Well, the postal system is still holding hostage my SVE gift, so I thought I might as well show you what I sewed up for my partner Jana. Jana is a multi-talented “Bohemian girl living in Switzerland”, and includes in her CV of eclectic accomplishments: nurse, interior designer, stylist, all-around taste-maker. I love love love her aesthetic and when I saw that her favorites were the color white, linen and leather, I immediately knew what to make.

Jana and I both seem to lean toward simple, clean designs, and I thought a floaty linen cami would fit the bill. I used one of my prized blue and white linen fabrics (so soft!) and adjusted the cami pattern from this book so that the straps would be adjustable. From the image in the book, I actually thought the straps were designed to be adjustable, but in fact, they’re set in and the ties are sewn in separately:

I simply created a casing out of the front yoke (which, by the way, could also be worn on the back) and threaded the straps through the openings.

I’ve been plotting to sew quite a few things from this book, but alas, there just isn’t enough time in the day for the interim, so I’m adding the tunic, apron and my very own cami to my ever-growing to-do list.

I also wanted to include a small leather element for Jana, so I created this color-block drawstring bag on the fly — also made out of linen — and I’m super pleased with the way it came out. And bonus: the Secret Valentine Exchange tag fit in the upcycled leather pocket perfectly! Do you recognize the leather cord? It’s the same one I used for K’s jacket that I shared on Monday.

I loved sewing these up so much and briefly debated keeping them for myself — I hope Jana liked the combo as much as I did!

It sounds like there are a few of you still waiting for gifts. I apologize that I haven’t been following up as frequently as I would have liked, though we did anticipate some lag given the large number of international participants. We ended up with 100+ participants in over 20 countries! Ute and I have been talking about trying to sort participants more by region next time….from what I’ve seen on the flickr group and instagram hashtag feed for #2015sve, there have been some very happy exchanges though! Ultimately, I think it’s the spirit of giving that matters and the generosity and thoughtfulness have had my head bobbing in amazement. More updates soon!