Patti's Birthday Present 2008

This Friday was my great friend Patti's birthday. I don't usually know what to get her, and she would rather people not make a huge deal about her birthday. But I decided to make her something this year. She likes wolves, and I found a beautiful embroidery design of a wolf over at Embroidery Library. I used the concept of Joan Hawley's (Lazy Girl Designs) Perfect Pouches pattern to make a small pouch to put whatever in. It is about 8 inches square, and is made from a velvety corduroy I picked up at A.C. Moore.


I used fusible no show nylon mesh as a stablizer for the embroidery, and used the hoopless method to do the stitchout, as I was afraid of hoop burn (marks on the nap of the corduroy). However, I just used a simple tearaway and spray adhesive, and the denseness of the design caused the tearaway to rip away and there was serious puckering. But when I cutaway most of the mesh stablizer the puckers lessened and weren't as noticible once the pouch was assembled. Next time I will use a cutaway stablizer and really stick the fabric to it and baste it in place, so it won't pull away. All in all it was a beautiful stitchout and Patti was happy. She likes handmade items because she realizes the thought and feeling that goes into making something for someone. How nice!

I really like the simplicity of the Perfect Pouch pattern. The zipper installation method is ingenious! And you can make them any size you want. That's the best part!