Friday 13 April 2012

Ignorance is Bliss

Going with the theory that I can think too much at times, I find it easier at other times to sew rather than ponder myself into a complete muddle. Stick my head in the sand pile of fabric and ignore the little voice at the back of my head telling me to stop while I am ahead. I had an idea when I was making my pouch for Mouthy Stitches. Then Di made her fantastic pouch for the swap which had some similarities to what I wanted to do. Today was the day to see if the variation I had in mind would work.

I wanted to use some of the Melody Miller coffee pots that I got from Annie at The Village Haberdashery. And I wanted my pouch to have this shape -


Easy. All it is, is a 8.5" square with two corners rounded off using a juice glass as a template. It got a bit tricky when I wanted to sew the zipper on. Because I wanted it to go round three sides of the pouch.


As the zip I had was a 22" one it was easier to unzip it and just use my fingers to hold the layers in place and sew very, very slowly round those corners. It wasn't so difficult with the first side of the pouch, as seen above. But once that was on things were slightly more complicated - for me at least.


There were just so many 'bits' to get in the way when sewing the zipper onto the second half of the pouch. There was some unpicking involved. Not as much as I would have thought, if I had bothered to think about it beforehand. You could tell I was really concentrating though, because I forgot to take one photo of the process after that!

We skip directly to the finish at this point -


I thought a pouch like this might be useful opening up round three sides to access my sewing things, if I was ever inclined to take them somewhere.

There are two generous pockets on one side.
(Do you like the way I left the selvedge on or not?)
The other side has two strips of elastic to hold things in place,
theoretically.
I'll have to make a smaller pin cushion to fit the pocket.
And will probably make a matching needle book so that it all goes together nicely.
The elastic seems to work well holding thread and other necessities. 
And that's what I did today. Besides the usual drudgery of course. A day wouldn't be complete without a little drudgery! I wanted to try making this pouch as I thought it might be an idea for what I could make for the Sample Swap at the Retreat. I think I now have to have a sleep and think about whether or not I want to sew zippers like this a minimum of four more times.

Because I have a couple of more ideas that might work for the swap as well. No idea how to make them but I am sure I could muddle through if I set my mind to it. Today I took it one step at a time and didn't think forward to the next step much at all. I decided that it couldn't be very different from making a 'normal' pouch.

Ignorance really is bliss!

Susan

30 comments:

  1. You can send me the test run if you like. Its bloody gorgeous!

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  2. If ignorance produces this Susan - wipe my mind now - what you have already? - ok I guess there wasn't that much in it then!? Just the two brain cells chatting to each other...

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  3. Love it Susan! I think we all need one of these

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  4. sometimes NOT knowing what you are doing is the best way... because you dont know if its right .. or wrong! Looks great to me .. enjoy using it xx

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  5. It looks fab, especially love the 3 sided zipper :-)

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  6. I resisted the sample swap thingy as I`m off swaps `n all but this is fab Susan - really!

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  7. Oh, I LOVE that you left the selvedge on. That's super duper cool of you.

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  8. I love it, such a good idea! I love the way you've left the selvedge on - such a lovely touch!
    P.S. I recognise that pincushion! *smiling*

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  9. Oh definitely make these for sample swap (and don't think about it, I made that mistake lol)

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  10. Love it! Clever you! Di xo

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  11. Yes yes yes make those for the swap and fingers crossed I am in your group!! I love this - "not to big, not too small - just the size of Montreal" (did you sing that too as a kid growing up in Canada??). Fabric choice is awesome too! Well done.

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  12. What a brilliant pouch! Clever, pretty and useful - what's not to like?!

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  13. This is totally brilliant and I love the selvedge. There is a curvy zippy thing coming up in the Zakka sew a long that I am viewing with trepidation.

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  14. Oh you're the girl with the curves! This is brilliant, and practical too! V.well done! Jxo

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  15. Oh you're the girl with the curves! This is brilliant, and practical too! V.well done! Jxo

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  16. Okay now you're just showing off with your fancy zips that go round corners and gorgeous finished holdalls....

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  17. This is so cute and a zip that goes on three sides? I need more show and tell. Really nice and so useful.

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  18. I think that is wonderful, you are very clever with that long zip!

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  19. You have done a fabulous job of this!! Becoming quite the seamstress!!! Go girl!

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  20. Very nice! I am so impressed that you designed this yourself.

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  21. Definitely not better to think about it beforehand. It looks great, fabulous idea.

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  22. I saw the pictures of this on Flickr earlier and I was intrigued. I love that you used the selvedge. You're so smart! I think you should do it, then, instead of 4, make 5, and send one to me! :)

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  23. Love the selvedges! I am doing a tutorial for mine, but I keep forgetting to take phtotos!

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  24. Wow that is fabulous, I love the curves and selvedges and in fact pretty much everything about it.

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  25. Hi again - Ottawa and surrounding areas, Newmarket and in Guelph for me. :)

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  26. This is so cool Susan! I knew you'd do something amazing with those coffee pots!

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  27. love the selvedges and the curves and the elastic etc very clever!!!

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  28. Oooo I knew you'd do something fab with those coffee pots! Cool idea on the curves, and that selvedge is a must...it is a sewing pouch after all ;) x

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