Tutorial: Puffy Pouch

Here comes the tutorial for the puffy pouch ;)
As I promised, I am introducing two ways to
make this pouch, one made with a 5" flex frame which
may not be very accessible and the other made with
velcro which is fairly easily found at any craft stores.
(The flex frame can be spotted at here,here, and here.)

I love this pouch either way.
This pouch is like the fabric basket tute and
the patchwork drawstring tute combined into one
with a little twist, so yeah, it's quick and easy again!!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll like it....!!!

As always, seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.


First off, pick out linen (or medium to heavy fabric)
and three different print cotton fabrics that contrast
each other for the external shell.


Cut out fabrics into pieces:
Eight 1.75" x 5.5" pieces and
Two 2" x 6" from linen
Two 1.75" x 5.5" from each cotton fabrics.


From the fabric for lining, cut out two
5.5" x 5.5" pieces.


Let's start making the outer shell.
Sew the 1.75" width fabrics like this to make..


Two patchwork panels like these.


Then press seams open.


To make a peek-a-boo, grab the cotton fabric
like this at one edge.


Pin and sew very close to the edge to secure the fold.


Do that for each short edge of the cotton fabric.
Here is how it looks like after you are done with
three edges on one side, and...


Here is how it looks like when all the edges are sewn up.
Repeat the same process for the other panel.


Now let's make the top part of the pouch.
Fold short edges twice, 0.25" and 0.25", of the
two 2" width linen pieces.


Sew very close to the fold line like this.


Fold in half and press.
If you are using a flex frame, jump to
the step with this little heart→.
If you are using velcro, please
bare with me and follow all the steps ;)


If the pouch is to be made with velcro,
we want to make sure the top part of the pouch
is firm and steady, so we add thick batting.
Cut out batting into two 4 1/2" x 5/8" pieces,
and place each piece in each linen piece,
one long edge aligning the fold line.
(Here, applying fabric glue to one side of the batting
will prevent it from moving when you sew,
which is the next step.)


Sew very close to the edges with wrong sides together...


like this so that one long edge is left raw.


Now, place a strip of velcro measuring 4" x 5/8"
on each of the linen piece, aligning center,
very close to the long folded edge.


Repeat it for the other piece of linen so that
you have two top parts complement to each other.


Machine-baste the piece onto the main patchwork
panel, very close to the edges.



Welcome back, the flex-frame takers!
Sew the casing onto the patchwork panel.


So now you have two panels with this thingie attached.


Absolutely optional, but it might be fun to add a little ribbon.


I totally forgot to take a picture of this critical step,
but here we sew the two patchwork panels with
right sides together, all the edges except the top
edge where the casing is attached.
And this is optional, but if you box corner, your
pouch will turn out quite puffy with roundish corners.
(I sewed in the way that from the pointy end to
the needle was about 3/4".) Trim excess at the corners.


Just like you sewed the outer bag, you are now
making lining by sewing the fabric with right
sides together; this time, make sure to leave
an opening at the bottom.


If you boxed the corners, you may want to
repeat the same process for the lining too.


Then trim excess.


Turn the lining right side out and place it
inside the outer bag so that right sides
are facing each other. (Sorry for the different
fabric for the lining - I was taking photos
while making two pouches with different
fabrics.. I hope I'm not confusing you here..!)


Now sew all the way around the top edge.
Here, the lining and the exterior bag are
sewn right sides together, and the casing is
sandwiched in-between so that when you sew,
you don't see the casing just like the picture above.
This is exactly like the step lining and outer bag
were sewn for the fabric basket and the patchwork bag ;)


Turn the pouch right side out through lining
opening, and hand-stitch opening closed.
If you made it with velcro, you are done! Yay!
If you didn't, then now insert the 5" length
flex frame through casing.




Hooray! Your pouch is finished!!
The left one is made with velcro and the right
one is made with a flex frame. Both of them
turned out really cute and practical ;)

I really hope this tute was easy to follow!
I can't wait to see your pouches in
this flickr pool!! As always,
I would LOVE it if you could let me know what
you think of this tutorial by leaving comments below.

Also as usual, this free tutorial
is only for personal use please.

Thanks for taking your time to stop by!



*FAQs*

Where did you get the cute mini iron?
I got it for my Christmas gift last year!
(How lucky am I?!) I think I've seen the
same iron at Joann but I also found it available
online here.

Where did you get the linen?
I got this ramie linen from this Japanese
online shop, but sadly, they don't seem to ship
internationally :( I think any medium weight
linen would be great for this project though!

Can linen be replaced by denim?
What a nice idea! I'm sure denim would
make a great pouch! I would try it with
light to medium weight denim ;)


Can the flex frame be removed for washing?
Hmmm.. I don't think so unfortunately.
A flex frame is constructed in the way that
once it's put into use, it won't be removed,
so I don't think removing it is very practical :(

Can I use a flex frame of a different size?
Sure you can! I would not go for
one smaller than 4" though, because
it might be a little too small project
to work with. I would also make sure
to adjust the measurements of
fabric pieces to fit nicely.

Can I use metal measuring tape instead
of a flex frame?
What an innovative idea! I've never tried it yet,
but someone made this pouch using metal tape and
told me that it worked really nicely! Let me
share with you what she said;
"You need to round the corners after cutting
to length, and I put masking tape over these ends
as a precaution. When you insert the ruler in the
casing, the numbers face the outside inside of the bag."
(Thank you for letting me know that numbers
need to face inside of the bag to let the pouch open!)

Wouldn't it be better if the lining
also had peek-a-boo parts so that
the pouch is really expandable?
I bet it would be just fine.
I made the lining this way because it's
much simple and quick to make, and I also
thought the pouch might turn out a little bulky
if I made it that way. But I bet it would
work just fine if fabrics you are
using are light-weight cotton ;)

How do you add handles to it?
If I were to add handles to the pouch, I would
use a type of flex frame that comes with a little loops
at the ends just like this one. Those loops are
for you to play with in case you want to add handles.
I've been looking for an online shop that carries
this type of flex frame without much luck.
If anyone finds it somewhere, please let me know
so that I can put the link to the shop here.

Can you make with a zipper?
I'm sure using a zipper instead of flex frame/velcro
will make a really nice puffy pouch too. I would
probably still have the top part of the bag rather
than attaching zipper directly to the main bag.
I would also enlarge the pattern a little just
so that it'd be easy to sew ;)

Share|