Pouch Crazy

Last week I wrote about the pouch I made for my sewing buddy. Well it didn't end there.

I made a three pocket pouch for my grandniece for her birthday. 

See... three lined pockets with matching zippers. I followed this tutorial with a few modifications.  I don't usually sew from other people's patterns as I like the design component so much. However, I learned some really neat tricks working with that pattern, which I was able to incorporate into the pouch for the guild swap.

And as my reward, I received this adorable thank you note. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that there are still kids who write thank you notes.

I had no sooner sent this pouch off and received the sweet note when my guild announced - you guessed it - a pouch swap. Because it was for someone in my guild, I wanted to make something original, so I went to the drawing board.

First I tried to think about a type of pouch that I would really use, and hope I've hit on something others will appreciate. 

Here in Atlanta it is festival season. Every neighborhood has their own festival to raise money for parks, and other improvements that taxes just can't cover. Ours is called Summerfest. Typically a festival is held on Saturday and Sunday and kicks off with a parade and road race in the morning. Key streets in the neighborhood are closed off to set up an artist market, food trucks, a stage for bands, beer sales, and did I mention an artist market? You get the picture. Me wandering around listening to music, sipping a beer, and needing a place to keep cash, ID, and a credit card - 'cause did I mention the artist market? 

Based on that need, I came up with this idea for a zippered pouch with a very long strap so it could be worn cross body.

As you can see, I used English paper piecing to make a fabric piece about

nine inches wide by 20 inches tall. The finished bag is closer to eight by nine. 

There it is all pieced with the papers still attached to the back. You can see that I used two different shades of orange combined with some gray scraps all left over from another project. The fabric shown here is from the Spot On and Metro Living collections from Robert Kaufman, and they differentiate the colors as orange and tangerine.

After I removed the paper templates, I fused a lightweight piece of interfacing to the back of the fabric to give it a bit more body and stability - I don't honestly trust my hand stitching all that well, but fusibles can fix anything.

Next I squared up the fabric, 

and cut it in half. 

Fortunately I had purchased a bulk package of YKK zippers a couple of months ago, so matching zippers were in my stash. You can see with this photo where this is headed.

I love this neat technique found in the triple zipper pouch tutorial for finishing the zipper ends. 

And I was able to line each pocket (one shallow pocket on each side and a large full sized pocket down the middle) with more Spot On (snow on white). The instructions for how to insert the zippers and line the pouch pockets in one fell swoop are included in the tutorial from Debbie at A Quilter's Table mentioned above. And yes, Debbie is a much more prolific quilter and blogger than me. Hats off to that, and to her awesome quilts.

The exchange happens on Thursday, so I really hope whoever gets this one likes it. And I have full plans to make another for myself. I'm noodling with using up some prized selvage strips for mine instead of the hand sewn hexies. What do you think?

Until next time!

Kay Stephenson for Stitching Times