Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
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 finally started the Petunia Pouch and it is a fairly easy project so far.
I don’t have a lot of experience with Sotak Handmade patterns. I have made 2-3 projects from her patterns. I watch her reels on IG and am so impressed with how easy the projects look.
I found this one to be easy, so far as well AND the zipper looks good.
One thing is putting binding on everything. It is a pain, but it makes all the edges look good.
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.
A few weeks ago I bought a couple of new patterns when Sotak Handmade was having a sale. I am sure you saw the Little Pyramid pouches I made. I have also made a Purse Organizer from one of her patterns.
I cut out the Petunia Pouch over the weekend. This is a different kind of pouch. It has a zipper up the middle of the front. From the pattern, I can’t exactly tell how it all goes together.
I do like Sotak Handmade patterns, so I am hopeful that this is a good pattern.
I finally took some time on Mother’s Day to finish this pouch. It has been laying around for a few weeks. It was the perfect project for Mother’s Day. I got to sew AND I finished something.
This is the second one of this pattern I have made. It is a fairly easy project, though the turns on the curved end are tight. Again, I did some fussy cutting, which I think looks nice.
I know this isn’t exactly pink; it’s more peachy, but it does show the range of pinks. I am definitely in the “give me bright pink” like the Bluestem Pouch camp. Still, this is a nice soft look
I was also pleased that the gluing together part worked for me this time. I had a better idea of how to do it and I am sure that helped.
The other thing I did was to sew down the quarter marking areas. I did a few steps over the quarter marking to tack the various pieces in place, then I went around the whole pieces. That worked pretty well, though those curves are tight for my machine.
The inside looks like an inside.
I used a leftover zipper and one of the zipper pulls from Sew Hungry Hippie. I also forgot to put a label inside. Oh well.
I finished the Little Pyramid Pouches in the middle of last week.
I am pretty pleased with how they came out. The zipper instructions are exceptional and I am REALLY pleased with the zippers. Mary C did give me a little info, which helped me shorten the zipper
They are a little on the large side. I think I might try the small version even though Mary C said that size was hard to turn.
This project was a good opportunity to use some of my shorter zippers.I don’t use 6 or 8″ very often, but I have a fair number.
I think I would choose a solid or a tone-on-tone for the accent strip (currently ladybugs) in the future. I think it would highlight the main/exterior fabric.
Still, all the Tula fabric do coordinate so they don’t look awful or anything.
I pulled out some older fat quarters of dot fabrics for the interior of all of these pouches. I was glad to use some of them that have been hanging around for awhile.
The lining is a little baggy. There were no directions for using a larger seam allowance (though I could have missed them). I’ll have to check to see and then adjust for future versions.
This pattern also uses ribbon or sewn tabs and those came out really well also.
You can see the bit of ribbon at the top. I used the leftovers from another project.
This was a fun project. I am going to try the Petunia Pouch next.
I took advantage of the Sotak Handmade 30% off sale last weekend to buy two patterns I thought were interesting, the Petunia Pouch and the Little Pyramid Pouch. I want to make some small gifts for people at the Retreat, so I cut some fabric for the Little Pyramid Pouch out at Sew Day. I would have bought more, but she has a lot of tote bags and I already have a lot of tote bag patterns.
I have a few of her patterns already. One is the Purse Organizer. I made one for Mom and one for Gerre. It is more of a tablet carrier than a purse organizer. I like the pattern, however. Her free pattern (tutorial?) for scissor cozies is a perennial favorite. I also have the Multi-Pocket Organizer, but I haven’t made that one yet. It is very similar to the Mustang Purse Organizer
It doesn’t look like much in the image above, but I have all of the pieces cut out to make the pouch. I didn’t bring my sewing machine or I would have gotten started.
I started another Palomino Pouch as part of the Pink Project. I wanted to try and succeed at the gluing step that closes up the sides.
I have everything cut out, but have to find a zipper that matches. The fabric is definitely pink, but more of a peachy pink than the Pink Dot Bluestem or the Pink Piebald and I am not sure I have one that will match. I might have to use white or some other contrasting color. I do like it when the zippers look like they belong on the pouch.
The Palomino is finished! I am going to make another one right away. This pouch has only a few pieces and with the way the side panels and zipper are inserted, it is very easy to put together.
This is a gift for a friend and the fussy cutting is important.
It really went together pretty well, in general. I had some trouble inserting the lining. It does have the same glue closure as the Piebald. Not so great as I missed the instruction to stop at the 1/4 inch mark when sewing the lining together, so the edges shredded a bit (Moda fabric) when I ripped out some of the stitching. It would be really helpful to have a free arm when making this pouch. Now I know, so I’ll do better next time.
No drop-in lining or binding: perfect.
The zipper I used is one of the set I bought from Sew Hungry Hippie. I wonder if Natalie of SHH collaborates with Tula on the colors? The green matched the butterfly fabric exactly.
I thought it might be a little big, but the pattern called for a handbag zipper. I tried two zipper pulls, but it didn’t work with this pouch design so I took one off.
I took the opportunity to fussy cut the side panels as well. I can’t help that these motifs run into the partial motifs on the main panels, but I still think the side panels look good.
This is another pattern from Minikins Season 3. For some reason, it struck my fancy and I decided to make it.
One of the things I already like about the pattern is that you sew the zipper to the side panel as one of the first steps. That means that when I sew the zipper to the main panels, I will sew the side pieces as well.
I did some fussy cutting of the Tula butterfly fabric, as you can see.
I had some trouble cutting this out with a rotary cutter, because the side panels have an interior 90 degree angle, which doesn’t work withe a rotary cutter. I ended up drawing lines around the template and cutting it out with scissors. I used WonderClips** to keep the fold in place while I cut the pieces out.
This picture (right) shows getting ready to sew the zipper and the side panels to the main panels. I used some Frankenfoam and hope that works out. I used some quite small pieces. Apparently, I can’t throw anything out! Pouches are a good use for Frankenfoam, however.
This is the same picture as above, but from the top. Stay tuned for the finishing.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
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.
Yes, the Cal Piebald is finished. I think it came out really well. The fussy cutting, as mentioned, looks great!
In this image you can see the long loop I talked about when I started it. I used my own hand to figure out the length and I think it is ok. We’ll see what SIL #4 says.
I also fussy cut the bottom even though it won’t be seen very often.
One of these days, I’ll have to try adding Odicoat to a finished bag to see what happens. I am thinking a lot about what happens when people actually use the bags I give them. I want them to use the bags, so I should prepare them better to be used.
This pattern has an interesting stitching pattern for the loop/handle. The directions say to stitch the the part of the loop not attached to the bag with 4 lines before attaching it to the bag. This meant that I had to calculate exactly where the loop hit the bag, thus there was a bit of pfaffing around with my hand in the loop and trying to mark where I thought the loop would end.
Note: if you make the loop the size indicated in the pattern, there is no pfaffing around.
The rest of the loop is stitched to the bag using the four lines again. I think it is pretty secure.
I think the lining matches really well. It is a little bit baggy, which is weird, but it isn’t terrible, so I am not going to stress about it. I sewed the lining with a fatter seam allowance, so it shouldn’t be baggy. Who knows? Another mystery to try and solve while I make other bags.
So, this is done. I am pleased. I am not sure when I will give it to SIL #4. I’ll see about giving it to her when I see her on the weekend.
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.
I am making good progress on the Cal Piebald despite not sewing much in the last few weeks. Making a few in a row really helps the subsequent versions.
As you can see the exterior is finished. My next step is to assemble the lining and insert it. Then I have to do that crazy step with the front, which was a challenge, but I shall persevere.
I think the outside looks pretty good. I am so pleased with how the fussy cutting came out.
In this photo, you can’t see the loop, which is long enough to slip a slim hand through and carry along. I am starting to wonder if a longer strap, like the one for the Sweetbay Crossbody would turn this into a purse? I suppose it would, but the question is whether it would be a good purse? There are no outside pockets for a phone or anything, so it might be a little awkward to use. Something to think about. If you have any opinions, let me know.
After making the Piebald #2 and Piebald #3, I decided to try a project that had been on my mind for awhile. Some time ago, my SIL#4 asked me to make her a bag she could use to take her knitting along. I designed and made the Knitting Box, but it wasn’t quite right and I wasn’t happy with it. We had made a trade and I wanted to keep up my end of the bargain.
Years go by and I made the two Piebalds, which gave me an idea for the Knitting Box replacement: a Piebald with a double zip. I showed her one of the pink Piebalds and she thought it would work. Her birthday is coming, so I am trying the project again. I have only made a small start, but I have high hopes.
I was so pleased with that zipper even though it was way too long. It is the perfect color to go with the Cal fabric.
How do you like my fussy cutting? I am pretty pleased with it.