21/04/24
I bit the bullet. After no less than three people recommending I use a sewing machine whilst making Pouch 3, I went to my mom's house for a lesson. What a great day! We started off with the machine going very slow. Good lord, the stitches are strong! What were the Luddites so angry about?
I filled a bobbin. I threaded the machine. I changed a needle. Followed a wavy line. Did a few backstitches.
Then, confident, made this:
Now this is a very rare pouch. I'm sure coveted by many collectors of my artisanal pouches. There are three reasons for its sought-afterness.
First, the construction is square. This was because I wanted to practice doing straight lines, and this folded over fabric worked well for that.
Second, this bag is (mostly) hemmed! No visible raw fabric anywhere. All tied down securely.
Third, the drawstring is a totally novel advancement. We built a channel for the drawstring to live in, rather than pulling it through the material. Not only that, but this is the very first Artisanal Pouch which features a double drawstring. Fantastic!
So many lessons learnt building this one.
Step by step instructions:
1. Cut out a rectangle of fabric. Just under half its height will be the finished height. The width will shrink by three or four centemetres.
2. Fold the fabric, with the print on the inside. At this point, it sort of has the shape of a pouch.
3. Do a straight stitch from the bottom of the bag to three centimetres from the top.
1. You should have some flappy bits at the top now.
4. Fold down the flappy bits and turn them in just a little bit. (This is to hide some raw fabric on those sides.)
5. Stitch across the top of one of them to seal that in place. I remember this being a bit faffy, because the side have been sewn up. You can wrangle it into working though. Remember to leave the holes open for the draw strings to go through later.
1. Then flip it over and do the same for the back channel.
6. Pull the bag right-side out!
7. Thread the first string through the right to the left, and then back through the other side. You'll have both ends of the string on one side now.
1. Flip it over and do the same.
2. My mom has a metal tool that "grabs" onto the drawstring and lets you push it through. I bet you could tape the string to a chopstick or something.
8. Pouch!
Destination of this pouch: This one was given to my young niece, who was confused about the concept of carrying coins.
Life expectancy: Medium-to-decent. It's quite securely pieced together.