A bunch of pouches

The members of my sewing group asked to learn how to make little zipper pouches. I said: "of course - no problem!", but later I remembered that I never made a zipper pouch with lining that has been 100% satisfactory and that is because of the lining always building a plead on the two ends of the pouch. Can you see it on the photo below?

This is one of the reasons I am mostly doing leather pouches like this ones (click). The request of my group has been a good reason to develop new skills. 

I started by just making the lining smaller. Simple theory, if there is less fabric in the corner, there can't be a big plead. And, voila, already the first try has been much better than anything before. 

No plead, but still I am not satisfied with the end of the zipper, as it is kind of random how he is disappearing on the ends. I have seen lots of pouches that are having a little crossbar on the end that is covering the end of the zipper. First try with that had been nice on one side but too small the other side. (it's the leg of an old jeans that I recycled here)

The next try (this time recycling the rear of an old jeans) has been much better. 

All those had a lining that is okay for me. Most of the pouches I make with a bottom so they can stay upright. I for myself have not much use of flat pouches. I did one anyway...

I am still trying to bring the zipper ends to perfection. I have to try out some more varying the point until where the seams have to go along the zipper and as well in the vertical. (specialty of the elephant pouch: It has also a padding to add stability to the very sloppy fabric)

Maybe I should buy an instruction how to do the perfect pouch, there a about a 1000 (or so) available. But then I can't use this for giving courses and need a permission for selling them, so I guess I will figure out a method all by myself that is satisfying my standard. Also like all the tutorials I showed you so far, I can vary the size of the bag/case/pouch depending on the fabric I have. If I still have a piece of 25cm but a pattern is only demanding 20cm, I don't like to cut of 5cm that are more or less wasted.

After making five pouches last weekend, I needed a break and made one that has the zipper ends outside. Like this it is not completely closed, as there stays a little opening under the ends of the zipper, but I like it a lot! Looks much more tidy and you can open it wider that all the others to put stuff in.

By the side: the members of my class liked this case best too, but I forced them to make the other one first. We will probably have some more sessions for inserting zippers in all kinds of bags.

And I will continue trying out different techniques and probably everyone in my surrounding will get a pouch as a present in near future - be warned! :-)

A bientôt,
Jane

Colorful name

For the birthday of a friend I draw her name on a big card and colored it. It is a bit like the style I tried out in February. I love using the hole range of colors, but still each color stays for it's own.

A bientôt,
Jane

Hen meeting

Yesterday evening we had a hen meeting with my sewing circle. With a lot of gaggle we made some fabric chicken.

I like them sitting around in pairs and chatting. 

They will now spread out and sit on bookshelfs and cupboards all around our living/dining room...

The red one is more a loner. But look how cool he crossed his legs ...

There are probably a 100 instructions for chicken in the web. I think my method is a mix from several that I have seen. I developed this pattern for me two years ago and I can't remember where I got the inspirations from.

A bientôt,
Jane

(voyez les poules, on rappel que Pâques s'approche!)

Memories of my old handbag

This post is in honor of my old handbag. 

I made it in the summer of 2012 and used it since. For the reasons I mentioned in the last post I made it very small, but also because we have been camping a lot in that summer and it is not practical to have a big handbag with you in a tent. Still you need to have money and papers with you. This little bag I could wear or I put it with the rest of our belongings for outdoor tours in a backpack.

You can see it is even smaller than my new one, but I never needed more space. 

I liked the orange a lot and still do. Just looking at those colors is lightening up the day. Only sometimes I had difficulties combining it with my cloth, when those contained pink or rose or violet (not very frequent and only in summer, so not bothering me much).

I also love the happy fishes. I repeated the fish motif in the quilting. Around the fishes I only quilted bubbles. 

What I like best of handbags like this: You can put them in the washing machine when they are dirty. No special treatment necessary and they look as good as new afterwards.

But two and a half years of use payed its toll. Some of the edges are rubbed through now, so it is time for the retirement of a dutiful and well used bag.

This is the most useful bag I ever made and I can only hope my new one will just last as long. 

A bientôt,
Jane

My new handbag

I just finished my new handbag and I am so excited about! Have a look:

It is allover quilted to give the stability to the otherwise thin (normal patchwork fabric weight) fabrics. The strap is quite long (1,40m) as I like to wear my handbags diagonally:

The bag closes by a zipper on top and there is a zipper pocket over the whole front. Inside there is one open pocket.

I used up one of my treasured fabrics, that has been in my drawers for at least 6 years. I think this is a good use for a favorite, as now it will be around me every day for quite a while. I am not one that is changing handbags often. My last one I used for 2 1/2 years now. I will show you farewell pictures of it in the next post.

The allover quilting is very discreet as I wanted the spirals in the light green fabric to be the attraction of the bag.

The size of the bag is 14x19x6 cm, so it is quite small. If I have a big bag I tend to fill it up and then it is too heavy on my shoulder and I get tension in my neck and then headache. To avoid all this I started having only the absolute necessary in my small handbag, like papers (of me, my kids and the car), mobile phone, purse and keys. This bag is a little bigger than my old one. Let's see how we will get along together ...

A bientôt,
Jane, qui est très content avec sa nouvelle sac a main!

I linked this post to a german link-party called: RUMS (around the woman on Thursdays), where you can link every Thursday something that you made only for yourself!

Emergency help for a princess

Little Arielle had a problem with the shoulder straps of her bra - of course I couldn't let her go without being dressed properly ...

This is the smallest piece of clothes I ever had under my machine. There is not much more than 3 square centimeters of fabric in that bra.

A bientôt,
Jane

Pizza Pizza!

Look what we had for lunch!

Hmmmm ... Pizza!

Homemade Salami Pizza! 

Ingredients: Felt

Pastry with a fluffy crust, tomato-sauce, salami and cheese - ready!

The kids now can bake me a Pizza, whenever I am hungry ...

A friend of mine bought a pizza like that for her son and I knew immediately that this is a missing part in our play kitchen, so I copied it. 

A bientôt,
Jane