I had no plans of writing Part 3, but the saga continued longer than I expected as I put together the smaller pouch.
As I mentioned, I ended up with the pieces for two bags because the zipper I put together was too long for the pattern. I cut longer body pieces to use that zipper and used a different zipper for the pieces I had.
I had some of the same challenges with this one as with the first one. I need remedial sewing-zippers-in training because I'm really bad at it.
There were also a few wins, too. For example, I used a seam guide when I was sewing around the perimeter which made it more even.
And then there were the fails.
I forgot to put the foot down when I tried to sew on the handle and ended up with a mess I had to pick out of the bag. When I cut out the lining pieces, I tried to maximize the fabric and cut part of the piece in the white selvedge--which you will be able to plainly see in the pictures. But the biggest fail of all involved one of the instructions.
Make sure your zipper is open as you sew around the exterior.
I saw this part after I had the thing all pinned up. I thought about unpinning it, opening the zipper, and then sewing, but then I thought: Why do I have to open the zipper anyway? What difference does it make?
My friends, it makes a huge difference. I'm blaming my faulty thinking on it being later at night on a busy day. It didn't take me long to learn why the zipper must be open.
With all the edge sewing completed, I reached in the gap in the seam and began to pull the interior of the bag out. And this is when I learned the reason why the zipper must be open. It is impossible to pull the exterior of the bag free with it closed.
I put it aside for the night. I didn't want to deal with it.
I delayed dealing with it for a while on Sunday morning, too. Eventually, the caffeine kicked in and I wondered if I could move the zipper from the back without having to rip out stitches. I decided to give it a try.
It wasn't easy because the zipper kept catching, requiring me to move it back and forward, forward and back, but I was finally able to get it open.
Behold, the second pouch.
This one ended up being more even than the first one, but I've decided I don't like the thickness. The foam is overkill for me. I'd like to try a different pouch pattern, one that doesn't use foam and one that has a video tutorial. There were a few things I was iffy on and took my best shot.
Overall, though, not bad. I'm using the big pouch to store some of my zippers and the small one holds my sewing clips. I might change purposes later, but it's good enough for now.
Lesson? It's cheaper (and easier) to buy pencil pouches or just plain old regular pouches. Will that stop me from making it myself in the future? Doubtful.
