Scrappy Open Wide Zipper Pouches

Everybody and their mother has tried the wonderful tutorial for the open wide zippered pouch at Noodlehead.  I've been planning to make one for awhile, and found the perfect excuse (?) when I decided a friend must just need one, so therefore I needed one too.

Back sides

I thought I'd try them with some scrappy blocks since my scrap bin's overflowing.  I settled on a red & orange one for her, and a blue one for me.

The only problem I ran into was the fabric/zipper transition of the bit right under the tabbed zipper side.  Neither of them turned out particularly finished looking, and I had to sew one closed by hand where there was still a 1/4" opening.  I'll have to figure out if I didn't follow the directions closely enough or if there's some technique I can use to keep that from happening in the future.  I think I need firmer interfacing for bags too, all of mine is more suitable for garment sewing.



The one white and sienna block on the orange purse charms me because it's a 4.5"block from the wonky star engagment quilt I am working on finishing for her and her fiance.  I'm not sure she'll even make the connection when she DOES get the quilt, but I'm excited to include a bit of it into a smaller gift.
I used Riley Blake medium chevron in grey for the inner layer of both pouches.

The one thing that sucked (yes, I said it, sucked)  about using scrappy patchwork for this was that some of my favorite bits got chopped off when I made the box corners! That or they're on the bottom - something I'll have to keep in mind next time.




So the orange one is off to my friend next week, but the blue one is becoming my travel pouch.  We're off to the east coast to visit the in laws tomorrow.  I've got the teeny horrible airline approved scissors so I can do some embroidery and paper piecing during the flight...hopefully I'll manage to get some work done on the projects I got distracted from a few months ago when I went QAL crazy!