Because it’s starting to feel a little like fall here, I thought it would be fun to sit down and use some Driftless to sew up a couple of Petal Pouches. If you’re new here, Driftless is my fabric collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The name Driftless is from the area where I live, it’s a pretty special geological place, you can read a bit about it here. My fabric collection was based on a walk on the edges of the Mississippi River with my family. The two prints I used for these pouches are inspired by the Common Loon and water lilies drifting in the current. Growing up, my family did a lot of canoeing and camping along the river so these prints always bring back little memories of those times.

I hadn’t made a Petal Pouch in ages, actually I’ve been looking back and realizing I’ve been doing a pretty lackluster job of sewing up a lot of my own patterns. It’s fun and relaxing for me to sew up pouches like these. They take so little fabric and just a bit of time, but are so fun and useful! I think I’m going to be taking a bit of time to sew up a few fun gifts in the next few months, so maybe I’ll be all set by the time the holidays come around.

You can find the Petal Pouch pattern in my shop in PDF format, or as part of my Everyday Essentials booklet (it’s a fun booklet I put together that includes three patterns one of which is the Petal Pouch). I mentioned the other day on Instagram that I’ve got a few new patterns coming up, one that I talked about here on the blog last week, and another that I’m hoping might be able to release at the end of September. I cannot wait to show you! So even though the next few weeks/months are going to be busy here, I’m hoping to set aside a couple of blocks of time each week to sew something just for fun.

Pattern: Petal Pouch (two sizes are included in the pattern), or in the Everyday Essentials Booklet
Zippers (you’ll need a 10″ for the large pouch and a 6″ for the small) and pulls are available in my shop. I’m a little low on inventory for the pulls, but I’ll hopefully be able to keep some listed.

What’s this? a Pepin Tote? It is!!! Earlier this year the Spring issue of Making Magazine/No. 9 – Simple came out and I had contributed a new pattern – the Pepin Tote. It has to be right up there as one of my favorite basics. So much potential to showcase all kind of fabrics and even highlight a favorite on the front pocket! In just over a month I’ll be able to release it as a stand alone pattern in my shop (so not quite yet, but I just couldn’t wait to share this sample), so excited! I’ve loved using my version that I made years ago, so I’ll be so happy to share it with you! I’ll keep you updated here for when it’ll be available!

My Pepin Tote

I had cut out this rust colored waxed canvas (from Fabric Funhouse) months ago and it’s been waiting for me to finally sew it. So I committed to the lining fabric (I had so many picked out it was hard to choose) and sewed it up! Can’t go wrong with a stripe! This Ticking Stripe (in indigo) that I ordered from Fancy Tiger Crafts is one of my favorites. I also used my Rustic leather handles from my shop (it’s a new color I added a few months ago, but one I’ve been using for personal projects for years).

Sew-along

I’m excited that this pattern will be releasing before the gift sewing season, yes, I can’t believe it’s coming up so quickly! I’m planning on doing a newsletter style sew-along with this pattern. A first for me, but I think it’ll be really fun to put together. Plus I love the community aspect of a sew-along, and I think gathering together to create is so important. 

If you’d like to sign up for the sew-along, I’ll be adding a sign-up link below. Don’t worry, this will only add you to the sew-along email group, but I promise it’ll be fun!

Click here to join the Sew-Along!

I don’t have firm dates set yet, but would like to get things started in November for plenty of time to complete the tote (or a bunch!) before Christmas.