Still Boxing

 Rob was impressed with the pouches in the last post, but when he saw the totally stiff pouch, he wanted the "Men at Work" pouch to be just like that. I had some more fabric, but not much. I had also been looking at other fabrics in my stash to make into pouches. I wanted to give OklaRoots Ultimate Boxy Pouch a try. This one uses a piece of vinyl for the bottom (and lower sides) of the outer. There's no bottom seam in the outer bag (but there is in the inner bag). This would mean it would be great on a bathroom counter, where it's often wet!

I have a strip of this white stretch woven with fancy ladies walking dogs. It was originally from a ring sling I had made when Megan was a baby (2005-2006). I loved that sling though I would have to adjust it fairly often. I had this vinyl in the stash, I probably bought it from the clearance bin. I'm pretty sure I used it to make a tote bag that folds up into a wallet (it's not really a wallet, it just zips shut and looks like a square wallet). I did not have enough of the fancy fabric to make it the same size as the box in the video (13.5" long, I had only about 11"). I kept all the other measurements the same, which make some things difficult.

It seems there might be an error in the dimensions given. The short outer pieces of cotton are supposed to be 4.5", but in the video, her two outer top pieces don't totally cover the vinyl piece, which is strange because the vinyl should have been 9". On mine, there wasn't this gap. This made the lining pieces too small, so in the next one, I made them 9" and it was much easier to sew. 

The inside of the first bag was a white eyelet fabric that I had used for a sling in around 2007. That one was a gift.

I also followed the instructions to make an inside mesh pocket. However, in the True Tracy Way, this did not go as intended either. My pouch was not as wide (long), so I wasn't sure how big to make the pocket so the edges would be in the side seams like the tutorial. I didn't have the rigid mesh, so I used tulle. I used the wrong fabric when I made the bottom strip. Things did not go well when I sewed it. Let's just leave it at that. The stiff fabric, the box corners being a bit big for the size of the bag, the inner bag being a smidge too small; it all added up into a difficult sew.

For Rob's new pouch, I was able to just squeeze out the pieces in the remaining fabric. Inside, I used blue broadcloth. I didn't want black, but this was too close to black. I didn't want to go too light and have it look gross after the first trip either. The zipper on this one was another vintage zipper.

The bottom piece for Rob's bag, is from the trimmed off pieces from when we put up drapes this spring. There were black black-out panels, with a subtle texture. Ironing on the interface though, there was some bubbling and weirdness happening. The drapes have a plasticky backside, to be light blocking. 

Wider zipper tabs make sewing them in easier and are less noticeable if they aren't totally straight with the zipper LOL.

I bought two zipper grab bags from Fabcycle.shop, to make more. I put them in the shopping cart, $20. Then shipping showed at $17! I messaged them, and they said they could do lettermail if it was under 500gr, which it would be. So it ended up being $5 for shipping. They arrived, but I've been so busy, I haven't opened it yet! 

Then Megan and I went thrifting and I got even more vintage zippers!

These two zippers have the same colour code, but the teeth are different colours!

Look at these old snaps, and the price! Adorable!

And get a load of these needle prices!! Fabricland sells them for over $11 now, I believe! 

This was also in the bag, but I haven't checked it out much. They're a guide to help you sew curves at 1/4". My plate doesn't have a 1/4" measurement, so I use the edge of the feed dogs, which isn't actually 1/4". So maybe these will help (there's instructions for how to do it for straight sewing too). I love sewing grab bags at thrift stores!