Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I quickly made this pouch for Tim as a gift. I usually make him a gift, but for some reason I didn’t plan ahead for him. I will in 2026.
I rounded the corners of this version as it was easier to sew. I also used some great hand-dyed fabric that Sonja made for me a long time ago. It is precious so I save it for special projects.
Tim loves everything green and he uses the bags I give him, so I decided to use some of this precious fabric for him.
I had a tough time deciding what to make for Carrie and Sue for Christmas. I don’t want to just make them anything. I want what I make to be useful. Eventually, after considering several Minikins patterns I hadn’t tried, I decided on I Spy pouches.
Is this a cop out?
No.
As I have said before, these pouches are like eating potato chips for me. I can make one quickly. I also really enjoy making them. Because they are fast? Maybe. Mostly because they are useful.
Sue gets a color wheel on the back to help her pick out fabric. I also remembered to put a label on the pouch.
Some time ago I made Carrie and Sue Kit Supply Totes. The Hackney pouches I made for them fit nicely into the Kit Supply Totes. I thought the I Spy would fit nicely in it as well.
I know it’s been a week or so since I posted about gifts, but we are back to it.
I posted last week about Sue’s I Spy pouch. One of the differences I made is that Carrie got a whole color wheel in the front while Sue’s was on the back. One of the reasons I like this fabric is because it means they always have a color wheel with them.
I found some nice zipper pulls in my hardware bag that I added. They are apples, which have nothing to do with color wheels, Carrie or Sue, but here we are. Zipper pulls, aside from being cute really help to pull zippers open.
Last year when I went to visit my team in Basel, I took the women on the team some Cork I Spy pouches. One of the team sent me a picture of her pouch on a boat in Croatia.
The photo is amazing and I am thrilled that my pouch got to go somewhere I have never been.
I also forgot to post this one to the blog.
This one might look the same as the Pink Zipper I Spy I posted the other day, but you can see that the zipper is different.
Yes, this one has the same problem as that one: clashing flowers. Still, live and learn.
I forgot to post this I Spy back in March. As I have said before, I love making these I Spy pouches. I like both the fabrics I used, but together they are a bit much. ;-).
It is still useful and is now keeping acrylic pattern templates together.
I still don’t really have a plan for 2024 in terms of sewing. I am just not sure what type of projects I want to focus on. I am starting to think that finishing a lot of UFOs was a bad idea. It left me sort of feeling like I don’t want to generate more UFOs.
I still want to sew, so I fell back on my potato chip project: the I Spy pouches. I have some templates coming from Sew Sweetness so I thought I would get ahead of the game and make the pouches in advance. The first one I finished was the Mermaid pouch AKA the Create * Make * Dream I Spy.
I used a different coneflower colorway than I did in the last I Spy. Surprisingly, I didn’t have as much of it as I thought, so the three pouches I made are sort of scrappy. This one looks relatively normal from the front, but I used a mermaid print for the back.
I bought this fabric on a whim at Cool Cottons in Portland last year, possibly for a bag for my sister. This is the first time I have used it, however. It is a fun fabric and I am glad I will have a little piece of it for myself. I still have enough left to make something for Lil Sissy.
I haven’t put any templates in yet, but it will be used for acrylic bag templates.
I started and finished another I Spy pouch very quickly last week. I needed another one for the Falabella templates, which I found when I was rummaging for the Piebald templates.
I went out of my way to use the zebra fabric and I had just enough left for the various lining pieces.
As I have with all of the other I Spy pouches, I used the Anna Maria coneflower fabric again. I had some leftover from a previous project and was able to use it up. Some wrong cuts aren’t always useless even if they aren’t useful at the moment. 😉
The templates fit nicely inside this medium version.
If you ever watch the TV show Ghosts, you will know Flower. I watched the beginning episode of the season and decided that some Tula owl fabric would be good for this latest I Spy.
I know I always say that I don’t want animals looking at me from my quilts, but these I Spy pouches seem to be immune. Anyway, the owls will most be covered by the Vervain templates that now live in this pouch.
I know I have said this before, but these pouches make me really happy.
I got some new templates this week, which means I needed a new I Spy pouch in which to store them.
I cut this pouch out after work on Monday and sewed it up during Craft Night. I only had to whip stitch the bottom closed and I could fill up the bag with my templates.
I made an effort to make the window (lining) fabric look good and used some fabric I received for Christmas. Normally, the fabric isn’t seen, but I wanted to make this super pretty.
I am planning to make another pouch for the other set of templates. I could have made two at a time, but I thought I would have to adjust the size and I didn’t want to worry about that on Monday. I just wanted to sew.
I finally finished the Enlarged I Spy (AKA Blazing Star I Spy). It is too big for the Blazing Star templates, but I can always use it for a different set of templates or for something else. It won’t go to waste.
I am pleased with how I matched the coneflowers on the top around the zipper. The process, in general, however, wasn’t as smooth as I would have guessed. I suppose I was distracted a bit. From what, I don’t know.
One thing I am determined to remember to do is to cut off the ends of the zippers and use zipper tabs. I really don’t know how I missed that bit of metal with my sewing machine needle. Sheer good luck.
You can also see, in this picture, that I used glitter vinyl. I love it!
I am finally attempting to enlarge an I Spy pouch. I decided that last week, one evening after work, was the day to do it.
Sara’s directions work well regardless of the size. Sizes are always the challenge. I used the widths, but extended the lengths to accommodate the Blazing Star bag acrylic templates.
I learned a lot. One thing is to cut the back and lining back after you have put the front together. Normally, having everything cut and fused is a good thing, but in this case, I made so many cutting mistakes that I ran out of lining fabric.
On my next enlarged I Spy, I will put the sides and the vinyl together, then cut the top and bottom, install the zipper, then cut the back and lining back. I don’t know enough about enlarging bags to do anything different.
I told you: potato chips.
I cut out and made another one of these pouches on Saturday. The acrylic templates for the Enigma bag were laying around and it seemed like the right thing to do. Also, I got a finish after almost no finishes during May.
The Enigma templates almost don’t fit in this large sized I Spy. Soon, I’ll have to pluck up the courage to try making one of these slightly larger. Saturday was not the day as this was a quick win.
The teacups look a little weird, because I used vinyl with stars on it (also from Sew Hungry Hippie). I think I prefer the glitter vinyl, but the stars are fun, too. I have a small roll of it, which is what I grabbed and cut before I realized what I was doing.
I am sticking with the Coneflowers theme. I can’t seem to get away from it.
Here is the last Cork I Spy pouch I made at Retreat. The lining fabric is one of my favorites and I just had a bit of it left. I had just enough for the large lining piece.
In general for the three pouches, I found the cork to be easy to sew, but not easy to turn. If (when?) I use cork again on an I Spy pouch, I will definitely round the corners. I think it will make the project much easier to turn.
All that being said, I thought the corners looked fine when I finally did get the pouch turned. I gave these to some work colleagues and they loved them.
This is the second cork I Spy pouch.
In all of these cork I Spy projects, I used 12 inch zippers even though the pattern calls for shorter zippers. It is much easier to cut down a longer zipper after the zipper is installed.
I really like highlighting some good fabrics in the window of the pouch.