Friday, June 24, 2011

Another Teacher Gift: Reversible Pouch Tutorial

I wasn't sure what to make for Ana's teacher assistant as an end-of-the-year gift. I asked Ana exactly what the assistant's job was, and she said, "It is her job to watch the kids and make sure they're not hiding anywhere. If they are, she has to find them... We should give her a magnifying glass!" So, that is what we did.

But, I wanted to put it inside something lovely that also might be memorable. Since the kindergarten class was called the "Cherry Blossoms", I was thrilled to find a cherry print fabric to use to make a drawstring bag. Ana fingerknitted a chain of yarn to be used as the drawstring.
 Cute! But, the fabric was rather thin, and I didn't want to just toss a magnifying glass in there and hope that it survived the journey to school. So, I decided to make a reversible bag out of fleece to hold and protect it.

I started by cutting two long rectangles, and stitching the sides together (wrong side out), making two shorter rectangles.
 Next, I stitched the two rectangles together by placing one inside the other, right sides facing each other, and stitching around the open edges, leaving about an inch unstitched.
 That unstitched part is where I then pulled the fabric right-sides-out, like shown below, and then hand stitched that last inch closed.
 To make it look like the pouch it is, I stuffed the lighter colored fabric into the Bears fabric (she is from Chicago, and we are Bears fans, so... it just had to be done).
 Or, you can reverse it by turning it inside out.
 Two fabric options, depending on your mood (or the success of your favorite team)!
 And, in the end, a useful and memorable gift.

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