Review 2: Zippered Bow Pouch by Kate of See Kate Sew

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great New Year's Eve with your friends and family.

Looking for a cute gift for your friend, sister, mother, or maybe yourself? Just follow Kate's tutorial and whip up a whole batch of adorable Zippered Bow Pouches! I especially love the idea of putting Lindor chocolates in the pouch. Click here to see the full tutorial.

Creator: Kate of See Kate Sew

Timeline: 1 hour (including ~15 minutes to cut and iron fabric)

Estimated cost: 6$
1/4 yard cotton print: 1.13$ at Mardens - Outer fabric
1/4 yard cotton solid: 1.13$ at Mardens - Lining
1/4 yard duck cloth (canvas): 2.20$ (8.79$/m) for members at Fabricville (10.99$/m for non-members) - Interfacing
7 inch zipper: 1.35$ at Fabricville
2 inches of 1/4 inch wide elastic: 0.05$

Difficulty level: Beginner sewer. Simple pattern, simple lines. Should be able to box corners (instructions clear enough in tutorial).

Comments: 
This tutorial was relatively short and sweet. I only noticed a few details that were missing. For example, in the cutting instructions, it doesn't specify that the 5'' by 10'' rectangle and the two 1.5'' by 3.5'' rectangles are from the outside fabric. Luckily, the accompanying picture shows us that the outside fabric was used, so this wasn't a big error.

One of the first steps says to press the seam allowance toward the lining and topstitch. However, it didn't indicate if the interfacing should be under the lining or outside fabric. (Once again, not a big deal.) I put it under the outside fabric.

When the zipper has been sewn into place and before sewing together the two sides of the bag, I added three steps. 1) I trimmed the excess fabric from the zipper tabs. 2) I pressed the seams. 3) I topstitched the fabric on both sides of the zipper with a 1/8 inch seam allowance.

I had a bit of a hard time with the elastic for the zipper and bow. 1 inch isn't a lot to work with when you have to fold it in half. What I ended up doing was using 2 inches of elastic and sewing the end, then sewing it again at a shorter length.

Last comment! Instead of zig zaging the seam allowances, pinking shears could have been used. Up to personal preference.

Now go make a bunch of these bow pouches from See Kate Sew for your January birthday friends! :) Thanks for reading and see you in a week!
-Stephanie