Choose and sew supply case

It's release day for my latest pattern and I’m so excited, I thought I’d share a little more about how and why I designed this choose and sew supply case.

At the beginning of the year, I started an EPP quilt. I knew it would take me a long time to sew and would mainly to sewing while traveling, so of course, it needed its own pouch. I picked the 2 in 1 designed by aneela honey and it’s a great pouch but unfortunately not for this. It wasn’t long before I was getting frustrated with it and decided to design my own!

 

The main problem is that there isn’t anywhere to put the pieces your working on, other than on top of the vinyl pockets. This was fine until I was sewing in the car and my fabric and papers ended up going down the side of the car seat. I knew I needed somewhere to tuck my pieces safely whilst still having easy access to them when sewing.

The second thing was, since all my tools was in the same pocket, I was constantly in and out for my scissors. They would get lost amongst the other tools, plus I couldn’t leave the pocket open for easy access since everything would fall out.

This workspace section of my new pouch was the solution I came up with...

 

The next problem I encountered was when I started putting my pieces together. Once sewn together, they no longer fit in my pouch. This was ok if I was at home but, when out I didn’t want to spoil them. Since I didn’t have anywhere to put them, it meant taking another pouch. I decided one large pocket was the solution on the other side of my new pouch...

Next was some storage to take my fabric and papers with me. I thought a simple pouch would be just fine. Then I thought about it a bit more and remembered how annoying it is when you fancy something else for a change. I’d either have to take all of my quilt pieces out or find a different pouch for the new project and have to move all of my tools. I came up with the idea of a removable pouch. This way I could keep my tools in the case but make multiple pouches to store different projects. Even better they just snap in or out whenever I fancy a change. This one was a tester, adding kam snaps to a premade zipper pouch...

For the outside, I chose to make a patchwork panel with a mix of cotton & steel prints around this fab sloth scrap I had. I finished this one with some pink binding to tie in with the inside and an open ended zip fastening. To make it portable, the whole case folds neatly in half with all the supplies inside.

 

If you like this idea, I have written it up into a new pattern so you can make your own. Not happy with just one version though, (since one pouch isn’t for everyone) I have made several options within the pattern. It actually includes 4 workspace pocket options, 3 large storage pocket options, 2 construction methods, in 2 sizes and I even added optional handles to make your supply case more portable! You choose how you would like your workspace and storage, from the different pocket variations and fastenings and follow the instructions to sew up a case and snap in pouches to suit your needs... Hence why I decided to call it the 'choose and sew supply case'. I hope it gives you plenty of choice and I can't wait to see everyone’s different versions!

The pattern is available in my Etsy store here...
 

Mx

Epp on the go

 

 As part of the #100hexies100days Instagram challenge hosted by @sewfoxymama, I was encouraged to baste 100 hexies. I chose to do all cotton and steel fabrics, although it was hard to find fabric to fit the weekly themes I just managed to do it. I was so pleased I completed all 100 days and on time! I was determined to make them into a project for me to keep and use. I originally thought of a bag but decided on this 2 in 1 pouch designed by aneela hoey. I actually had too many to just make this one pouch so I chose which hexies I wanted and gave the other half to my sister, for her to make a pouch too.

 

 

I decided on this layout and set to hand stitching them all together. Once stitched, I added batting to the reverse and did some straight line quilting going diagonally through the hexies. I chose my favourite girl with balloons fabric and used a medium/heavy interfacing on the reverse to line. Sparkle vinyl was an obvious choice for my pouch. I found a couple of bits from my scrap bag for the fastening tab and decided on a bright pink kam snap. I picked pink zips and the wonderful teal sprinkles fabric from cotton and steels basic range as my binding.

 

 

I must admit that I didn’t follow the book instructions completely. After making this pouch as part of the sewalong last year, I had a few little adjustments that made things a bit easier this time.

I am so happy with this pouch, all of my fabric choices and the cute fussy cut hexies makes it perfect. It is also super handy and has been used to hold my supplies for my ice cream soda EPP quilt I’m making. I will be doing most of the sewing on the go so it’s great to be able to pick this up in a rush and know I have everything ready to see, well apart from my glasses!

Mx