SueS asked me to make scissor cozies for a couple of the officers. She bought them scissors and had them engraved. The two really went above and beyond during COVID. They entered a difficult situation, before COVID, and stepped up magnificently.
This is a Sotak Handmade pattern. Again, I watched a little of the video, but mostly read the directions and my notes on the directions. I made some additional notes to make these easier next time. I have to print some photos to keep with the directions.
I’ll write more about the specifics of each cozy later.
In addition to the Pink Moto pouch I made, I also made a black one.
I have said I like to make more than one of the same pattern so I can get the process in my head or smooth out the challenges I had with a pattern. These two pouches were no exception.
As mentioned, I struggled a bit with the drop-in lining on the pink version. I don’t sew patterns with drop-in linings very often, but I would be smart to make more to cement the techniques for making them look good in my mind.
Black Moto open- with lining
I used the same lining as the Skeleton Hackney, because it was handy, I think, and looks good with the black.
It is somewhat cheerful. The background fabric used for Who Am I? is the same print, but in a different colorway.
I am pretty happy with the way the lining came out. It isn’t too saggy-baggy. Since the lining is sewn separately and then inserted, it is pretty easy to sew it with a smaller seam allowance.
As you can see I added in a Wunderlabel at the last minute. That’s why it ended up in such a weird place. I am trying to be better about sewing them on intentionally.
Moto side view
I can’t remember what size Moto Pouches I made. I think these might be medium. They were fiddly enough without going to the small. I really admire the testers for Sara’s patterns. They have to make all the sizes whether they want to or not.
I think this a useful size. Not sure what I would use it for, but I would probably make it again as a gift. It might be good for the nephews.
I finished the second Hackney in record time. Now, as I mentioned, have plans to make a few more. The second one always goes a lot faster than the first and I am enamored with the shape.
Cutting wasn’t even terrible for this pouch. Something must be getting into me, though it’s probably the templates. I have a set of acrylic templates for this pouch and cutting with templates is a million times easier than when I have to use a paper pattern. It might be even easier if I used a rotating mat.
Green Hackney upright
The one problem with this pattern, as written, is the lack of a handle. I am not sure of the original intention of the bag, but having a handle I think is important. I asked a few questions of the designer and her team about when to add the handle. I got enough information and ended up adding after step 13. I think it worked out pretty well.
I love the pouch even more set upright like the picture (right). I think it looks so cool. It makes me want one, though I have no idea how I would use it. Some people sew elastic bands on the bottom in such a way that pens and such can be anchored to the bottom. It’s an idea I will have to consider. I have also seen this made as mini first aid kit. Lots of good ideas.
Green Hackney open
The same fabric that I used for the handle was also used for the lining. I am really pleased with how the stripes came out. Also, I think the inside zipper matches, without matching, very well.
The inside pocket is mesh and I think the center zipper looks a little weird, so I think I will try moving the zipper up a little, though I know that might interfere with the operation of the zipper. I might be able to move it up to where the curve starts with no ill effects. The other idea I have is to put a vinyl pocket on top and no zipper. Stay tuned for further iterations.
Sew Sweetness has a hashtag for the Hackney on her FB group (you have to be a member) and I scrolled through a lot of versions of them to get ideas. It was great.
As briefly mentioned when I posted about the Minikins Season Three patterns from Sew Sweetness, I made a Hackney pouch as gift for the YM’s girlfriend/partner. She works as part of a forensics team and loves skeletons. This Timeless Treasures fabric is perfect for gifts for her and I still have quite a bit.
I made her a Sidewinder pouch a couple of years ago, but that had no skeleton fabric. I used a bit of skeleton fabric for the pincushion in the Leaf Sew Together Bag I made for her last year.
Skeleton Hackney open
This turned out to be all skeletons all the time, though not the lining. I can’t get away from light colored linings.
I think the center looks super cheerful and people using it can see their stuff.
This was my first try at the Hackney pattern, but I like it as a bag. These are quite large (I made the large size), so not really a pouch, but a small bag. I really want to know if it fits a Switch**. I’d like to see a photo of the large Hackney with a Switch inside it.
I plan to make a few more for more gifts, but also one for myself. I need to think of what to put inside before I make one and have it hanging around.
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I finished the Moto Pouch not long after my last post. I like this pattern despite the drop-in lining. I think I have figured out a way to deal with the lining that looks good and isn’t terrible to sew.
Moto Pouch open view
Whether I need that knowledge, we’ll have to see. I don’t know that I’ll make another one. I do know that there are other patterns with drop-in linings. I can use what I learned there. I should make another pattern with a drop-in lining in order to cement the techniques in my mind.
I put the zipper on the side without the handle, but I think that was a bad choice. The handle acts as an anchor for pulling the zipper. The directions are clear and I put in on the handles side on the other one I made, but didn’t understand the reason until I made this one. Live and learn.
After writing about the Hackney on Sunday, I looked back at the patterns I have made from Minikins Season Three* and decided I wanted to see them all together. The Minikins patterns are bundles (12ish different patterns) of small project patterns from Sew Sweetness. So far, I have purchased all three bundles.
Here are the projects I have made from Minikins Season 3 patterns:
It’s kind of fun to see them all together, isn’t it? Not sure the designs really have a theme, but it doesn’t matter.
I haven’t made all the patterns, but I will some day. they make great gifts and I am constantly thinking of new ways to use the designs and new people to whom to gift them. People in the Sew Sweetness group complain that they don’t want all the patterns and want to buy them singly. I think they should just shutup and let Sara run her business the way she wants.
I liked the first Hackney so much that I started another one. I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the first one and wanted to try again.
This is another large size.
I also plan to put a handle on the end, like someone did in the Sew Sweetness group. Right now I am trying to figure out WHEN to put it on. I have asked the question in a couple of different ways, but think I need to get all the pieces out and try out what they said. Theoretically I am not understanding.
Green Hackney gusset
The second one has been going faster than the first one. That is one of the reasons I made the second one right away.
The zipper on this one looks brown, but it is kind of a browny-olive. Not a very attractive color, but I didn’t have a better one.
It is so strange to think of these bags as pouches. I really think of pouches as the one zip things like the Cotton Candy Pouch pattern. Still, Sara at Sew Sweetness calls these pouches. She is way more experienced than me.
This is another one of the Minikins Season 3 patterns from Sew Sweetness, like the Percheron and the Piebald Pouch. People tell me it will fit a Switch gaming device, which is why I chose the large size. Also, for my first go round, it is easier to make.
I struggled with not having a free arm on my machine., as I did with the Moto Pouches. I need to think about that and whether it is time to upgrade my machine. I am ready for a fancy machine again, but I am not sure I want to spend the money.
I am planning to make another one of these pouches for a Christmas gift. First, I need a gift and the recipient will appreciate the complexity. Second, I want to try again.
I still need to sew up the lining and fix one problem, but I’ll be able to finish today.
I have a couple of nieces who have recently joined the family. I decided to make them each a pouch. I like to make some gifts “from Santa” for newbies in the family. It gives me an excuse to make more pouches and adds to their often anemic gift pile a little.
Eventually I decided on the Moto Pouch from Sew Sweetness. The Moto pouch is part of the Sew Sweetness Minikins Season 1. I cut the fabric for both pouches out at the same time, but I didn’t sew them at the same time, for some reason. Only one is in process at the moment. I’ll have more experience when I start the next one.
This pattern has a drop in lining, which people on the Sew Sweetness FB group don’t like as much.I am struggling a little as well.
The construction is similar to the Sidewinder pouches I made in 2020. The design itself is remarkably similar, though not exactly the same.
The Percheron (part of Minikins Season 3) by Sew Sweetness is classified as a pouch, but it is definitely larger than what I would consider to be a pouch. Remember I made one of these before? I wanted to make it again since I struggled with Mom’s. As mentioned, it was going very well and I think I mastered the hinge, which was one of the steps that caused me a headache.
Percheron assembling
It isn’t going as well as it was before. I am not quite sure what went sideways, but I have been really, really struggling with putting the whole thing together.
I know the picture of the whole thing makes it look very sad. I think I was in a rush. I don’t have to throw it out, don’t worry.
Percheron #2 lining
I just really fought and fought with the lining and the assembly. It looks really ugly in this picture. The saving grace is that I haven’t finished the last seam by hand, so there is hope that I can save it. I really don’t want to unpick it.
I can also give the thing a good press (this is where my small Oliso comes in very handy) and I am sure that will help, too.
Percheron #2 lining (bottom)
Is there always a point in my bag making where I despair completely?
Now I need to remember to sew a Wunderlabel in it.
I am ridiculously pleased with how this Percheron Pouch (part of Minikins Season 3) is turning out.
The photo, left doesn’t show much to you, but the top has nicely fussy cut fabric and is pleasingly stiff. Granted, there is a lot of interfacing in the top. Still, I am super happy when it all works out.
I started working on this just to get a break from the Tarts. I didn’t expect much progress. When I made this pattern before, I just remember struggling. Still, I couldn’t get the pattern out of my mind and decided to make another one as a gift. Since I needed to rest my body from quilting, I thought it would be a good time to make a start. I had cut out all the pieces previously, so was ready to go.
Percheron Pouch: top is 3D
I worked along slowly, listening to my book and alternately ironing fabric for Stay Tuned. Suddenly, the top was made!
I am so pleased with how it came out. It is really 3D! The fussy cutting looks great and even the (IMO) ugly zipper fits really well with the fabric.
I quickly made another Cotton Candy pouch for my sister for her birthday. I am running out of Paris/France themed fabric, so I may have to do something else for her in the future. She likes the turquoise and brown combination and there is no shortage of turquoise around here.
French Cotton Candy pouch open
I have made this pouch a number of times, so it went together quickly. I still had to watch the video for installing the zipper, but for everything else I knew what to do. Something clicked in my mind with this pouch, which is a great feeling. I am very tempted to make some more of them just to cement the knowledge in my mind and to get some gifts for the latter half of the year out of the way.
French Cotton Candy pouch zipper end
One of the things that clicked was the end of the zipper. I understand more about the placement of the veering of the zipper. In this pouch, I didn’t get the ends close enough to the center of the side panel. The pouch is definitely still usable, but that is something I would like to fix in the next versions I make.
Now I have to find something to put inside the pouch and send it off, though by the time you read this, Lil Sissy will have this in her hot little hands.
After we finished the bag, my friend decided she wanted to make a pouch as well. I immediately knew what to do.
Sotak Handmade on IG creates short videos about how to make pouches. Remember her? I made the purse organizer from her pattern. She sells patterns, so the IG videos are very quick and simple. They work for simple pouches. I found one of her videos that would suit our needs.
The beauty of this video was the fabric sizes didn’t matter except in one instance. I cut the leftover fabric in a size that would use as much as possible and we got busy. The pouch turned out pretty well.
The part that was problematic was the zipper tabs. I understand the concept of zipper tabs, but I ran into problems with the size. I made them over large whereas the video showed the pouch having a small space between the end of the zipper tab and the side of the pouch.
Making the zipper tabs over large meant no space for stuff to fall out. It also meant that the closing of the whole pouch was not smooth. The center edges by the zipper were large and lumpy and I couldn’t follow what Sotak did on the video. This is when the light dawned and I understood why the zipper tabs were shorter. Now I know.
None of this fabric was mine, so I don’t get to add anything to my Fabric Usage Report, sadly.
I want to make more quick zipper pouches now. I use the same technique I use with scraps for Journal Covers.
I was able to finish the Andalusian Pouch over the weekend.
It went together amazingly well. I barely used my seam ripper at all.
Andalusian Pouch- open/side view
This pouch started because I had a fat quarter, cut a few pieces then put them away for later. I got more of the Anna Maria poppy fabric and decided to make the pouch for a friend who has been super helpful at work. I used one of the new True Colors fabrics for the accent fabric.
This pouch has rounded corners and those rounded corners made it so easy to put together! It was really a dream, which makes me want to make another one TODAY.
Andalusian Pouch- open/top view
The pattern is from the Minikins 3 series by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness. It comes out looking more like a man’s shaving kit when closed, but when open, it would be great to carry sewing supplies (one track mind, I know, I know!) to Sew Day.
The man’s shaving kit shape is a little weird, but I really like the open wide mouth that the frame provides. I like being able to see all of my stuff.
I am super proud of the way the zipper came out. Both ends of the zipper look like they are supposed to look.
Andalusian Pouch – zipper start
Andalusian Pouch – zipper end
The start of the zipper had the ends sewn at 90 degrees and it looks so finished. I really like it.
The end of the zipper required veering at the end. I think, after much practicing, I have finally gotten the hang of veering the zipper. I have to admit that I did watch that part of the video and followed the directions multiple times. I am still a little unclear on the exact purpose of veering the zipper. I plan to keep practicing so it will become second nature.
Andalusian Pouch – side zipper
My careful fussy cutting didn’t work 100%. I have never made this bag before so that was part of the problem/issue. The accents covered up some of the flowers. I knew there were accents were part of the bag; I just couldn’t judge where the flowers would end up. Still, I think it looks nice. I hope that my friend likes it.
I think if I make this again (and I do have another frame) I would use a fabric with an all over pattern, then use cork or vinyl for the bottom accents and the bottom of the bag. Sara has some turquoise cork that I have had my eye on.
I am making good progress on the pouch. I think I overestimated the time it would take to finish in a recent post. I made good progress, but the last parts seem to take longer than I usually anticipate.
I had to put the Zipper Panel pieces that hold the frame and the zipper panel together. These were a bit fiddly, but not too bad. I was in a good place when I decided to work on this project and it wasn’t too late in the day so I wasn’t tired.
I also ended up putting the grab handle on. I hope the thinness of the handle doesn’t prevent it from being useful.
I feel like I am making good progress and will be done soon.
