Here's something I've been wanting to make for a while now--a pouch with an elastic band so it can be attached to a journal or planner.
I actually made something like this as a Christmas gift, but when I went back to make another the "what ifs" got me--what if the pocket would be better going this way, what if it needs to be larger/smaller/shorter/wider, and on and on. Basically it got tiring thinking about it, which happens sometimes. So I quit thinking about it and making it, but now I'm ready to try, try again!
Using an existing pattern seemed the best course to minimize being indecisive and this version of the Improv Zip Wristlet seemed perfect.
Even though the pouch at the link this was made a few months ago, it apparently didn't get it's own blog post. So let's talk about both the one at the link and the journal pouch now. First let's do this one:
This is a custom size of the Improv Zip Wristlet with a few mods. If you aren't familiar with this pattern, the main point is it's easy to customize and make an infinite number of other sizes.
First, here are the measurements for the pattern piece and where the divisions are placed for this one:
- 7.5" wide (19cm)
- 4.75" high (12cm)
- C is at 1.25" (32mm)
- A is at 1.25" (32mm)
For the mods for the grey floral one above, I didn't use the open wide zipper from the pattern instructions and simply covered the bottom end. This version doesn't have box corners, and squared off corners tend to frustrate me with tricky it is to make them look square. So I rounded the corners off by sewing around the perimeter of the pieces, and then tracing around a spool of thread and sewing rounded corners along the spool outline.
Now on to the journal pouch...the dimensions for this one are the same as above.
This one has the open wide zipper, but maybe I'll skip it next time because there's something about that extra bit of zipper that isn't my favorite thing. It's cool how wide it opens, but I'm just not 100% sold on this zipper technique yet.
For the journal pouch I wanted the zipper to open top down along the right hand side, so the direction of the zippers needed to be reversed in steps in 6.a & 9.b.
Finally, the elastic piece here is 10.5" and it's 1" wide elastic. This is probably a little short for larger planners. The planner here is a Large Pocket Moleskine which is 5" wide x 8.25" high. At 10.5" I think this elastic will fit around a few more inches, but it's going to be a bit of a strain and not good for the elastic.
Next I might make the Zip Pocket Pouch Wristlet into a journal pouch and see how that goes!
Take a look here to see the other custom sizes I've made using this pattern.
