One of my to-do items checked off my list.
Teacher gifts.
And anyone else I meet on the street as I can’t seem to stop making them.
It’s Love Bug’s first year of preschool and she LOVES her teachers. I like making gifts for family and friends so why not the teachers too.
I am not an advanced sewer. But, lacking skills do not diminish the allure of fabric. When I visit the fabric stores, I enjoy going down each aisle, checking everything out. One type of treat I especially like are the fat quarters. I love the fat quarters. In the stores, they are folded and wrapped all nice and whisper things like, “I’m pretty! Take me home!” and “It doesn’t matter that you can hardly sew a straight line. Just add me to your collection!”
Most of the time I can resist. But when they are pretty AND on sale, some for 15¢, others 99¢, just lick me because I’m a sucker.
Upon returning home, I remembered my deficiencies but was determined to figure out a way to use them anyway. And this is what I came up with:
Super simple. Super easy. Super quick. And the end result is pretty super too, in my opinion.
What is a fat quarter? Here’s the definition I found:
A fat quarter is one-quarter of a cut yard of fabric, measuring 18″ x 22″. See imprecise diaphragm below.
Fat quarters are supposedly helpful in quilting because there is more vertical length for quilt designs than a regular 1/4 yard cut of fabric (which is 9″ x 42″-44″).
Quilter or not, pro or extreme amateur, you can buy fat quarters to your heart’s content for this tutorial.
Begin by choose two fabrics, an inside and an outside fabric. Of course, you can use the same fabric for both sides if you want. Cut the fat quarter in half and then square the edges of the new rectangles.
Take two rectangles and one cut-to-size piece of interfacing.
Iron the interfacing to one piece of fabric. I’m sure you could do this to both sides, I chose to only do one side.
Once that is completed, place the two right sides together and stitch all the way around the rectangle, save a 2-3 inch opening in order to turn the fabric right side out.
I used a 1/2 inch inseam allowance.
Turn the fabric right side out and iron it.
Top stitch all the way around again, very close to the edge. This keeps the folded edge nicer, closes the opening and looks good. A three-fer. :)
Fold over one end of the rectangle on itself to form the pocket. Mine is close to 6″ deep but choose what you like. Pin the sides and stitch together, making sure to follow your stitch line from earlier.
Something worth mentioning: make sure to continue the stitch, at least one stitch, beyond the top edge of the pocket portion onto the flap portion. It firms up that top edge just a bit.
Done and done. The rest is asthetics. I attached a sewn-together t-shirt flower, in a smaller size, and a snap closure which I neglected to photograph.
Also, for the price of two fat quarters, you can make two clutches. That means two people off your list. Or maybe just one, if you want to keep one for yourself.
And finally, a peek inside.
Take care.
♥amy c
Hi Amy!
Thanks for the tutorial. I have been eyeing this for awhile and just figured out how to use a sewing machine. I made my first little pouch (my first project). It’s not perfect, but, I know how to fix them next time. :)
Way to go Fontaine!! Keep doing it and you will get better each time. I know this because I’ve been there. :)
Hi Christie!
I was wondering where you get your interfacing from or where the best deal is
Hey Isabella – I get mine at JoAnns. There are lots of options there.