Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Lone Starburst Pouch

Now that Rebecca has (finally) received the pouch I made for her for our mini-swap, I (finally) get to share it! This was obviously a very long time in the making...I actually started with this... 

Star 

...a Fancy Folded Star.  I love how it was turning out, but it was just too bulky to make into a pouch.  I had to come up with a new plan so I searched for something with a similar textured kind of look...enter The Lone Starburst! I found the tutorial at Six White Horses for this block.  I felt like it still had the same feel to it as the folded star, but much more appropriate to use in a pouch.  I wound up shrinking the pattern by 50% which made the paper piecing quite tricky, but it was fun to put together.  Luckily we had a little sun this weekend so I was able to sneak in some decent pictures.


I finished it off with some hand stitching around the star, I think it gives it a nice textured look. 


Check out my zipper tabs! Not perfect, but getting better...I still can't quite get them totally squared off.  Any suggestions? 


Finishing the back is something that I floundered on for a while and is probably why it took me so long to finish...I didn't want to overwhelm the pouch with another patchwork something-or-other on the back, but I didn't want it to be plain either, so I did some more hand stitching in an angled pattern to give just a little bit of interest. 


I finished the whole thing off with a matching key fob...I have recently become obsessed with these and want to make them with any excuse I can find so of course she had to have one...

I had a lot of fun making this, I was pretty nervous at first to try to come up with something that Rebecca would appreciate (and to make it good since she is so talented!), and in the end I really like how this turned out.  It was definitely out of my comfort zone a little bit what with all the hand stitching, but I think I'm improving! Maybe soon I will break away from just the straight quilting lines and try some other embroidery ;-)

I am linking up with Katie at There and Back for The Handmade Parade this week.  Always a good place to go see what some other people are up to for some hand stitching inspiration!!

There and Back


6 comments:

  1. I did love the first star, so I hope you get to make something lovely out of it!

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  2. WOW!! I know that Rebecca was super pumped to get that sursy in the mail. You did a great job!!

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  3. So pretty! I love your stitching and the paper piecing looks awesome!

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  4. This pouch is great! I love your hand stitching and the key fob is a perfect accessory :)

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  5. Ahhhh, so you're the Jessica that Rebecca swapped with! I absolutely adore that star pouch, everything about it is awesome! Thank you for linking up to The Handmade Parade!

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  6. This is awesome. I love both the star and the quilting - and the color choices! Your swap partner is the luckiest girl!

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