QAYG Half Moon Pouch

Time to sew!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying the lovely Autumn weather - well for those of you in my part of the world. I loathe the summer so I am very happy to see my favourite season.

It's official! You cannot have too many zipper pouches!

Today is another sewing post. For my regulars (and thank you so much for bearing with me) you will see that I post about cards, crochet and sewing and I am trying very hard to make an even spread so that there is something for everyone. 

Small details make a huge difference!

This time, I have a half moon pouch with a top zipper and a fan patterned QAYG patchwork on the sides. For those of you who do not know this technique, QAYG or quilt as you go is a great way to use scraps and get the patching and quilting done quite quickly as it is all done in the same step.

Zips are easier than you think if you know the tricks

Please do not be spooked (although it is the right month for that!) about the zipper. I will lead you through a step at a time and I promise that it is not so difficult. There are some tricks!

I love this shape and the extra texture of the canvas makes it look great!

This is a great make to use scraps of both fabric and interfacing. I have rounded the needs up to fat quarters for ease but to be fair, you will often have some left over.

I guarantee that you will end up making more than just one of these.

The real secret is to have a long enough zipper. Don't scrimp here, especially if you are a newbie. It is the secret to ease of construction.

Okay then! Let's go!
What will you need:
-FQ canvas in a pretty print
-FQ lining fabric to coordinate
-thread to match
-FQ  wadding. I am using #279 80/20 cotton mix by Vlieseline
-FQ foam interfacing. I love Style-vil by Vlieseline
-20"zipper. Choose a plastic one that can be easily trimmed.
-something to decorate the zipper pull. I am using a scrap of leather
-your usual sewing needs

Here is the template. I have included a 1" sizing square in the corner to help you.

This is printed on A4 sized paper.

To begin with, cut 14 wedges from your canvas and two pieces of lining using the template

There are some glorious canvas fabrics around at the moment - and never pass a curtain remnant bin without a rummage if you are a bag maker!

Take the main template and a water erasable marker and draw around the template onto the wadding twice.

This is only a rough guide at the moment. Most important though is that centre mark. Mark it and mark it good!

You can trim this a bit to make it easier to handle.

Now the idea of this game is to 'colour in' the area that you just drew with the wedges. Start in the middle and lay one of your wedges onto the template. Stitch down each side with a normal seam to keep it in place.

Find the centre of the wedge and match it with the centre of the main shape.

Sew the side seams just to stabilise the first wedge

A normal seam allowance is all you need.

This keeps the first piece in place as you work.

You won't see these first seams.

Now take the second wedge and place it right sides together onto the first one and sew a normal seam

The seam goes where the pins are.

Flip the wedge over and topstitch very narrowly along the join.

You can of course fussy cut the wedges so that the pattern does magical things but you will need a fair bit more fabric.

Keep adding like this until the outline is covered. As I mentioned though, don't be too fussy if you can see the original outline peeking out. You will have plenty of room to fit the template on.

LOVE this mustard canvas!

Place the template over your fan shape and align the centre marks. This is important so that the starting wedge forms the dead centre of your fan.

Draw around the template.

Do pay strict attention to the centre marks!

I may have mentioned this!

Now cut the shape out

The texture is absolutely amazing!

Repeat for the back. Take the front and the back panels and with the right sides facing, sew the base seam.

You may be able to see now where the shape is going.

Now it is not quite stiff enough to keep a nice shape and this is where the foam interfacing comes in. Lay the front and back panels onto a slightly larger piece of style-vil foam interfacing and attach with a very narrow machine basting seam

Slightly stretch the pouch outer over the foam to keep it dead flat as you sew.

Now trim the foam back. Sew the centre seam of the lining too so that you have apiece the same size and shape as the outer.
Okay, so you now have one large piece and we are ready to tackle that zip!

Find the centre of the zip (there will be overhang each end and that is on purpose, so don't worry that you have done anything wrong). Find the centre of the pouch too and line that up with the centre of the zip. Pin or clip.

These lovely strong clips are better than pins. Pins get in the way and they distort the line as you sew.

Using your zipper foot, sew along the zip.

This first seam is just to hold the zipper in place.

Open the zip right out and do the same thing on the other side of the bag

You can see now why the extra length on the zipper is such a boon.

Take the lining next and place it over the zip and sew that along too. This trick means that your zipper cannot move when you put the lining on.

Because the zip is already secure, things do not move around at all.

You can do all of this in the one step if you are very good at putting in zips. But for the beginners, it is better to do it in two halves so that nothing shifts around. There are a lot of layers there and you don't want to skip steps and make a less than perfect job.

Now we are negotiating a curve and we need to notch the zipper so that it sits flat when it is turned out. Notching removes a bit of fabric and gives what is left a bit of room to fold around the curve.

Notching just means to cut little V shapes. Be careful not to cut the stitching though!

Now reach in though the end gaps and turn the pouch the right way out

Once again, that extra long zip gives you room to lay the whole thing flat.

Smooth everything down and press if you need to. Topstitch along the zipper. This is an important step and should not be missed. It helps to keep the lining down and ensures that it cannot get caught in the zipper.

Lengthen your stitch to topstitch

For the next step, close the zip about a quarter of the way. The zipper pull must be inside the pouch.

Turn the pouch inside out and sew across the ends

It still looks a complete mess with all of the raw edges. Those will be gone in a minute.

This will shorten the zipper too. Cut the excess zipper off.

From your lining, cut a piece 1 1/4" wide x 7 long. Fold it in half length ways and press.

You can use any sort of binding for this. I like it to match (less conspicuous) and it uses a scrap.

Press the two raw edges to the centre and the cut it in halves to make two pieces of straight binding.

Trim the ends of the pouch and bind with the binding.

Look, no more horrid bits!

When you look into the bag now, those zipper ends will be invisible.

Raw edges are never necessary!

Turn everything out the right way and trim the zipper pull with your chosen embellishment.

I find that the zipper pull embellishment really finishes the project off nicely.

And there you have it folks!

This is THE handiest pouch and it opens really wide.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I do hope that you have enjoyed this post. I promise that it will not be too long before the next one!

Just a taster! These are all actual items for sale, not patterns. Time to think about Christmas!

And before you go, don't forget to pop over and take a look at my new Etsy Shop! At the moment, there are some one-off samples of bags that have appeared in my books and magazine projects and I am planning more bag patterns for the new year. 

Best news is that all samples are 20% off!

Hugs
Debbie
xx