Open Wide Pouch
I’m always drawn to the ByAnnie patterns because they always look so cute! I wanted to try making a smaller pouch for items like pencils, sewing notions, EPP (English Paper Piecing) supplies, etc. That’s something I’m missing from the products I plan on selling. It comes in three sizes and I made the medium size. The only tricky thing about ByAnnie patterns is that they start with a quilted sandwich instead of the usual separate exterior and lining fabrics. They are also constructed with bias binding. Now that I’ve had some practice with bias binding I’m feeling more comfortable but it’s still difficult to get into those tight spaces with my sewing machine!
I’ve made several of their bags and after a few months I seem to forget how difficult they were or how much swearing was involved! Mostly because I look at them and they are so stinkin’ cute! So I was excited to try this one. It’s fairly simple except for the quilting part. Most people who are quilters say these are the only bag patterns they’ll attempt because they make more sense when you come from the quilting world (I’m looking at you, Tula Pink!). But those of us who started with bags and don’t have as much experience with quilting find it very difficult. Because my Bernina machine with the walking foot/seam guide isn’t working at the moment, I had to use my Juki to quilt the fabric. Now, I LOVE my Juki machine, but there are some things that just aren’t as easy. I have a walking foot for my Juki but it doesn’t have that handy arm that threads through it to make the perfect one inch spaced lines. I even tried using the arm from my Bernina foot but there aren’t any holes in the walking foot for it to go into. I’ve used the chalk before to draw lines but I find that when I’m sewing the quilting lines I wind up rubbing off some of the other lines. And then I always find it difficult to get the chalk off the fabric unless I soak it, and I don’t like soaking the foam.
This time I tried a new (to me) technique of using a tool to gently score an indentation line in the fabric. This worked pretty well but it was hard to see. I’ve since bought a specific scoring tool for this purpose. Other than the quilting part the bag is pretty easy to make. You cut out the pockets and sew those in and then bind all the raw edges. I think it’s the perfect size but the quilting part takes so long that I don’t see how I can charge enough to make this bag worth the time. Joann’s sells pre-quilted fabric and that’s a good way to do this without a lot of the extra time or frustration. And I don’t think the fabric costs enough to be prohibitive. So, even though I won’t be putting this into my product line right now, I think it is a cute item for the future, or just to make for presents.
The Details:
Pattern: Open Wide 2.0 by ByAnnie
Zipper: My Handmade Space #5 zippers by the yard in Navy with silver coil
Interfacing: Pellon Flex Foam, Pellon SF101
Finished bag size: 6.5”h, 10.5”w, 5”d
Fabrics
Exterior: Joann’s Simple Floral Navy Purple
Interior: Joann’s Keepsake Calico Texture on Purple
Accent: Joann’s Keepsake Calico Purple and Dots
