Mouthy Stitches

These are the fabrics I pulled for the Super Secret Swap Mouthy Stitches on Flickr.  My partner had a few birds in her inspirational mosaic - which I would show, but then she'll know this is for her.  I love Joel Dewberry's Aviary collections, so I'm hoping she will too.  I joined this swap in my attempt this year to broaden my sewing adventures.  I've never inserted a zipper before, which I felt was my biggest hurdle.  

This will be my first attempt ever at a zip pouch for this swap.  I figured I'll just make 2 to begin with, #1 which will have all the mistakes, and #2 to be perfect.

So far so good, I fussy cut a bird for the centers.  

Fronts quilted.  I followed a fantastic tutorial on this blog, I followed all her directions, they were well written with photos.  After making the first one, I did make a few changes to the second, only minor differences.

Ta-Da!  Inserting the zipper was a bit confusing, it never looked right until the whole pouch was complete, but I trudged on figuring it would work out in the end.  I only broke 3 needles on the zippers, 2 on the first zipper and 1 on the second.  I'm sure by the time I do another, I'll forget all the tips and still be at 3 broken needles.  This is the second pouch which will be gifted to my partner in Mouthy Stitches.

The inside pockets.  One of the items I changed for the second pouch, I made the lining just 1/8" smaller on each side for a nicer fit inside the pouch.  

The back of the gifting pouch.  I embroidered little bird prints, also something I don't normally do - it involves the dreaded hand sewing.  The embroidery is on black linen.  

The back of the rejected pouch, which is only being rejected as far as my purse.  I decided the handle was a bit too long on the first one, so I  shortened  it by just 1" on the gift pouch, now it fits nicely over my wrist and hopefully hers too.  

Not a bad pair for a first timer.