Birthday Zipper Pouch

If there is one person I can always count on to be excited about...well, anything I do, it is my mom.  It takes very little effort to impress her, at least if you are her favorite (and only) daughter.  So I knew that I needed to put my new hobby to use for her birthday.  I had already purchased a little Flip camera for her as a gift (to capture all the sweet and funny toddler moments when she keeps my son and my niece), so I decided to make her a small zipper pouch to keep the camera in.  Honestly, I doubt she'll actually keep it in there, but it was a good excuse to try something new, and a cheap way to get praise from my mother. =)

I stopped at the fabric store and tried to pick out a fabric that I thought my mom would like, but that would also have a forgiving pattern.  For the lining, I picked out a plain quilted fabric - I didn't know they made that, but it was perfect!  Honestly, I ended up with kind of boring fabric choices, and if I had it to do over again, I would pick out something much more interesting. The one thing I have learned is that if you pick out fabrics you love, you are almost guaranteed to love the results.

When I got home, the first thing I had to figure out was how to shorten a zipper.  This turned out to be as simple as whipstitching around the zipper and cutting off the unwanted length, although it's not as easy when you aren't sure what a "whipstitch" is. Did I mention that I'm a beginner?  Thank goodness for google! Once I figured that out, I used this tutorial:
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/01/14/how-to-make-a-lined-zipper-pouch-tutorial/

Actually I poked around several tutorials, but I think this is the one I relied on the most.  In the end, I ended up with this little beauty:

Made October 25, 2011

It's not perfect, but it works, and I only had to rip out a whole seam once!  As predicted, my mom was thrilled and my coworkers were impressed that I made something with a zipper!

This one's for Maru...

On October 19th of this year, my cheapo little sewing machine arrived in a box from Amazon.  I had finally bitten the bullet and ordered it, determined to at least learn how to hem pants for my short-legged family.  Also, I had been cruising Pinterest, and I felt like I was finally inspired enough to tackle my fear of the machine. 

That night I made an easy little envelope style pillowcase using some fabric that one of my best friends had given me a year earlier (she is a seamstress, and why she thought I should have some fabric, I'll never know...but thank goodness she did!).  It was nothing special, but I felt so excited!  I made something.  Something real!  Something someone (namely, my toddler) could actually use!  The next day I stopped in at Hobby Lobby and bought some more fabric...a soft brown minky and the cutest cowboy fabric ever.  I felt a little ambitious going straight from cotton to minky, but hey! Go big or go home, right?  I don't think anyone has ever been so proud of a pillowcase as I was that night. I admit, I made my poor son take it everywhere over the next week or so, just so I could show it off.

Over the last six weeks, I have been cruising the internet looking for cool projects and tutorials, and making as many things as I can. I'm still really slow, but I'm enjoying every minute!  It's nice to have a hobby that has tangible results and I can't wait for Christmas this year, as almost everyone is getting something handmade.

One of my sewing inspirations is my friend Mary (Maru) who is a super-talented quilter and all-around awesome and crafty person. She no longer lives in my neck of the woods, but I have been forcing pictures of my creations on her via email for the last six weeks.  Today she suggested that I start a blog to keep track of all the things I make and even dubbed me "Super Hero Sews." I thought it was a good idea.

My first little pillowcase. Notice the instruction booklet underneath.  When I pulled the machine out of the box, I think my exact words were "I don't think I can do this."

Aren't those the cutest cowboys you've ever seen?

Minky!  I sewed the slippery stuff!