Kona Club Challenge - Boxy Pouch by Jennifer

 We're so happy to have Jennifer from A Quarter Inch from the Edge take the Kona Club Challenge this month. Jenn is a member of the Kona Club and love's solids. Jennifer used the colors we sent out in June 2013 for  Kona Club and made this great Boxy Pouch. We hope you enjoy this tutorial and make one of your own. We are giving away the fat quarters that Jennifer used in this tutorial so be sure to leave a comment on this post to win!

Don't forget to follow A Quarter Inch from the Edge for more inspiration and great projects!

Hi! I’m Jenn from A Quarter Inch from the Edge. I’ve been quilting for fourteen years and blogging about it for two! My blog, which began as a New Year’s Resolution, combines my love of writing, taking photos, and of course, quilting.  I live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and am a member of the newly formed Maritime Modern Quilt Guild. When I’m not quilting, I’m a Middle School French teacher and a life-long Girl Guide. I love Kona solids to the point of distraction and am so pleased to have been given the opportunity to write a tutorial for the Kona Club Challenge. I’ve been a member of Sew Sisters’ monthly Kona Club since January 2013 and love tearing into that squishy envelope every month to see what treasures await.

Boxy Pouch

Here's my tutorial for a fun little boxy pouch suitable for make-up, the kiddo's toys, or whatever you want to stuff in there! 

You will Need:

• 5 Fat Quarters of  Kona Solids- I went for the June 2013 selection - Kona Crimson, Kona Berry, Kona Eggplant, Kona Raisin - and added Kona Ash as a neutral
• 12 inch zipper
• 12 ½ by 18 ½ inch piece of batting

Cutting:

1) Choose one fat quarter to be your bag's interior. I opted for Kona Eggplant. Using your batting as a template, cut your interior. You can use the remainder as part of the exterior of the bag.

2) Cut three 2 inch strips from your other fat quarters. You'll have lots left for other projects -maybe even more boxy totes!

3) Cut two rectangles 1½by 2½ for zipper caps.

Instructions:

4) Using your batting as a mini design wall, map out your strip pattern. Lay strips vertically, cutting, mixing and matching until you have a pleasing design. Keep in mind that the last few strips on each end will be closest to the zipper and that the top and bottom of your strips will be the bag ends where some fabric will be lost to the creation of your boxy ends.



Overlap the ends of your pieces to accommodate for seam allowances.



When you run out of room on your "design wall", make a few more strip sets. You'll need these to accommodate for the seam allowances when you join the strips together.

5) Sew your strips together using a ¼ inch seam allowance. I like to piece each vertical section, press it, and then put it back on the batting so my original plan doesn't get re-arranged! When using a variety of light and dark fabrics for this project, I've experimented with pressing seams open. It's your call! 

 6) Now sew your vertical strip sets together. I left the pressing to the very end on this step.

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7) Using spray adhesive (or the basting technique of your choice), layer your pieced bag exterior, batting, and bag interior as you would for a quilt sandwich.

8) Quilt your sandwich! This can be a great chance to practice your free motion quilting or try out some straight line patterns that you've you've seen around. On small projects, why not take a risk and do something new? I used my trusty Frixion pen to mark random lines.

And I quilted it in a contrasting thread. It makes the quilting pop and will add interest to the interior of the bag.

9) Once quilted, square up and trim to a 12 by 18 inch rectangle. Zigzag stitch around the edges of your sandwich to finish what will be visible seams inside your bag.

10) Now for the zipper! I opted to match mine, but a contrasting one can look great too!

Fold your two zipper caps in half, then bring the raw edges in toward the fold. Press.

Trim away a small amount of the excess on the pull end of your zipper. I like to trim off the metal stopper since I invariably hit it with my needle!

Slide the zipper cap over the zipper and top stitch close to the edge. Take care when stitching near the actual zipper - I've broken a lot of needles on zippers!

Before adding the other cap, you might want to line up your zipper with your bag to check the length. Trim excess before adding the second zipper cap.

11) Lay your zipper face down on the short side of the rectangle. Using your zipper foot, stitch it in place. I move the zipper head as I stitch to keep it out of the way! No need for another broken needle!



12)  Fold the seam allowance back toward the back. Switching back to your usual foot, top stitch near the edge of the bag to zip seam.
 

 13)  Back to the zipper foot to sew the second side of your zipper.
 

14) Topstitching the other side of the zipper is trickier since you now have a tube to work around. I usually sew as far down as I can, tie off my thread, and then switch to the other end and sew down to meet my stitching.

15) Turn your tube inside out and squish it down with the zipper centered on the short end. Pin in place. Don't forget to leave your zipper partially open so that you can turn your bag right side later!

16) Stitch the end closed using a ¼ inch seam. Once you've done your seam, finish it with a zigzag as it will be visible on the inside of your bag. Do the same on the other end.

17) Now to box the ends of that bag! Squish down the corner of the bag, centering the seam on the corner. Pin in place. Mark a line 2 inches down from the corner.

 18) Stitch on the line.

 19) Snip off the corner!

 20) Zigzag stitch to finish what will be a visible seam in the bag interior.

 21) Turn that sucker right side out and there you have it - a boxy tote! 

Inspiration links: Experimental Talk - Cute quilted zipper tote Fresh Lemons Quilts - iPad case (zipper caps)

Giveaway!

You could win 4 fat quarters of the Kona Cotton Solids Jenn used to make her Boxy Pouch!
Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.

If you are no-reply/Wordpress blogger please leave your email id in the post.

We will leave the giveaway open till Thursday, August 28th, 2014.
Winner will be announced Friday, August 29th.
Good luck everybody and enjoy making your very own Boxy Pouch!

Click here for more details on Kona Club.