Sewing Gift Baskets for the Fashion Diva

When making gift baskets or sewing baskets for the fashion diva, one must think like a true seamstress. Not only do you want to fill the basket with necessary items, but you want to make sure there are some creative items as well. After all, every fashion diva wants to stay on top of her game. Lace, ribbon, buttons, patterns, scissors, and a couple of gift certificates will be gladly accepted.

Certainly in this instance you could use a store-bought sewing basket. But old tins make great gift baskets for the fashion diva, as well. Or, like my grandmother, you could use an old make-up case or toiletry case. This particular “gift basket” case would have held enough make-up for a lifetime back then! Now it holds just about anything a seamstress could desire. When you open the lid of my grandmother’s make-up case turned Fashion Diva sewing basket, you immediately spot the pocket. This pocket is where she stuffed all of the embroidery ideas she’d cut from the newspaper or magazines. (Smart thinking, Grandma. They were out of the way, yet never misplaced, and more importantly they were always there when she needed them.)

If you find an old make-up case of this sort, they usually have a mirror attached to the underside of the lid. Remove the mirror or not—your choice.

Since I am a sewing fiend, who inherited my grandmother’s sewing basket as well as her button box, and since one of my daughters is a fashion “diva” major, this is what I’d put in a gift basket for a fashion diva.

Container Choices:

• Basket – open topped (make a cloth cover with elastic around the edges)
• Picnic basket with open and close lid
• Store bought sewing basket
• Clear plastic file case with handles
• Medium size make-up case

Necessary Sewing Items:

• Scissors
• Tape measure
• Straight pins/safety pins/needles and pin cushion
• Thread: white and black
• Embroidery floss and darning needles
• Several packages of rickrack
• Several simple patterns for the beginning sewer, or a more complex pattern for the experienced sewer

Creative Sewing Items:

• A jar of old buttons
• Ribbons and yards and yards of lace
• Sewing books that include cool weekend projects
• A small clock (seamstresses have no sense of time)
• Several fast food coupons (seamstresses forget about eating or feeding their family)
• Gift certificates from the local fabric store
• A small wooden foot "roller" to massage her feet under the sewing machine

Remember, sewing is a versatile pastime. Seamstresses and fashion divas can keep their family clothed and their home accessorized all while having a lot of fun.

TIPS:

Easy pin cushion: toss a magnet into the basket – all pins/needles/safety pins will naturally attract to it, and stay put. The size of the magnet depends on your own personal tastes. (I prefer a large magnet. All I need to do is drop it into my seamstress basket and all stray pins will attach to it immediately.)

Pin cushion inside the lid of a tin—cut a piece of felt the exact size of the inside of the tin lid and glue around the edges. Pins that are not being used can be pushed into the felt for safekeeping.

Keep your fashion diva in mind when you think about making gift baskets that would work for her personally by adding quirky, personal items that she alone would love. Buttons and lace are not necessarily her favorite accessory. She may like rhinestones, too!