Times Three

When I shared A Simple Little Pouch earlier in the week, I said I'd be making more, and I did. Three total for my quilting buddies I'm on retreat with this weekend. Each with different fabrics personalized for the recipients yet all with the same contrasting fabric strips along the zippers, just in different colors. I also quilted each one differently, just for the fun of it.

I'll report back about my idea to glue-baste the contrasting strip when top-stitching it to the front of the pouch. That worked like a charm. I glued, then pressed, so no pins were needed for that step.

Once finished, I put a few sewing notions in each, which my buddies should enjoy. OK, back to that retreat sewing!

A Simple Little Pouch

Boy it's been ages since I've had a project finish, and the one I'm sharing today isn't much really, but sometimes that's how life is, right? My bee-mate Anita/Bloomin' Workshop recently posted her A Simple Little Pouch tutorial, and I've been anxious to give it a try.

It finishes at about 3 1/2" wide, 11 1/2" long, and 3 1/2" tall, uses three fabrics, and I especially like the contrasting bit along the zipper, and also that the pouch is quilted. Take a look inside (below), and you can see how neatly the cut edges of the gussets are finished. I like that detail too.

The one area I had a slight issue with (my own, not the pattern) was top-stitching that contrasting strip down on the front. It might have gone smoother if my strip had been cut on the bias, though I think next time I'll just try glue-basting that down before sewing, and that might just do the trick. One tip that worked for me when pinning the zipper to the top edges was to pin perpendicular to the zip, then remove pins as I came to them. Otherwise I found the zipper slipped a bit as I sewed. But overall this was an enjoyable little project with a unique and fun shape. And yes, I'll be making it again.