Easy Zipper Pouch

I picked up some zippers the other day with the idea of making some easy little pouches.

(Still feeling inspired from the ones I saw at the modern quilt guild when they had their pouch exchange,)

To get me started, I first googled some images of fabric zipper pouches

From there I noticed a nice bag that had a flat bottom, and it even had a tutorial.

I used the idea of the shape, but I tend to avoid sewing extra linings when possible,so as i made my bag, I used more traditional quilting techniques.

Sadly, I cannot find that page again....

I had a piece of woven fabric that I had stitched on for a while last year. At the time I just felt like doing some handstitching,..  I had taken some one inch strips of brown fabrics, and did a simple over/ under weave, and basted it to muslin,  after a while it just landed in my basket of UFOs.   And you know how lately I've just been trying to reuse some things to get them out of my UFO basket.

The larger background piece that I chose is one of the Kaufman Essex linen fabrics

I drew out an outline on the linen and pinned the woven piece on top of it. The outline is about 15 inches wide and 14 inches tall in the photo above. Then I layered it with some leftover batting and for the lining chose a dark orange shot Cotton by Westminster, 

These photos show the machine quilting that I did through all of the layers. I didn't bother quilting the areas that would be cut away.

When I laid it out after quilting I noticed that it had  become askew and was slanting on the top and bottom edges.

So I just trimmed them off straight again.

I sewed that edges of the zipper to the top edges, but instead of selling in an extra lining, I just used a piece of Jacquard ribbon as a facing to cover the raw edges.

Sewed the side seams, adding in another bit of ribbon on one of them, and very importantly, leaving the zipper open! otherwise you cant turn it right side out later! then sewed the boxed bottom.

Zigzagged the raw edges where possible,

Turned it inside out,

And voila, the pouch was finished.

For the quilting I used a dark brown thread on the linen so that the stitching would show up.

Fabric basket

Have you seen the fabric baskets that people have been making lately?  they are so cute, and quite useful too!

these ones are from lesliesartandsew.blog

Sometimes they have handles, as in the photo above, Sometimes they have a folded over top edge.  they can be tall or short, and rounded or square,.

I decided to use some orphan blocks I had made some time ago.  

I had 4 blocks that finished at about 8 inches. 

 

 I just sewed them into a row, and quilted it, using soft and stable as the batting.  Then I joined them into a tube.

  I made a bottom square the same size, and sewed it to the bottom edge of the blocks, 

 To make a stiffer bottom, I covered a piece of timtex and placed it in the bottom

When I quilted the blocks, I used linen as the backing fabric, and cut it wider at the top edge.  That  way I just rolled it down over the front edge of the blocks to self-bind the top edge.  

Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos of the process when I was sewing it,

I have been using the basket, and it is quite handy!  It is a good size to keep a knitting project in. 
As usual, making it has made me think of what I'll do for the next one, 
As a sidenote.  I am working my way through my stack of orphan blocks, and abandoned projects,  which feels pretty good. 

A simple bag, enlarged

Last week I made a tote bag from a pattern in Yoko Saito's book, and blogged about it , here

 I liked the shape of it, but wanted to make it larger, so I sized it up a bit,

 

 This shows both bags,

This  time I used an orphan quilt block appliqued on the front panel.  It is an antique block that I bought in a whole stack of blocks a couple of years ago.  

I like the bag, but I might make one even a bit larger.  This one used the full 42" width of the fabric for the black patterned piece in the picture above, so I guess I'll need to piece it for a bigger one.