There was only one pouch in my pouch love series to share on Valentines Day wasn’t there? And from a simple printed heart it’s blossomed into a large and very beautiful pouch.
It’s hard to believe that this is how it started - a test print for some bunting I made to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday last year. The bunting was simply embroidered but I wanted to explore the interlocking circles this time round.
Unusually I don’t have any photos of it ‘in progress’ and I’m not really sure why - it definitely came with me on our trip to Glasgow last September and has been on the train to London too. After outlining the heart and before exploring the inner circles, I added several coloured stripes across the fabric, which reminded me of a 1970s/80s tracksuit.
And then I braved the circles trying not to have two of the same colours next to each other, which just about works. Embroidering the circles with my beloved chain stitch was incredibly mindful and relaxing. Once the main emblem and its stripes were complete, I still felt that it needed more, and at the back of my mind I remembered a cream/beige embellished fabric which I picked up at a WI stash sale, which might work with this.
I knew I wanted to make this one into a pouch, and so finding the fabric to go alongside this in my stash was a complete win. That fabric I had in mind absolutely worked, and also encouraged me to add several rows of cream chain stitch stripes above and below the heart to tie it all together.
And this is how it ended:
What’s even better is the lining was also in my stash - and while dark orange skulls on an orange background might not have been the natural choice on paper, once I saw the colours together there was no other choice for me. To finish it off, of course I needed poppers, and as the fold over flap was relatively large, it needed more than one - and so unable to choose between pink, orange and red, I had one of each!
If my embroidered heart pouch reminded you of one I’d already made - you’re not wrong, it’s a much larger version of the baroque lady version which was the first one I made at the bag making sewing course.
I’m loving them both, and I’m pretty sure there’s plenty more pouches to come!