
This quarter’s theme for the Dutch MQG is free motion quilting (FMQ). To make sure that a lot of members would do something related to this theme they also organized a swap in which you had to sew a fabric pouch with FMQ details for another member. Despite not having done any FMQ in about 4 years, and being a little bit scared about picking it up again, I signed up.

I am not really sure why I was scared to do FMQ again, though. 4 years ago, I sewed a lot of practice sandwiches and really enjoyed trying out different motifs. After a couple of weeks, I even bought a new sewing machine because I wanted to have a larger throat space while freemotion quilting. Uhm, yes. And then I got pregnant, didn’t sew for many months and feared I’d have to start practicing completely from scratch. Fortunately for me this did not turn out to be the case. After just one practice sandwich I felt confident enough to tackle that fabric pouch with FMQ.

I made a pouch for Marie-Paule, who had indicated that she liked large pouches and zippers. She often makes zipper pouches herself so I thought I’d make something a little different. While browsing through some of my bag making books my eye fell on the Tilly clutch pattern by Nathalie Charlier & Sofie Duron from their book “Mijn Tas”.

I made the larger version and adapted it in several ways. First, I did a mirror image, which was entirely unplanned, but the way I had sewn my patchwork panel meant I could only make the clutch mirrored or unpick. The pattern has a slip pocket on the front, which gives a nice visual effect when different fabrics are used but it did not seem all that functional to me. Instead, I raised the opening of this pocket a bit by adding more length to the bottom and then turned it into a zipper pocket. Inside I also added a zipper pocket to the lining.

Marie-Paule indicated that she doesn’t like very busy prints so I chose a subtle cross-hatch print for the outside and added shot cotton strips in different colours in varying widths to brighten it up. The pattern called for Vlieseline/Vilene H630 interfacing but I still had enough H640 in my stash, which is slightly thicker and decided to use that instead. I think it worked out well.

For my FMQ design I chose a simple loop-de-loop pattern executed in black thread. There is also some hidden FMQ inside the front pocket because that panel also required interfacing. I thought this would be a fun detail.

The flap closes with snaps and I had a little mishap with my snap tool when I tried to make the hole for the right snap. A little bit of extra fabric from the lining got caught in the tool and created a tiny extra hole. Fortunately, I could cover it up with my fabric label!

I am happy with how this pouch turned out and I hope Marie-Paule will find it useful.

If I had made this pouch I would be ecstatic. It is beautifully designed and made
Thank you! It was a lot of fun.
It’s very grown up and elegant!
Thank you!
Good recovery with the fabric label! I’ve had some curious mishaps with using a snap tool in the past. I used to put snaps on my little wallets but now they get little velcro closures.
That is a handy pouch you made!
I am usually fine with the tool ut I think I had to bunch up the pouch a bit too much to reach the spot for that snap. I am soooooo glad it only caught the lining and not all layers….