Review - Seams So Easy Madam Butterfly Wristlet

A few months ago, The Sewing Directory had a competition to win kits from Seams So Easy. I wasn’t a winner, but Seams So Easy were looking for bloggers to review their kits and I was sent the Madam Butterfly Wristlet kit. 

The kit contains everything you need to make the project (with the exception of thread for machine stitching) and the idea is that you customise the item with your own interpretation of their embellishment suggestions.

The supplies in the kit are generous – after covering the butterfly wings with sequins, there were still a few remaining. For the hand stitching on the back panel, I used an irregular running stitch with three strands of embroidery floss rather than the recommended two strands. There are yellow running stitches between the rows of pink and blue, but they are not showing on the photos. I did find it necessary to mark guide lines to keep my stitching straight, though this was not suggested in the instructions. I decided I would prefer a narrower strap so I folded the tape in half and secured with coloured stitching to match the back panel.

Floss supplies, like the sequins, were generous - there was still plenty of floss left over despite my extra stitching on the strap and using three strands not two (there is less yellow floss left as it was also used to sew on the sequins).  I did find that the needles supplied with the kit were not ideal for the embellishments – it would have been easier to thread the floss through the long eye of a crewel needle rather than the round eye of the sharp needle supplied (though a needle threader was also provided) and the needle was too large for many of the beads. 

The embellishing was the main part of this project and I did it over several evenings, but the assembly of the wristlet went together quite quickly and was completed in just one evening. The instructions tell you to embellish the front panel and attach it to the zip and then to embellish the back panel and attach it to the zip. I chose to complete all the hand stitching before starting the machine stitching. For the zip, I added an extra line of top stitching to secure the lining to the zip tape and to stop it getting caught in the teeth. The instructions make no mention of seam allowances and my printed version had no mention of the strap, so a bit of unpicking was required when it came to sewing the bag together, however, details of where to attach the strap are in the online instructions. I added a further customisation by boxing the corners of my pouch (if you wish to do the same, this should be done to the main fabric and lining before turning the bag right sides out).

 

I enjoyed making this wristlet – I like hand sewing and chose to add lots of embellishments, but the beauty of a kit like this is that you can do as much or as little as you like. As everything needed is in the kit and no other supplies are needed, it would make an ideal present for anyone who has access to a sewing machine.

Disclaimer: I was sent a Madam Butterfly Wristlet kit by Seams So Easy for the purpose of this review. All words and opinions are my own.