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Sunday, February 19, 2012

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.  

4 comments:

Leanne said...

These are wonderful! I have yet to break a needle on a zipper, clearly you have a special talent, I am pretty sure it will go away as you do more.

grandmarockton said...

Lovely, I'd like even the rejected one! Ilove the fabric too!

helenjanei said...

Haha, 'no needles were damaged in the making of this pouch...well a few might have been...' apologies for causing you needle breakage, but it was worth it for such a special pouch which is now in a very loving home. Thank you!

Ann said...

Love that pouch!! I adore this line of Joel's fabrics too :)