Journey into Sewdonia: Pleated Pouch

Upon deciding I needed practice inserting zippers, I went to E-bay and ordered 50 assorted zippers. They arrived, I proceeded to practice with some scrap fabric and then decided I wanted to get some practical experience. I then logged onto Pinterest and found the pleated pouch pattern and tutorial from Skip to my Lou. Since pleats have quickly become my favorite things in the world, I couldn't resist.

All my zippers and other things.

The fabric is just some random fat quarter that I got years ago for an unknown reason and the zipper, of course, is from my 50 piece stash.

A bit wobbly but not too shabby.

What I really like about this is that it came with a free pattern. It just makes everything a lot easier for a newbie like me. If you read the instructions carefully they're very easy to follow. Did I read the instructions carefully? No, no I didn't. I ended up needing to attempt this thing two times. The first time, I for some reason, sewed the right sides to the wrong sides so I had a half inside out pouch. But after tearing it out and doing it over, all went well. A little wobbly but well. This is also my first completely solo sewing project, so I'm pretty pumped about that.

For the last few months I've said I want to make bow ties. But I think the next thing I'm going to make is a Bow Clutch designed by Elm Street Life. It looks so fun and relatively simple.

So, I noticed something while looking through pictures for this post. I think I sew on the wrong side of the machine... Am I right about this?

Apps This Gal Can't Live Without

You'd be hard pressed to ever find me without my iPhone in hand. It's become essential for me to stay connected, organized and entertained. It's cliche to say, but I truly couldn't live without it. Over the year that I've had my iPhone, there have been apps have come and go, but below are three apps that I truly could never let go because my life would be in shambles if I did.

 
Bloglovin' - As a blogger one of the most important things for me is to keep up with other blogs and not just my own. The only way I can do that is to have some sort of a blog feed. Bloglovin' is the best one I've come across, I've tried so many before and none have been as good as this one. It's also earns a gold star from me for having a Tumblr feel. Follow my blog with Bloglovin'.

 

Evernote - This app by far is the best thing that has happened to both my fiction and my "professional" writing in a long time. It's far more convenient than trying to carry a pad and pen around. Whenever I get jolts of inspiration I just whip out my phone, start that baby up and write away. It's also where I've written most of my up coming posts at. In fact, that's where the first draft of this post was conceived.

 

Icon Pop Games - This post has been a little bit misleading as to who I am. It seems like I'm all work and no play. That could not be further from the truth. I've downloaded ever single one of the Icon Pop games. And in all honesty, they probably take up more of my time than just about anything else. They're the right mix of addictive, fun and challenging. I can't get enough of them and I will not rest until I have conquered them all.