Getting Crafty, How To Make Your Own Faux-Leather Pouch
If necessity is the mother of invention for some, for me, impatience and lack of funds drives creativity. This year, the fashion house Céline debuted a two-toned leather pouch in a butterscotch and flamingo neon-pink with which I fell in love. I've been wanting this bag forever. Forever in this case for me is 3 months…a bit of an exaggeration, but it feels like forever. Truly. However, considering that the price of the bag is beyond my budget for accessories, I had two options: I could find a more affordable version of the bag, or I could get crafty.
Initially, I went with option one. Off, I traipsed from one boutique to another in Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston---in the rain, I might add. My favorite shop owners either ran out or hadn't received shipments of the much sought-after budget friendly version of the leather pouches. So it would seem that I was left with only option two: make the leather pouch myself.
By design, the leather pouch isn't difficult to construct. Simply, you take a piece of leather, fold it in half, sew the sides, and add a zipper to the top. At the end, I wanted the pouch to be big enough to hold a magazine or book, my phone, lipstick and wallet. Once at the sewing store, I chose the colors for what would become my faux-leather pouch. I should mention that the process of choosing a color took quite a bit of time. I had a choice between Kelly green, white, mauve or burnt orange. In the end, Kelly green won. I then picked up a 12 inch black zipper, thread the same color as the faux-leather, and a new needle suitable for sewing thick fabrics on my sewing machine. The last thing I wanted was a broken needle halfway through my project.
Later that weekend, the construction and sewing of the pouch took about 1 hour. At the end, I had a lovely Kelly green pouch. Doesn't it look gorgeous in the photo? I unfortunately sewed the zipper incorrectly. As it stands the zipper pull faces the inside of the bag. As you can imagine it makes zipping and unzipping the pouch a bit difficult. I figure, this is a mistake that I will fix later. For now, I'm perfectly obliged, happy, okay with my new pouch, and may just make a few for my friends with the left- over materials. It may not be the two-tone Céline pouch, but I'm a fan—even with a faulty zipper.
In case you want to try to make a pouch yourself, visit the blog, Style Scrapbook for a quick photo tutorial. Just note that one yard of fabric will yield several pouches.
The following are a few fabric stores at which you can purchase fabric (leather or faux-leather) and notions (that's fancy sewing speak for zippers, thread etc.) to create your own pouch.
Sew-Fisticated Fabric
14 Mcgrath Hwy
Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 625-7996
Hours: Mon – Sat 10am-8pm; Sun 12pm-6pm
website
Fabric Corner Inc
783 Massachusetts Ave
Arlington, MA
(781) 643-4040
Hours: Mon-Sat 9:30am – 5:30pm; Sun 12pm – 6pm
website
Sew-Low Discount Fabrics
473 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02141
(617) 661-8361
Hours: Mon-Sat 9:30 am - 6 pm; Sun 12 pm - 5 pm
website
Winmil Fabrics
111 Chauncy St
Boston, MA
617) 542-1815
Hours: Mon-Sat 9 am - 6 pm; Sun 12 pm - 5 pm
website
Martini blogs on the Boston fashion scene at BeyondBostonChic.com. She goes in search of the latest trends and snaps shots of men and women around the city who really understand style.
