Making Zen - sewing a pouch with a gusset ...

 Twice a year, life pauses while the Making Zen creative retreats are available on - the online workshops over 5 days are a creative wonder because I am exposed to new techniques that I did not even know existed by fantastic tutors online. 

This past one in May came at a busy time, but I printed off the materials list & saved the worksheets as they became available. I watch each day (4-5 workshops), make notes of the new techniques & do some I can fit in. They are available for 24 hours unless you purchase the vip pass. However, being time poor, I fit in the 24 hours & take inspiration from the new techniques. 

I often combine the techniques to make the most of it. What was really good was that all the tutors encouraged us to use what we had - make do & improvise; that is great for the environment. 

One of the workshops was using your fabric scraps to compose a new piece in colouring with your scraps. The tutor encouraged us to sort  fabrics, cut them up, rearrange them etc in to a unique new item with intentional use of colour & pattern. 

This was quite challenging to select with intention but I embraced it, recutting & re-assembling mine several times. I kept my colours to a  limited palette that I liked.

The second workshop was using a piece of silk fabric to make a pouch with a gusset to carry around sewing supplies when you are on the move. 

I decided to use the fabric from the 'Colouring with your Scraps' workshop that I had made as my base. It ended up on the pile, the unfinished effort willing me to finish it & today I finally had some time. 

I had decided on 2 shades of purple thread to go with the predominant colour & so it came downstairs to the conservatory table when I could work on it on the table protector where the threads wouldn't catch. The remit was to do some stitching over the joined fabrics, Sachiko or other & I used the variegated purple thread for that. 

I love just winging it, deciding where the stitching might complete a shape or add to the design. 

I used curved French seam stencils to give me some nice shapes. 

I use a heat erasable frixion pen  to draw lines on my work because a quick application of heat from a hairdryer or iron & the lines are all gone. Using a curved stencil makes it so much easier to get the shape you want too so you can concentrate on the sewing & get the result you want.  

The pouch was to be finished off with a gusset each side in felt & I confess to not having done one before so I consulted my workshop notes & the little drawing I did for help. I have a box of synthetic felt squares & found a colour that would go well with it. 

The top edge was first stitched, then the gusset was stitched to each side with a running stitch before the whole pouch was hand stitched with a blanket stitch all the way around. 

I need to add a closure to the pouch, perhaps a wrap around one to finish it off?  I am rather pleased to have ticked 2 workshops off the Zen retreat list (I had completed another 2 previously during the workshops) so this is a good result. 

As always, I am so grateful to the tutors who give up their time for these retreats. The video recordings, material lists & handouts all take their previous time & it gives so much inspiration. I have several more I want to do now that I am on my summer break.  What would you use this pouch for? 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always greatly appreciated. 

Dee 🪡🧵📍