A friend who is so sweet and kind sent me an Etsy gift card for my birthday in November. A dollar for each year I have been here on Earth, and no I won't tell you how long that is, but quite a while, 😄. I told her she my angel or fairy because she has sent me many things before like fabric and webbing, etc. for making the purses that I donate to
Sew Powerful Purse Project (which she is also supporting and donating to and how we met online).
I bought 3 things from the Etsy gift card: a stamp that says, Handmade with Love in New Mexico, that has the shape of the state of New Mexico with a heart on it. I wanted to use that to stamp on the gift cards for the cards that I place into the pocket of the purses that I donate to Sew Powerful. I could also stamp on fabric for a label for the purse, but I do have a stamp with my name on it that I am using for that. The next thing I bought was a pdf pattern from Rosie & David patterns called Practical Pouches, which is what I am sharing today in this blog post. And the third item is some purple denim material to make purses for the girls in Zambia. The color of the denim was a bright pinkish purple on the computer, but I received a dull lavender shade and was a bit disappointed as I loved the color on the computer screen. I will still use use it for the purses, as I am not making the purses for me, although had it been the correct color I saw, I would have made myself a small bag. I did review the item and let them know I was disappointed as the color was completely different from what they showed. Thank you so much Karen for the gift card!
Here are a few
Practical Pouches that I made. Size XXL, XL, and 2 large pouches. The pattern includes 6 sizes, 5 with 2 zipper pockets and the mini size has one zipper pocket. All have clear vinyl on the front pocket. I have one of the each of the other sizes cut out and ready to sew up, except that I ran out of double-sided basting tape, which is an important part of making these pouches, so I ordered more from someplace on Etsy and hopefully it will arrive this week or next. Meanwhile, I am sewing purses.
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| Some of the fabrics that I used for making these purses also were given to me by Karen, my Sew Powerful sewing fairy/angel! I thought that large floral print belonged on the XXL pouch, since it was a large print and it needed a project to show of the beauty of the print. I used some Renaissance Ribbon on the XL size with the French wording, bicycle and flowers print and that ribbon (along with more ribbon in other prints and sizes was from Karen too). I thought that ribbon was perfect for the XL pouch I made. The other pouches, I used a glitter ribbon. The ribbon is needed to cover the zipper tape and join the 2 zippers together. |
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| This is the XXL size and this size is great for storing a pattern in the back zip pocket. I have my knitting instructions in that pocket currently as I am knitting a sweater. This size is so handy for any project to store the instructions or templates in. |
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| Another look at the XXL with 2 sizes of my circular knitting needles that I am using to knit the sweater. I can also place my other tools that I use in this pocket too. |
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The large sizes are on the top and bottom and the XL in the middle. Most of the sizes of these pouches go up in size gradually until you get to the XXL and that size as you saw in the photos jumps in size a lot. The center pouch, the XL was the first one I made and I zigzagged stitched the binding. The other I decided to hand sew on like a quilt binding to make it look neater from both sides. Rosie straight stitches hers.
I had to make some modifications to make these pouches work because the pattern calls for a 4.5 zipper, which is the same size tape width as the size 5 zippers that I use, so I thought I could use what I have. What I discovered after making the XL size is that the difference in a 4.5 and 5 size zipper isn't the width of the zipper tape, but rather the size of the zipper teeth! 4.5 zipper teeth are narrower and looks like a #3 zipper, except for the #3 has a narrower 1-inch width zipper tape and the 4.5 (and #5) zipper tape is a 1.25" width tape. At first, I couldn't understand why my pouch wasn't quite aligning correctly, but then looking closer at Rosie's pouches, I realized that was the difference between the 4.5 & 5 sizes. So I adjusted the next pouches I cut out a bit higher, so I could lower the zipper down a bit lower to fit. I still had to trim excess off the bottom after I sewed the second zipper, but it wasn't much and it worked. By allowing more height, I wasn't losing the height when sewing the second zipper in place. Okay, I know that probably doesn't make sense to you unless you make one of these pouches, but keep in mind if you do make one and use a #5 zipper you will need to adjust the height a smidge or lose a smidge in height. Oh, and #3 zippers won't work at all as the tape is too narrow.
Oh, and I also made modifications to use cotton fabric only. I added interfacing as well. Rosie suggests waterproof canvas or ripstop nylon. |
I will share the other sizes I make once I get my double-sided tape.
