Sew a pouch from recycled material! INTERNATIONAL

USA ONLY swap available HERE

I've been on a sewing kick lately, and I've been hoarding vintage fabrics, and scraps, from other projects. I've made a couple small pouches (think makeup or pencil pouches) with zip or velcro tops, and they're so CUTE and fun!

Maybe some of you have an abundance of scrap fabric that you'd like to use up?

The challenge is: SEW a pouch for your swap partner! That's it!

The rules are:

1. Should be a usable size (think long enough for pencils or makeup brushes, and wide/tall enough for more than a handful of them).

2. Should have some type of closure...can be zipper, velcro, snaps, buttons, etc. (I personally like zip or velcro because they keep the small bits inside ;) )

3. Try to use up scrap fabric, or as in my case, vintage fabric that was purchased by my mom on vacation in hawaii in the late 1969's! LOL! I mean, you don't have to be that specific, but don't feel the need to go out and buy anything. Use what you have! Maybe even an old shirt, or suit, or old ties, unused upholstery fabric? Be creative!

4. If your fabric is very lightweight, please stabilize it. No one likes a floppy pouch ;) ***I have been stabilizing some lightweight fabrics with another lightweight fabric using fusible web! they turn out CUTE!

5. Lining: If you want to line your pouch, AWESOME, but it's not required. If you don't line, please clean up the inside seams so they're somewhat pretty and neat :) i like to use pinking shears to trim my seams if I don't line...and i've been trying out seam binding to cover them too (to varying degrees of success LOL). ***I have been stabilizing some lightweight fabrics with another lightweight fabric using fusible web! they turn out CUTE!

6. Shape is up to you! There are a lot of free patterns online to follow, or I've been riffing on the superior labor canvas pouches, and the delfonics utility pouches (pics below). HERE is a video to a square pouch that doesn't look difficult :)

7. Once your pouch is done, pack it up in an envelope (mailing flat is ok!) and include a little note about where you got the fabric! maybe from your scrap bin? maybe from hawaii!?!?! lol!

I'm giving this swap a month turn around so hopefully you can find something that might lean towards your swap buddy's profile, but THIS IS NOT required. This is senders choice ultimately since i'm going for destashing! If you want to start making a pouch now, go ahead!

Don't forget to include your swap bot name and the name of the swap!

Please remember to rate your partners fairly, and timely!

4.9 rating minimum......I will go through profiles before assigning partners, and if you have any unexplained 1s or 3s I will have to drop you from the swap :( sorry, just want to make this fair for everyone.

I will consider newbies, but please have a well filled out profile, and maybe include pics of your sewing crafts! there are instructions on how to add pics to your profile in the forums!

I'm making this international so we can potentially get some interesting inspiration from the around world! :) if you'd like to join a USA ONLY version, click HERE

Also: PLEASE JOIN MY NEW RECYCLED SCRAP SEWING GROUP HERE

additional idea photos: