(alternately titled: Open Wide Zipper Pouches, and How Much I Suck at Making Open Wide Zipper Pouches)
I have 3 good friends all having birthdays within a month, so I went on the hunt for something fun and cute and most importantly EASY to make for all of them and knock all the presents out in one fell swoop. In came the Open Wide Zipper Pouch from Anna of Noodlehead.
But it turns out all sewing isn't equal. Give me a ball gown, no prob. Give me a small zippered pouch, THE WORLD COMES TO A HALT. I can't even count how many problems I had with these. And let me just state right now that it had absolutely nothing to do with Anna's amazing tutorial or instructions or pictures. They were perfect. Too perfect. Deceptively perfect. They really made it seem like I could make these all up in an hour. Which leads me to conclude that Anna is perfect, and as previously noted on several occasions by such people as my mom and husband, I am not.
So that estimated hour turned to 6 and in that time I somehow managed to break a needle, jam my machine, seriously wound myself on two different fingers, sew a pin into the pouch, melt part of the zipper with my iron, and several other mishaps that have now been blocked from memory. Not to even mention the uneven seams and many seam ripping episodes and zipper pulls that are downright scruffy.
In fact, after the first one, I was about ready to call it all off and buy all my friends gift cards. But I already had the other two cut out, and the colors were just so purdy, I had to give it another shot. Numbers 2 & 3 were much, much better. Not Anna better, but better. I had no major mishaps and there was no blood and I started to see why people rave about these bags and why Anna is such a genius. And I got them done in an hour, boo ya.
See? Purdy. But don't look at my zip pulls or you're not invited back to this blog.
When they were finally done, I stuffed them with some girly goodies. I love shopping for girlfriends, where the only criteria is: Do I want this for myself?
Yes. Yes I do. Those are pajama pants are from Old Navy in case you were wondering. Totally didn't make them, although Anna also has a pajama pant tutorial that I've been wanting to try out. Might wait for the bandages to come off first though. If you're on the market for good pj pants that aren't sewn by you, I recommend these. They're lightweight and always come in cute prints and are $12 (I got them for less with a coupon). No brainer. And no, Old Navy isn't paying me to say this. But in case they're reading, I wouldn't turn down money, hey?!
And here's one shot for you in case you ever wondered how bloggers take decent shots of their stuff. This was one of the less weird set-ups I've been involved in. Whenever I'm doing something really crazy like taking a picture by the light of my stove hood on the back of my daughter's coloring book, I always think to myself: this isn't the weirdest thing a blogger's done for a good shot. You may think our houses are immaculate and perfectly decorated and our kids are always bathed and wearing mama-made clothes, but don't for one second think there isn't some crazy stuff going on behind the scenes of our photoshoots.