Tutorial: Utensil pouch

I sew a lot, or at least I used to before work took all the time and energy that I had. Now that I am studying again, I have started sewing more as well, as I feel more inspired, and it is a good creative counterweight to my studies.

Anyway, today I finished a UFO (or unfinished object) that has been on my table for over a year. I went on a road trip in the summer of 2018 with my best friends, and at a store I picked up the cutest quilting cotton ever: kittens among sewing and knitting supplies. Even though I had placed a ban on myself from buying fabric, I simply could not resist this one. To top it off, I already knew what I would use it for: a pouch for eating utensils.

Is not that the cutest thing ever?

However I was for some reason unhappy with the pouch I made, ripped out some stitches and then never had the energy to finish it. So it ended up as a UFO in a forgotten corner of my sewing nook. As it resurfaced a while ago it has been nagging me, so earlier today I finished it. And oh the joy. Now I actually have somewhere to put my eating utensils when I go places.

This project was inspired by a video from Shelbizleee, however, I do not remember which one. Shelbizleee creates videos about sustainable living, and if you are interested, the link to her channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Shelbizleee/featured

All rolled up and pretty.

An other huge inspiration, which has seen me pick up and finishing old UFO:s is Bernadette Banner. Berandette makes excellent content regarding historic sewing, so go watch her videos. Here is the specific video of hers that inspired me to start finishing old projects:

The following is an attempt at writing a tutorial for sewing a pouch to carry your eating utensils with you. It could of course also function for pens. Post questions in the comments if anything is unclear.

Utensil pouch

To start off, you are going to need the following materials:

• 60 x 17 cm piece of your chosen fabric, plus the same of lining and interlining (I used a thin batting for interlining to give some stiffness to the pouch without making it too rigid, a sturdier fabric could also work)
• ~1 m edge tape or bias binding for binding the edges
• ~0,6 m ribbon 

On the right I have marked the fold lines, and the dotted line indicates where to fold the edge to. The dashed borderlines here are the edge tape.

1. Start by cutting your fabric, lining and interlining to the same size (60 x 17 cm). Make a sandwich of these with the interlining in the middle. Use pins of clips to hold them in place
2. Sew on bias binding or edge tape to cover the short ends.
3. At one end, fold the fabric over 7 cm from the edge, to create a 7 cm deep pocket there. Attach at the sides.
4. At the other end, fold the fabric over 10 cm from the edge, creating a slightly bigger pocket. Attach at the sides.
5. In the bigger pocket, mark vertical lines and sew these. I made 4 pockets, but you could opt for making 5 instead.
6. Now cover the raw, long edges with bias binding or edge tape. 
7. Put some utensils in the pockets and fold the pouch and roll it up, try to figure out where you want to place the ribbon on the outside. Once you find a point, attach it there and you are done. I decorated mine with a small bow from the same ribbon. 

Insert utensils and you are ready to go!
Here you can see the original binding I used when I started the project, but as I had non of it left, and did not want to buy new for this alone, I used a red satin ribbon to bind the remaining long edges. I used the same ribbon to tie the pouch.

I hope this was helpful. I have another idea for a different style of utensil pouch, and if I make that I will probably add more pockets to this one so that I can use it for pens instead.

Have fun sewing,

~Stella