Lil Cutie Pouches

I attempted a more difficult project than the crayon roll. It is a tutorial by Anna from noodle-head.com called Lil Cutie Pouches. It even includes a zipper which I have no experience with whatsoever. She did a fantastic job with the tutorial.

I started out by reading over the whole thing and visualizing exactly what would happen. I actually was confused at first but used some sticky notes as a visualization and finally figured out what was going on. I am a hands on learner, so it was difficult to just read and look at the pictures to figure out what to do.

A better way to do this, instead of using sticky notes, would be to cut out the fabric and then go through the steps before sewing. Once it all makes sense, start from the beginning again and you will have a Lil Cutie Pouch in no time.

I think it took me about 2.5 hours from start to finish and that was with messing up the zipper and taking my time to try to figure out what I was doing. I also used thick interfacing instead of thinner stuff so that made it more difficult for me. I don’t suggest doing that for your first time doing a zipper. I really need to purchase a variety of interfacing so I am prepared for any project that I want to try out.

Overall, it turned out well, but the fabric is not close enough to the zipper and of course, like I mentioned above, the interfacing was too thick. I am not sure if it would work but for the first side of the zipper I think it would be easier for me to have the fabric on the left instead of the right. I am wondering if Anna is left handed and that is the reason she did it this way.

On another note, when shopping for zippers you may not be able to find the exact size that the tutorial or pattern calls for. I went to Hobby Lobby for this zipper and they did not have any 8 inch zippers so I had to get a 9 inch one. Since we were cutting off the excess anyway, it didn’t really matter. I think in the future, I am going to try to get zippers online.

I think that if you know the basics about sewing (aka, how to use your machine) then you should be able to make this with little issue. I actually think I might make a slighter bigger one next time.