Sew Totally Cute!

I have spent the entire day (Saturday) holed up in my sewing room. A heavenly delight!



My original plan was to have my girlfriend bring over her sewing wallet pattern. That not panning out, I had grab the cloth wallet pattern that my grandma gave me when I was in high school. She made it out of a brown grocery sack! I've kept it all these years, 'cuz I love this granny who taught me lots about sewing. She was a quilter, too! I enlarged the pattern and it's pockets....and here's how it turned out!


TA-DAAAA!!!!


Oh, keep in mind that you can make this any size that is suitable to you. And the pockets and their seams can be made to fit any favorite sewing tools. Also, if you want to have this multi-colored, buy a charm pack, jelly roll, etc., and sew them together, then cut out the pattern sizes. This way, it is a totally personalized project. I'll give you my measurements, but this one is kinda large, because I have many favorite tools! :)

And please, do not let the length of this blog keep you from trying this. I kid you not - it is simple!!! (Remember, I made this in high school!)

Are you ready to sew? Let's go!!!

* Cut 2 coordinating fabrics + 1 fusible fleece pellon 20"L x 12"W.
* Iron the fleece to the backside of one of those fabrics. You will be sewing your pockets onto this.
* Measure 7" down from top of fabric, and mark small lines. The top of your first pocket will go here.

* Cut two coordinating fabrics, one 4 1/2"L x 12"W, the other 5 1/2"L x 12"W + one piece of lightweight fusible pellon, 4 1/2"L x 11 1/1"W. This will be your first pocket.

* Sew one side with a 1/4" seam.

* Iron it open .
* Fold it in half, matching bottom raw edges, with the seam facing towards shorter
fabric; press.

* Open it up and lay the pellon on the fabric, right at the ironing line.(See
arrows below.)


* Top stitch.

* Using your ruler, make a line with your Mark-B-Gone pen 3" from the left edge of your fabric, and another 3/4" up from the bottom raw edge. This will make a pocket for small scissors and such. For now, sew only the horizontal line.

Here's what this pocket might hold...


* Cut next pocket out of one fabric 6"L x 12"W. Cut one pellon 2 3/4"L x 11 3/4"W. (I only used one fabric for all pockets except first. But you can certainly use two fabrics to give them all a coordinated edge.)

* Fold in half lengthwise and press.
* Insert pellon and press.


* Topstitch. I used a fun heart stitch on my machine.
* Lay this pocket on top of first pocket, even at bottom raw edges. Pin in place. Sew the vertical line, now, making that small-scissor compartment. Zig-zag bottom raw edges. Or, use a cute edging stitch on your machine.


Here's what this pocket might hold...


* Cut third pocket 4"L x 12"W. Cut pellon 1 3/4"L x 11 3/4"W.
* Repeat the folding, pressing, adding pellon, topstitching, that you did with the other two pockets.
* Now, take your pinned pockets over to the machine. Butt up the raw edge of your third pocket against your second pocket's raw edge. The third pocket is going to be sewn upside down, because you are going to fold it up after you stitch the bottom. Notice that you are sewing them onto the large fabric with the fusible fleece pellon. Zig-zag the raw bottom edge, then with a straight stitch sew a seam 1/8" up from raw edge. When done it looks like you did it with a serger, which I didn't realize till after I did it. A fun surprise. lol See the pic below.



* Fold the third pocket up, and press.


* Top-stitch across bottom edge.


* For bottom pocket cut fabric 13.5"L x 12"W. Cut one pellon 6 1/2"L x 11 3/4"W.
* Repeat the process of folding, pressing, adding pellon, top-stitching.
* Line up bottom raw edge of pocket and the fab that the pockets get sewn onto. Pin.
* Now, measure the lines of your pockets, and sew them. You'll want to think what you want this pocket to hold, lay it on top, and then pin it and see if it fits. If there's much bulk, like there was for my phone, then you might have to make the pocket bigger. For mine, I made a pocket for my pencils, phone, and miscellaneous. So, for the pencils, I measusred from left edge 2". Then from bottom edge 3/4 up. (I didn't want my pencils to slide too far down and not be able to get them. Did same thing with my phone pocket.)From the far left edge, I measured 6 1/4", then to keep the phone in place, from the bottom sewed 1 1/2" up.



Here's what this pocket might hold...

or...

or...


We are almost done!

* Measure 1" from the top of the fabric with your pockets and sew a piece of velcro 0n center line. With the opposite 20" x 12" fabric, measure up 4 1/4" from bottom edge, on right side of fab, and sew velcro on center line. If you want this to be more stable, on the wrong side of the fabric iron on a piece of pellon.



* If you look above at the photo of the finished product, you will see a flower with pins on it. If you want something like that, then here's all you do...
* Pick a flower from the fab you like. (Don't cut the flower out yet.)
* Cut a piece of double-sided pellon and iron on the wrong side of your fabric.


* Now cut out the flower. (And, no. I did not use those scissors. However, they are my favorites, and my kids still make fun of me for using their old scissors.)


* Peel the backing off the flower's pellon, and dry-iron it onto the fabric you sewed the pockets onto. I used a blanket stitch, but zig-zag is great, too!



* Take something circular, line it up with corners, mark and cut. To me, rounded corners are easier to sew and turn.


* Lay the other 20" x 12" fabric and lay it on top of all the pockets. Pin.
* Sew 1/4" seam all the way around, leaving a 7" open gap across the bottom (so you can turn it right side out).


* Turn it right side out and push out the corners with a blunt stick. I use a chopstick.


* Press this all nice and flat, pin the bottom edge, top-stitch 1/8" all the way around, making sure to catch all the bottom edges, so that you don't have to hand-stitch it closed.


And now... Fill it up with fun things!!!

Sew...as you can tell by all my photos, I am a very visual learner! Hope they all helped you see what you were supposed to do.

Let me know if you make one!