Sewn {Obsessively}: Zippered Pouches

I spent last week easing into the new schedule around here. It's not like I've been sleeping in all summer--my daughter made sure of that--but getting up, showered, packing lunch, and being outside with my oldest by 7:45 to wait for the bus (I hate waiting for the bus in my pajamas; I need to be showered and dressed first) took its toll last week while my body adjusted. One night, I lay down at 6:30 intending to rest my aching head for fifteen minutes. I woke up three hours later. It's hard to get any crafting done when you're unconscious during your crafting time!

Nonetheless, I made slow-but-sure progress, assembly-line style, with a dozen zippered pouches.

My present closet is pretty stocked now, wouldn't you say?! When I ordered the 8" zippers for my sons' pencil pouches, I added in ten white 5" zippers to make more of the smaller pouches using that great upholstery cotton, including the purple and green version I bought at the same time I bought the camo fabric for the pencil pouches. The purple and green pencil pouch is mine, for bringing supplies back and forth to the art class I'll be teaching at our homeschool co-op. I'll be making my daughter a pink pencil pouch, with a black zipper, so it wasn't included in this assembly line, which used white thread. Not shown is one more camo pencil pouch, which has already been mailed to my nephew, who had trouble finding non-girly pencil pouches to fulfill his school supply list. But that leaves ten small pouches for the present closet, and I adore them all.

As I said, these were sewn assembly-line style, with the last step being hand-sewing the turning opening in the lining. Up until this point I've just run them through the machine, but I had eleven to do, and my husband and college football were upstairs, while the sewing machine is downstairs. It's been a while since I sat and hand-sewed; it's so enjoyable. I'm feeling the need for some hand-sewing or embroidery projects soon.

I'm not quite sure I'm done with the zippered pouches yet. I'm still not perfect with the zippers. I'm much better at sewing them in, and a top-stitched zipper makes me nearly smug with satisfaction. I don't always sew the sides perfectly evenly though, which leaves a bit of a jog where the zipper ends don't meet quite exactly. So I suppose there is nothing to do but practice some more, yes?!

And...happy September! My anniversary AND my birthday fall in September, which I suppose will (maybe?) help take some of the sting out of the end of summer. It went too fast...