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Sample Sale - Zipper Pouch #5 with Butterfly (Sold)

I've been in paperwork purgatory for a few weeks now, and yesterday I got caught up.  Now it is time to get back to sewing!

This morning I made this zip pouch and it is available as a sample today. Sold - Thanks!

I did make a tiny mistake, so read on to hear the pouch details and where I went wrong. 

Here are the details:

I used the #5 template from this document to make this zipper pouch. 

The exterior fabric is a print called Sketch Dot from Timeless Treasures.  I kind of love this fabric.  It does it for me. 

The origami butterfly is very easy to make and you can find a link to the tutorial for folding it on this post. 

The pieces for this butterfly are 3.75" wide x 5" high and the finished butterfly is about 3.25" at the widest point x 2.25" high.

Where I went wrong:

The mistake I made was I got lazy!  Ugh, lazy gets me every time.  When I sat down to sew, the zigzag (standard) foot was still on my machine, and instead of taking 2 seconds--literally 2 seconds!--to clip on my 1/4" foot (I use my 1/4" foot for zippers), I thought it would be ok to use it just baste the one side of the zipper to the lining.  

Which would have been ok if I was careful to make sure the left side of the foot was riding over the zipper teeth.  Instead it slipped down next to the teeth and started pushing the zipper away from the edge of the fabric.  Here you can see how the zipper is up higher on the left side because it wasn't lined up with the fabric edge anymore:

It's also not a huge mistake and no one but me would probably have noticed if I hadn't mentioned it here.  But I wanted to tell you about it so you don't make the same mistake. 

This pouch is lined in turquoise ticking backed with a layer of fusible fleece:

Sold - Thanks!

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Made - Origami Butterfly

This origami butterfly is small, but not as tiny as this one or this one. 

The finished butterfly is 2.25" high x 3.25" wide (widest points).  To make one this size, use fabric pieces 3.75" wide x 5" high. 

The fabrics are chambray shirting cotton & Tiny Floral from Studio E.

Sample Sale - Zipper Pouch #1 (sold)

- - Sold - Thanks! - -

This small zipper pouch is available as a sample today. 

The butterfly is one of these tiny origami butterflies.  I think I need to make more of these ASAP. 

The pouch was made using the #1 template from this document.

I'm not sure what the black print is called, but I adore it and wish I had more.  The lining is a raspberry pink polka dot (RK Pimatex Basics):

Another Small Origami Butterfly

This one is the same size as this one. 

I'm going to try sewing a hanging loop into the next one.  I see where it needs to go, but will have to figure out which way to fold it so it ends up at the top!

Tiny Origami Fabric Butterfly

This is the smallest butterfly I've made so far and it measures about 2.5" at the widest point x 1.5" high (6cm x 4cm).  

The fabrics are a chambray shirting fabric and a cotton print from Amy Butler.  It is fabric only--no interfacing. 

It wasn't hard to make this size and if you want to make your own the fabric pieces for this one are 3" wide x 4" high (8cm x 10cm) and the blog post about making these butterflies can be found here. 

The finished butterfly is being used to embellish this zipper pouch.  The pouch was made using the no. 5 template in this document of pattern pieces (no sewing instructions). 

 

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Origami Fabric Butterfly

There is tutorial to make an origami butterfly going around on pinterest and while it looks pretty simple it seems there are a few steps missing...

Since I'd already started to fold my butterfly, and was determined to make it happen, I looked around and found a tutorial that made sense to me. 

The butterfly is a terrific origami project for fabric because it is made with just one square.  Some origami projects use multiple pieces of paper--sometimes even up to 60 sheets of paper!  Those will not work with fabric...

If you want to make these, you might practice folding one with paper first.  You do need to have some accuracy with the folds, and a trial run you will get the feel for how it works.  Then you can keep the paper version to use as a visual reference while folding the fabric ones.  Use paper with two different sides--either print, color, or texture--so you can see which parts end up where. 

Below is a diagram showing the size to make the fabric piece.  You can make it any size, but 4.5" x 6" is easy to fold, and the butterfly turns out a nice size for a pin or embellishment (4" at widest point x 2.75" tall). To make it other sizes, decide on a height and then make the width about 75% of the height (height x 0.75).
My butterflies are dupioni silk for one side and cotton lawn for the contrast.  It is just the fabric--I didn't use interfacing.  If you want to use interfacing, this is a project where a lightweight NON-woven interfacing would be perfect.

I sewed the pieces together using a 1/4 allowance, turned them right side out, and slip stitched the opening closed.  On two of them I topstitched around the perimeter, and I think it made them easier to fold.  The topstitching adds some stability to the fabric.  Plus, you know I never miss an opportunity to topstitch! 

After you make a fabric piece, go to these instructions and start at step #4.  The instructions are for paper, and since origami paper is usually square, the first few steps are for cutting the paper into a rectangle.  If you are making it from fabric and want your raw edges enclosed, cutting it down isn't an option.  So make your fabric piece as described above and then start at #4. 

Pressing the folds helps it go together more easily.  I made the blue one without pressing and it took a bit of patience to keep the folds in place.

At the end, I slip stitched the wings down to hold the folds together nicely. 

Happy fabric folding! 

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