Here's a little birthday gift for someone! This was made using the #1 template in this document. It's cute, eh?
I've made a number of kitty patchwork zipper pouches in this size, but I'm close to being out of this Whiskers & Tails print, so maybe there will be one or two more and then it will be time to call it a day.
Besides being a gift for a friend, what's special about this pouch is the patchwork was pieced on a base of fleece and muslin.
Cotton batting is my go to base for patchwork, but there are times when I'm just totally out of it--even the small scraps, which I make into larger pieces by zigzagging them together. But it's ok if I run out of batting because fleece fused to muslin can work just as well! If you want to do this too, this post is a quick overview of how I make patchwork on fleece for a small zipper pouch.
The fleece I'm using is Pellon 987f.
- For the patchwork piece, cut a piece of fleece 1/8" larger than your pattern piece & then cut a piece of muslin 1/8" larger than the fleece. The measurements don't need to be perfect--you just want each piece slightly larger than the next. This will keep the fleece off your iron and give you a base piece big enough for the patchwork.
- Fuse the fleece to the muslin.
- Piece your patchwork on the muslin side and cover the entire thing. I almost always use a log cabin layout for patchwork. My coaster pattern is a good overview of making freehand log cabin patchwork pieces and check out this blog post if you need help selecting patchwork prints and colors.
- Trace the pattern piece on the patchwork and then cut it out.
When I make a patchwork piece for a zipper pouch, I cut away a notch about 0.75" from each corner of the fleece/muslin after step 4. That keeps the ends next to the zipper from having too much stuff in them, which makes them want to flare out under the force of all the underlying materials.
