanging it from the fence doesn't have quite the same look!

I took this in the rain and the weird reflections are from raindrops on my lens!

I love the way it turned out and I will be giving it as a gift. I even have my eye on some different fabric to make a few more. I think the next ones will be for two men I know that have cabins in the mountains. I think duck on the interior and a nice "woodsy" fabric for the outer would be really nice and also "manly"!

Please be sure to hop on over and check out the blogs below.

November 8th

The Reluctant Quilter (you are here!)

56 comments:

  1. I think you made a terrific man's gift - and that type of material is a dickin's to work with, nicely done.

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  2. What a nice job. I am usually afraid to work with that kind of fabric. Your bag is awesome.

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  3. What a great project. Very original idea...and so practical. Thanks so for sharing!

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  4. What a neat gift for a man or.....anyone who has to carry wood to the wood stove (like me)!! Thanks for the tip that the pins worked better than the clover clips.

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  5. a log pouch that is what I have been looking for no seriously..our chalet has a huge fireplace that requires reallll wood…super hot stuff here..

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  6. Fantatstic idea!!! That turned out great and who wouldn't want one

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  7. Great idea, and a very useful thing to sew. And it looks wonderful!

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  8. Unique idea! My father in law might enjoy one of those.

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  9. That wood carrier is a handsome and practical gift! Great job!

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  10. What a terrific idea and practical too. Thank you for sharing.

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  11. Who'd a thought... that is just too incredible. Great job!

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    1. Thanks, Joan! I normally reply to comments by email but you are a "noreply-comment on blogger". Did you know that?

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  12. What a great idea--it is difficult to find ideas for gifts for men, and this one is terrific! Thanks for the tips in making it!

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  13. Great idea! Thank you for sharing it! Love the fabric and how it came out!

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  14. That is a manly-looking log carrier! We don't have a fireplace, so I can't make one of those. 15 years ago we lived on acreage and had lots of trees and a wood stove too. It's a great manly gift for someone who does have wood and a fireplace or wood stove.

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  15. THank you for showing us another 'manly' project besides quilts...we need those ideas!

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  16. Holy cow. What a great idea and thanks so much for the tutorial.

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  17. What a perfect gift! We would certainly use it at the cabin!

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  18. I love, love, love your bag!!!! It looks fantastic and would make a lovely gift. Beautiful job!

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  19. Very nice! You did a wonderful job making the bag. And this is a perfect gift for anyone that uses wood. I know several people that would love to have this. Thank you so much for sharing today.

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  20. Your project looking great and it's a super idea for the 'boys'. Thanks for all the tips for sewing with the faux leather. Personally, I like the webbing and since it's a WORKING creation, I expect the webbing will be more durable.

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  21. That is very nice. The faux leather looks very elegant. Thanks for all the tips! :)

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  22. I love this idea...it's so difficult to find suitable make gifts to sew/make and this one is perfect!

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  23. Way to think outside the box. I really appreciate seeing new ideas. This would for sure come in handy for someone needing to haul logs around. Thanks for sharing.

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  24. Wow what a great gift idea. (I could use one here as well).
    Thanks for sharing.
    cheers
    maggie

    maggiemine42@gmail.com

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  25. Now that's a wonderful gift for any man with a fireplace. My husband loves our fireplace and makes sure he stocks lots of wood. Our log carrier is certainly not as gorgeous as yours. You were brave to sew that and it turned out wonderful!

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  26. ooh what a great gift idea- I have two guys on my list with fireplaces....I usually make them fire starters but this would be cool- and then I could use it to hold the firestarters instead of the basket. Very nicely done

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  27. Wow! What a great idea! I would have never thought of that. Since we don't have a wood stove or fireplace, and don't know anyone who does, LOL I would have not thought of this project. It makes so much sense and is such a great idea. Great job!

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  28. What a great idea. You did a wonderful job with it. I'm sure it will be a well used gift.

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  29. Manly yes, but I like it too! What a neat idea.You did a great job.

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  30. That fabric really DOES look like snake skin. Good to know the tips for sewing with this sort of stuff too. I would dive in and learn the hard way knowing me! Clever idea and it could be made in all sorts of fabric choices for that guy in your life.

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  31. This is great and just what I need to make. Thanks for sharing today!

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  32. What a great, and very useful, idea!! Thanks for sharing :)

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  33. Thanks for sharing such a unique gift idea for a guy!

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  34. Excellent job and then giving us a good idea for our men.

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  35. Lovely project. Any man would like a wonderful bag!

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  36. Such a different project than I thought I would find on this blog hop. Glad you featured it.

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  37. This is awesome "For the Boys". Having wood fireplaces I know for a fact that this carrier is perfect to help with the wood carrying. Great Job! Thanks for hopping. Creative Stitching Bliss...

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  38. Great gift idea...when we had a wood burning fireplace, we had a log carring bag made out of denim...very practical gift. Thanks for sharing your great idea. Happy stitching, Pauline

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  39. Wow, I am quite impressed! As will be the recipient of your great wood carrier! Great job.

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  40. Such a great idea - yours has turned out so well!

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  41. Now that is an impressive manly gift! I'm adding this to my gift ideas list because good ideas for men are hard to come by.

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  42. Great job on that carrier...love the fabrics you chose! Thanks for sharing this idea. :O)

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  43. This turned out so good. I sewed canvas for covers for the generators last year...really different from my usual quilting cotton. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com

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  44. Great project! Thanks for sharing!

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  45. Great idea, wonderful gift for a big boy. ☺
    Thanks for sharing!

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  46. What a great project to make for the boys in our life!

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