Saturday, December 7, 2013

A Birthday Box

After watching the Canucks win in overtime last night (on TV), I started a much-delayed birthday gift for a friend. I mean, how much time can a box pouch take anyway? It was only 10:30 on a Friday night....

I've never made one before, so I scoured the internets for available tutorials and decided to use this one by Libby. Even the lining is completely turned, so there are no exposed seams on the inside of the pouch. Just to ramp up the challenge, I decided to cut into my stash of never-used coated cottons and chose an Amy Butler print for the lining (I got mine at a shop that has since closed, but I found some for you here).  Even though I make a lot of bags, visualizing how stuff is going to turn from inside out to right side out is not my strength, so I went slowly.

Lined Box Pouch by Poppyprint

The tutorial was easy to follow with excellent photographs. The only issue I had was trying to sew over top of the zipper ends "in the same place" on both the lining and outer fabric (a luscious AMH linen interfaced with Pellon ShapeFlex, by the way).  I found this impossible due to the bulk of the pull tabs, but it's no biggie, it just means you can see stitches at the end of the zipper on the inside of the pouch.  This, of course, will make absolutely no sense to you unless you've tried to make one of these before!

Lined Box Pouch by Poppyprint

The other issue that kept me up until 1:30 a.m. was finding the right needle for the job. My stitches were lovely on the top, but when trying to sew through any seam allowances that included the coated cotton, the bottom of the work was a bit of a tangled mess. The vinyl side of the fabric was not touching the plate or foot, but just sewing through that stuff proved disastrous to my tension. I think the thread must have been sticking to the vinyl within the layers.  Finally, a topstitch 80 needle coupled with increased top tension did the trick.  See Amy Butler's tips for sewing with her vinyl coated cottons here.

Lined Box Pouch by Poppyprint 

In the rare seams where I had to sew over the right (sticky) side of the coated lining, I used a teflon foot which easily glides over the vinyl.  Apparently a piece of tape on the bottom of  your presser foot can do the trick just as well - if only I'd known before springing $25 for the Pfaff foot! I've heard of putting tissue paper on top of the vinyl can help, but then you have to pick paper out of the stitches. No thanks.  I wish I could have given the pouch a final pressing (all boxes/bags/pouches look best with a good pressing) but I didn't want to risk melting the vinyl!

Lined Box Pouch by Poppyprint

Rumour has it my friend's husband forgot her birthday today. Ouch. I'm so glad I stayed up late to make this for her!

26 comments:

Leanne said...

It is wonderful, a lovely gift. I love the fabrics you used. It has been a while since I made a box pouch like this one, yours looks so nice.

Flo @ Butterfly Quilting said...

Beautifully done...as always !

Leigh Anne said...

I'm very impressed you kept at it. When I run into issues like that I tend to walk away until I calm down. Often that takes weeks :0

It looks amazing!

DianeY said...

Beautiful! I will have to say, I tried the whole tape thing & the tissue paper thing and was not happy with the results at all. I finally bought the Teflon foot - at far more than $25 for a Bernina foot - and the result was wonderful. So I still consider it a worthwhile investment! Now I need to use up the rest of my laminated fabric.

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

What a gorgeous gift - I love your fabric choices.
I hope your friend's husband is making amends in a way that involves a lot of flowers, expensive gifts and housework.

Katie @SwimBikeQuilt said...

Oh good! I'm glad someone thought the foot was better than tape. It's a beautiful pouch, too!

Susan said...

I hope your friend appreciates all the time and effort that you went to! It's a beauty!

MariQuilts said...

I love your fabric choice....it looks fabulous!

felicity said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous. And starting a project like that at 10:30 pm is EXACTLY something that I would do so you're in excellent company.

Nina Lise@Mrs Moen said...

Very nice indeed!

Catherine said...

It's lovely. She's going to be thrilled

Elsa said...

It turned out beautifully and love the handle!
Hope your friend's husband redeemed himself ~ that's dog house kind of stuff ~ teehee!

Carla said...

You did a beautiful job of it. I was cheering the Canucks from up here in Kamloops. I think they play today!

AmandaK@whatthebobbin said...

What a gorgeous gift!

Nancy Page said...

Love the Birthday Box! You are so thoughtful! Thank you for sharing and for all your great tips, tutorials, and fabric choices. Great work, well done!

Have a super great sewing and stitching day!

Kay said...

It looks great. She would have been extra thrilled with it if her husband had forgotten.

Katy Cameron said...

Well done you for battling through! I have a teflon foot, but actually find tissue paper works best on some laminates, it's easy to remove if you tear carefully along the seam, because it's like tearing along a perforation

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

What a beautiful gift - well done for staying up and working through those issues. I think I would have been tempted to throw in the towel and go to bed!

Jo Robertson (thejoyofthehousetomyself) said...

It looks great! I would get so much more sewing done if I could stay up as late as you!

Marianne Penner said...

It looks fabulous!

Wendy said...

I always think i can whip stuff up, then it takes hours! It turned out so well. thanks for the tutorial link, the only version I've tried has raw seams inside which I don't like.

Live a Colorful Life said...

What a lovely gift! I will definitely check out this tutorial, but probably not attempt the coated cotton. I'm sure your friend loves it!

Katie B said...

What a great gift! I bet she appreciates your thoughtfullness (esp after the hubs forgot!).

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

My hubby is always late getting home on my birthday, because he doesn't stop to get a card until that day, after work. It's a running joke now, after 26 years. Great pouch.

Dianne said...

What a beautiful gift! Hopefully it offset some of the pain of being forgotten by her hubby!
I tried the whole tissue paper thing...epic fail. Epic. Tried the tape...meh. Definitely getting the teflon foot before I try any vinyl sewing again.

Rene' said...

I'm sure your friend was most appreciative! Your box pouch is beautiful!!! It sounds like you found a great tutorial.