Cube pouch for the Rescue Bots

I saw a tutorial for Nesting Cubes and decided to use up some leftover "Cars" fabric to make Peter something to carry his Transformers Rescue Bots in when visiting his friends.  The cube is basically the same thing as the Brick Pouch I sewed last June, just with a bit different dimensions.  I made the smaller size cube (which ends up to be about 6" x 6" x 6", give or take a bit because of my seam allowance idiocy), which is juuuuuuuust big enough to fit four or five Rescue Bots.  I deviated from the tutorial in a couple of key areas, though.

It may look a little wonky in these photos, but that's because the pouch was already stuffed with Rescue Bots.  Here, you can see that I added tabs at the ends of the zipper (something not called for the in original Nesting Cubes tutorial).  I was having a difficult time understanding the directions for making the final seams during construction, consulted the Sweet Bee Buzzings tutorial for the Brick Pouch (which was much more in-depth and had more explanatory photos because Bethany is truly awesome), and decided Petey's cube needed the same tabs to help him with the zipper.  I am glad I had made the Brick Pouch before I tried this one, because the Nesting Cubes tutorial was a little vague in places.  I would say it is more an intermediate than a beginner tutorial.

Because of the tabs, I decided to switch the handles from their original location at the zipper ends of the bag and stuck them on the plain sides.  That way, they wouldn't fight with the tabs.  The handles that I made according to the tutorial directions ended up a tad too short (which threw everything off), so I had to rip apart the bag, make longer handles, and resew them in.  If I made the tutorial again, I would make the handles an inch or so longer than the tutorial calls for so that I can make sure they are the right length and just cut off the excess inside the seam allowance.  The fault is not the tutorial author's -- it's totally my own inability to accurately sew the proper width seam allowances.

The top view of the cube reveals that I should have offset the pattern a little by fussy cutting so that different characters would show up on each side!  I'm just glad I had the foresight to make sure that the directional pattern was going to right way so one side didn't end up upside down.

Look at all those Rescue Bots, just waiting to be dragged over to Peter's friends' houses!  The lining is some pale yellow cotton that I think I have had in my stash for well over a decade.  Wonder of all wonders, I actually used the fusible fleece as called for by the tutorial (instead of the felt stuck on with basting spray like I usually do), but I cheated and used a different interfacing than directed to give the lining its stiffness.  Close enough.

Hey Peter, can you please pose with your cube for a photo?  Nope, Mr. Grumpy (with his wonky post-nap-and-overdue-haircut-hair) refused to hold with anything but the armadillo that Auntie Ernie crocheted for him.  Well, okay then.