I present today a project I’ve been working on the past month, a beautiful art noveau embroidered husswif sewing kit, with the original embroidery patterned by Sewstine (instagram here). I also used their sewing tutorial to make my husswif. Please check out Sewstine’s blog tutorial here if you want to make your own!
I have a Bernette 79 that was not seeing much embroidery action after my attempt at making patches for gifts last year in 2025, so when this blog post popped up on my RSS feed in February, I decided to download the files and give it my best try. Well, my first stitch outs with the smaller motif turned out terribly and I couldn’t figure out the issue until I finally realized the bobbin thread wasn’t wound perfectly (except I wound it by machine as instructed so it’s all the machine’s fault), so I switched to a fresh bobbin with no flaws that I could see and it proceeded as normal (occasionally snapping the thread like all embroidery machines do, and the one major bobbin thread tangle). The upper thread tension on thin lines is still tight even then, but I don’t know how to fix that so I just left the stitching overly taut, it’s fine.
Here is the bobbin thread tangle on the back, just lovely. I got frustrated and skipped 2 rounds of colors for the flowers, and you may notice the gold lines are slightly off center, but it looks fine, it’s fine.
Here I realize I didn’t give myself enough fabric on the left to sew the mini husswif with seam allowance, but I made it work in the end. For this project, I used 2 shades of pink thread for the flower, and gold metallic thread on teal cotton broadcloth from Joann’s (rip). The inside lining is a pink cotton toile print I got from an artist’s destash that looked historically appropriate, with the two pockets decorated with a cut out cherry blossom patch from Etsy and pink lace from Joann’s (because I was too lazy to restitch out the pocket motif). I also used discount teal felt and pink ribbon from Michaels, and tan elastic and tan polyester lining fabric from Joann’s, while the batting is actually pink fleece also from Joann’s.
Here is the finished husswif tied with pink satin ribbon. I had some deeper pink ribbons in my stash that would have matched better, but they were not double-sided, this was the only double-sided ribbon I had in the color scheme.
Here is just the embroidery on its own. I love the colors I chose, teal and hot pink and gold was one of my favorite color combos as a child. The gold thread isn’t quite as pretty and smooth as the other colored polyester threads, but I still like the effect.
Here is the husswif opened. I included embroidery scissors that were a Christmas gift, plus supplies from those cheap dollar store sewing kits because I had 2 (3 sewing needles, 3 pins, tweezers, a variety color threads, needle threader, 2 metal snaps and 2 white buttons, the included mini scissors were broken and not included). I also added a pink flower pin, a few safety pins, a hook and eye set, a thimble, a pink sewing clip, a 3 way needle threader, and a plastic baggie to hold the small loose items. Missing in this kit is a tape measure, sewing wax, and a seam ripper. I ordered a fancy metal seam ripper on Etsy, but not sure where I can source an aesthetic tape measure or smaller sewing wax container that would fit.
All of my husswif’s contents spread out so you can see how it goes together. I don’t think I will keep the metal thimble since I rarely use a thimble unless I’m sewing very thick layers together, I might get a smaller leather thimble later if I keep handsewing costumes. Also I can really fit only one spool of thread into the pockets, or maybe a small spool in the elastic loop, so I could only sew with one color thread at a time, or wrap multiple colors of thread on a floss card.
Even though it is small, this mini husswif is indeed mighty. It holds the basics and fits in your purse with room to spare, plus looks so pretty inside and outside! Once tied up tightly with the ribbons, the contents are pretty securely wrapped. Now I’m eager to find more designs to embroider and make a giant husswif like Sewstine did in this video here, lol.