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Made - Large Grocery Bag

Over the weekend I made this large size Grocery Bag. 

This red fabric is a light weight home dec fabric I ordered from Superbuzzy several years ago. 

It is a wonderful Japanese fabric and a little heavier than quilting cotton, so I thought it would be great for some bags.  

But it just sat in my stash because larger prints don't always work with the small things I tend to sew.  It's taken me a few years to learn this, but the answer for what to do with larger prints is:

Make Grocery Bags! 

This bag is lined in the black and white stripe print in this WIP picture:

I post quite a few WIP photos on Instagram.  It's so very easy to take a quick picture using the phone and add it to my IG stream.  This photo turned out great and I was pleased it was good enough to use here.  That's not always the case with the phone pics!

Tiny Pintuck Wristlet

On Thursday I decided it was time to make another Pintuck Wristlet.  So I got out my file folder, and when I opened it up I found some pattern pieces printed at smaller sizes. 

I must have printed them a few months ago and then put them in the file for "later".  There were pieces for the large size scaled to 60%, and pieces for the small size scaled to 75%. 

I decided to try out the large size at 60% first, and was really pleased that it turned out totally adorable! 

The finished size of this scaled down version is about 6" at the widest point x 3.5" high x 1" deep.

I did make some modifications, so if you want to make the large size scaled down to 60% too, take a look at the changes below. 

You will also want to mark your smaller pattern pieces, either before or after you print them out.  I write the percentage on the piece and then highlight it with a colored highlighter.  You can also annotate PDF documents if you want to add this size note digitally before printing your new pieces. 

Modifications for large size Pintuck Wristlet at 60% of original size:

• printed LARGE size pattern pieces at a scale of 60% 
• printed the small button pintuck template at 85%
• 1/4" seam allowance
• moved the snaps up 0.5" on both the A & B pieces
• did NOT use the scrap fabric
• used 10mm magnetic snaps - I sold out of this size snap, and don't plan to carry them regularly, so you can look for them on etsy in the supplies category.  If you want to use 14mm snaps try moving the snaps up 0.5" and then over 0.5"  closer to the center.
• skipped the pocket - At 60% the pocket piece turned out too small to be useful.
• strap: 2.5" x 10" - This is more of a 4-finger strap now than a wristlet strap, but I think the scale works better visually with this small size.  If you want a wristlet strap make the piece 14" long.
• footing: 2.5" x 2.5"

Sample Sale - Small Zip Pocket Pouch (Sold)

- - Sold - Thanks! - -

It's been a while since I've made the small size Zip Pocket Pouch, but in the last 24-hours I've managed to finish two of them. 

Every time I make one of these pouches I remember how quick and easy it is to sew this zipper!  This is perhaps the easiest zipper to install in all of my patterns. 

I was thinking about sewing this while I was walking the dog this morning, and got the idea to just skip cutting out the individual A - C pieces and sew the entire pouch and then cut it out.

So that is what I did for this one.  Instead of cutting out each of the invididual A - C pieces, I free hand cut the pieces (with interfacing applied) so each was slightly larger than the pattern piece it represents.  Then I sewed all of pieces to the zipper in the order described in the instructions and cut out the completed pouch at the end. It worked great! 

Give it a try if you've already made one of these, or are fairly confident with your sewing.  It might be a lot to think about if you are making one of these pouches for the first time, but after you see how the pouch goes together it will be easy.  

You can see a picture of this in my IG feed.

Here is the inside:

Sample Sale - Zipper Pouch #5 (Sold)

Oh look!  Another #5 zipper pouch. 

The heart applique is quite fitting...I do love the #5 template! 

The exterior fabric for this one is the Swallows print from Caroylyn Gavin's Petit Fleur collection. 

It's lined in a green print I picked up after noticing how few greens are in my fabric collection!  I'm not sure what this print is called.  It's a pretty recent collection and might be from Moda.  If you know what it is, leave a comment (please and thanks). 

Sold - Thanks!

Made - Medium Grocery Bag

Sewing Pattern: Grocery Bag

Size: Medium

Exterior: Unknown

Handles: RJR

Lining: Dottie from Moda   

Sample Sale - Medium Zip Pocket Pouch (Sold)

- - Sold - Thanks! - -

Today this Zip Pocket Pouch is available as a sample. 

The fabric info for this pouch can be found in this blog post. 

This is the medium size in the pattern and it's a good size for a small journal, passports, some wide/short phones, etc.  Here is shown with a Moleskine Cahier soft cover journal (not included):