Brick Pouch

I had some scraps left over of the awesome striped material I used for Mom's apron last month, and I was dying to use them for something.  I needed a break from sewing clothes (especially since I have had some obnoxious failures lately and needed a guaranteed win), so I found a very cute tutorial for a "She's a Brick House" boxy zipper pouch.

The directions and corresponding photos were terrific, and the outcome is fabulous (if I do say so myself).  I will be making this pouch again for sure.  It would be a great design for using some oilcloth and making it big enough to pack sunscreen and bug spray.  

For this bag, I used felt as the interfacing instead of fusible fleece because it was all I had on hand.  I basted it to the exterior pieces first and it worked like a charm.  I also had to make the exterior pieces measure 12" x 7" (rather than the 12" x 8" the tutorial calls for) because I just didn't have enough of the striped fabric.  It worked just fine, but it might have been easier to box out the corners to the proper dimensions if there was the full 8" to work with!  I also used some stiff interfacing for the handle since I was using some thin seersucker and didn't want the handle to be floppy.  If I had used home decor weight or canvas fabric, that probably wouldn't have been necessary.

Charlotte suggested we line it with plastic and use it as a strawberry picking basket.  Huh?  She is such a goofball.