Irish Sweetpea Pods

I made these cute pouches for my granddaughters for St. Patrick's Day.  Little girls love anything they can store their small treasures in. These were no exception and they loved opening and closing the zipper - good practice for little hands.

These were made using the pattern from Lazy Girl Designs, Sweetpea Pods.  Honestly after I figured out how to make them it only took me about a half hour to make these two. Unfortunately, the first two I made took me hours.  Thee directions were really wordy and confusing to me.  However after I figured it all out, it is a cute pattern and I will make many more. I have a never ending supply of fabric and zippers in my stash. The pattern calls for a 10 inch square to make 2 but I discovered I like the size of a 9 inch square better. 

Reading Pillow with Personalized Pocket

These are the two pillows I have made so far.  This 18 inch pillow with a pocket for a book is such a cute idea for a gift. Although these are for children, one could make one for an adult also.






The butterfly pillow was made for the birthday gift for a friend of my granddaughters'. Aubrey is a friend they see at library story time so a reading pillow was indeed a perfect gift for her.

I made the Reading is my Superpower pillow as a donation for the library, which is going to raffle it off.

I wasn't planning on writing a tutorial so I didn't take pictures of my work but below is my process. I will add pictures after I make another pillow.

Materials needed:

18 inch pillow form
18 inch square of fabric for front of pillow
18 inch square of fabric for back of pillow
11 x 18 inch fabric for pocket lining
10 x 18 inch fabric for pocket front
coordinating zipper at least 14 inches, can be longer

1. First the embroidery is done on the front of the pocket.  Center your design vertically but move it up towards the top of the pocket front. Notice I forgot to move it up on the Superpower pillow and had it centered vertically and horizontally. I used wash away stabilizer but will try cutaway on my next one.
2. Next I matched the tops of the pocket front and pocket lining, right sides together, and sewed a 1/2 inch seam.  Turn this right side out and match the bottom edge of the lining and pocket front. When you match the bottom edges, the lining fabric will form a quasi binding at the top of the pocket. Top stich along the bottom of this quasi binding. Then baste 1/8 inch from the 3 raw edges to hold the pocket lining to the pocket front.
3. Now lay the pocket ontop the pillow front, matching sides and bottom. Baste a 1/4 inch along the sides of the pocket and bottom.
4. I added a zipper now at the bottom of the pillow. Layer the pillow front and pillow back, right sides together. I seamed the bottom with a 1/2 inch seam but basted the center 14 inches and only used a regular stich on the first 2 inches on each side. I inserted the zipper in the center of this seam.  After insertion, I removed the basting stitches to expose the zipper. Open the zipper halfway.
5. Now line up the other 3 edges of the back and front, right sides together. Sew a 1/2 inch seam around the rest of the pillow. 
6. Turn right side out and push out corners. Insert pillow form.