Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A Quick Fix

Sometimes you just want to sew something in a single evening that results in a finished project. This was one of those nights. The Sweetpea Pods pattern by Lazy Girl Designs has been all over the Internet lately, so I thought I would give it a try.
Here are my two Sweetpea Pods. I added pretty zipper pulls to both as well as a ribbon loop to the second bag on the left.
Here's my pattern review. Please note that I purchased this pattern with my very own money.

Overall, the pattern is quick to make, however I add a word of warning that it is not for the faint of heart. You must summon your courage and deliberately remove the zipper pull from your zipper and then put it back on. Although the pattern author claims this is easy, I beg to disagree. You need to have good eyesight as well as manual dexterity to get that little bugger back on the zipper tape. Once your zipper pull is back on, it is a neat feature and it allows you to get two bags from a single zipper (you need a second zipper pull, which can be purchased separately).

Joan Hawley's pattern has excellent directions and photographs of the various steps. The pattern only needs a ten inch square of fabric, lining, and fusible fleece and it yields two bags. The inside of the bag has raw edges that are covered with a zig zag stitch.

I think my little bags are kind of homely, but my husband Mike liked them. They are small. They would probably be useful to hold a small pair of ear buds, or some candy or some lip balm.
Here's my artsy shot. The rotary cutter in the foreground is the large 60mm size.
Have you made one of these? Do you have any tips on adding the zipper pull?

Linking up on Tuesday to Freemotion by the River. Linking up on Friday to Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

8 comments:

  1. Very cute little bags! But you're way braver than me because there is no way I'm taking a zipper slider off. Nope. Uh-uh. I'll just buy two zippers, thanks! the little bags are tiny but they also might be nice for runners to carry keys or something. have a great day!

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    1. Hi Mari
      This pattern is designed to only use one side of the zipper, so you are forced to take the zipper pull off!

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  2. I havent made these, but i make the triangular humbug pouches in droves (zip style s the same). I used to have troubles, but, it is actually quite easy (im making batches of these things 30 or so at a time). The first trick is to leave as much length to the zip as possible. The second tip is to add a piece of masking tape to the zip end that youll be attaching to the zipper second. Once you have the zip aligned so that it will zip up evenly, push the masking taped zip part on the zip head and then use your hand hang onto the masking tape while you pull on the zip. Goes right up! I remeber my first time though snd it was aggrivating! Once i figured out to keep as much length as possible and use the masking tape, i can "zip" thru about 30 bags in ten minutes. I love the humbag bags. These pea pod bags have those ugly unfinished edges as i recall right?

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    1. Thanks for the advice, Jake! I do have a Humbug pattern somewhere and I also looked for it online and there are TONS of tutorials! So I will definitely try this soon. The SweetPea pouch does have unfinished edges, but it does instruct you to zigzag over them.

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  3. Very cute. I agree with mike they are cool

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  4. I thought it was like a Humbug until I saw the size. That's tiny!

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  5. They do look cute, but I think I'll stick to clamshells.

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  6. Those are really cute and Jake really share a good tip also!

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