A little linen & a lotta Zakka

Have you heard about the Zakka Style Sew-along at Lindsey's? I've had the Zakka Style book for a few months now, having purchased a copy from my friend Laurraine who has a project in, and on the cover of, the book (she made the nesting linen boxes - definitely one of my fav projects in the book!).  Another friend Mette designed the delightful linen bags on page 80, and Nova the itty bitty quilt block magnets on 30. I must admit when I first flipped through the pages I was suffering post-Christmas-gift-making overload and general burnout on small projects so I left it on my coffee table untouched until last week.

Now that the sew-along is in full swing and there are over 200 members of the flickr group posting pictures of their own Zakka projects from patterns in the book, I'm all over it!  My sewing time is very limited at the moment due to intense preparation for D's circus show this weekend, but I managed to put together a few of the pencil cases designed by Shannon Dreval.  It's proved to be one of the most popular projects in the flickr pool so far - likely due to how quickly and easily you can put them together!

For the ones above, I used some Echino scraps & some small pieces of Lotta Jansdotter's new Bella line (the sweet little birds and orange cross hatch) plus assorted other scraps.  These were made true to the pattern.  I thought I'd try and widen it a bit so that a rotary cutter would fit. I'm always worried about the sharp blades rolling around in sewing boxes, even with the guard on.

Turns out by adding 1/2" to the width, a standard OLFA 45mm cutter fits, but so does the 45mm spring grip model. Bonus!

Flickr friends have asked about my limited edition pink cutter - I bought it several years ago and don't know if they are still available. I do love it!

Interested in getting your Zakka on? The sew-along goes all spring/summer with one project each week. It's a great way to get tips on each project from the weekly guest bloggers who make them. If you complete the weekly project, you can link up for a chance to win prizes. It's doubtful I'll make the weekly deadlines, but it's fun to follow along.