Lace Zippered Pouches

Hello from Book Proposal Land! Between that and being out of town last week, I am still pretty behind on blogs and comments, but *thank you all so much* for your sweet comments on yesterday’s post. They really meant so much to me. Eric always reads my posts when they go public (and he’s the first reader when they go live at 3am on nights when he’s observing), but every so often, when I write a post like yesterday’s, I ask him to read it the night before. I put my hand on my chest and tell him, “This has my heart in it.” I am so glad my heart came through. Thank you, you wonderful people! And now, on to the item of the day. I made a bunch of things in the weeks before I went to Seattle, but I could not show them to you because some of them were secret surprises for my mom. I love showing up with gifts in hand, and these were super fun to make. They are, of course, infinitely flawed in their own individual ways, but, as my mom taught me, that only adds character.

The most fun part of this for me was the fabric. It all came from my scrap pile. The lace is from a dress I bought in Berkeley for $2 that did not end up fitting me AT ALL. It was a pretty ivory color, but I decided teal would be more fun, so I dyed it along with this polka dot dress. The black fabric underneath is from a dress my Besfrinn gave me that no longer fit me. Now it has a new life!

Those hot pink zippers are from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. I bought them the day after I filed my dissertation, in a euphoric stupor. That’s the best kind of stupor there is, in case you were wondering. The yellow zipper pulls were made from cording given to me by my sweet friend Michele. I knotted them and then put some glue on the ends to keep them from fraying.

But my very favorite part might be the lining: silver silk! I got the fabric for $1/yard at the Depot way back in the day, and I used it to make the simple dress I wore to my PhD graduation ceremony. I still have some scraps left, and I knew it would be the perfect thing for the lining.  If I were picking out new fabric for this project, I would probably have chosen luscious eggplant and sage colors, but I love that these little pouches gave me an excuse to use colors I may never have put together, but which I absolutely love. Eric warmed my heart immensely when we were first dating by telling me that he really appreciated my “found objects” approach to fashion. Swoon. But it’s true–I love the creativity that results from limitations, like, ahem, only buying things on clearance, or only working with fabric that you already have.

Now, I am really proud of these slightly misshapen little guys, especially since it was one of my goals to learn to put in a zipper this month, but I am in no way qualified to give a tutorial. Instead I will send you over to the one I used, which is superb: here you go. I really love making things that are useful, and I hope my mom will get some good use out of her little pouch, whether she fills it with jewelry or coins or vitamins. I took both pouches to Seattle so she could choose which one she wanted (weirdly trapezoidal or slightly too skinny, since someone sewed over part of the zipper), and then I used the other one to carry the rental car keys, since they were too bulky for my dad’s pocket. The only thing more fun than making things is getting to really use them. And now if you’ll excuse me, it has been brought to my attention that our duvet cover on the guest bed is sporting some wear and tear…time to get quilting!