Thursday, May 9, 2013

Le Pouch Tutoriolito

This tutoriolito will teach you how to make two panels for one Noodlehead medium sized open wide pouch. It is not a full fledged tutorial because I cannot take credit for the bag construction. That's all Anna. Also, I didn't really ask her permission for this tutoriolito but I think she will forgive me :) 

The medium sized pouch is a versatile size, but, if you wanted to make a smaller or larger pouch do your own math, geeze!

This is a great use for small scraps. You will basically be constructing a 4 x 8 grid of 2" squares (1.5" finished).

1. Cut fabric

Background-
47 2" squares (21 for the front and 26 for the back). Mine are an assortment of low volume prints and creamy solids. I fussy cut a few. These are in addition to the background fabric that is needed for the star blocks.

Small wonky star - 
Four 2" white/cream background squares
Five 2" square (blue dots).
Cut 4 of the 2" squares diagonally. You should now have 8 right triangles.
Make your wonky points. Reference this wonky star tutorial from Sew Mama Sew if you have never made a wonky star. Each of your point blocks should be 2" square.

Large star-
Eight 2" HSTs (green and background fabric). Make your HSTs any way you like. Here is a good beginner HST tutorial from Connecting Threads. Or if you are feeling really adventurous try the 8-in-1 method.
Four 2" green squares
NOTE: half of the large star will be pieced into the front panel and half in the back.
Base-
Two 3.5" x 12.5" rectangle (dark blue solid, see step 3).


Map out your squares into two 8 x 4 grid like so
 
Front. Make sure the large star is on the right.

Back. Make sure the star is on the left. I chose to have a gradient effect with the blues but you could do anything you like. You could even do another wonky star.

2. Assemble the panels

All seams are 1/4". Sew the squares together in pairs and press either to the side or open (whatever floats your boat) after each step. 


Sew them into 4 patches. Then sew the 4 patches together etc etc.

etc.

Do the same for the back panel and you will have something that looks like this when they are laid down side-by-side:
Oooh, this would be great for a quilt if you supersized it.

3. Attach the base. Sew the 12.5 x 3.5" rectangle to the bottom of the panel.  I designed it so that when the gussets are done most of the base fabric will be on the bottom of the pouch but 1/4" of the base will come up the sides.

4. Baste your panel onto batting and quilt as desired. I chose to topstitch the base onto the main panel and then hand quilt around the stars and add inspiring messages.

I image this little monster saying "I suggest you bash that stash up and whatnot, cherrio"

4. Trim the quilted panels to 9 x 12.5" and follow the Noodlehead instructions to assemble your pouch. 

Tada! I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. If you make a patchwork panel I would love to hear about it!











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