Blog Party // DIY Summer Projects: Day 7.

Hey readers, today another fellow blogger called Kim is going to show you an easy, detailed tutorial for how to sew a pouch for a compress. :) If you want to, you can also check out her blog notcrazyunwell. :) Have fun!

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“beulentrost”

Thank you so much for having me, Lu. putting together this tutorial was a lot of fun and I hope you and your readers like it :)

One of the things I get the most “Aww, how practical”- and “What a great idea”-comments on are the pouches for cool/warm compresses I sew. they are so awesome to keep in your fridge – especially when you have kids – because you always have something handy to cool a little bump right away without having to find a towel to wrap around, fumble with the (much too big and possible dirty) towel…. all of that can be a huge p.i.t.a., especially when you have a screaming kid next to you who just fell and bumped his/her head. A nice side-effect: it’s also a great “distraction” from the pain if you point out the cute fabric, applique or what it says to the kid. I swear, it’ll take their mind off of the bump in no time. ;)

It’s really easy to make and you could even do it without a sewing machine (although I probably wouldn’t have the patience). Besides making one for yourself/your kid(s) these are also great gifts for a birth, a birthday, baptism or just because… I call them “beulentrost” which is german for beule = bump and trost= consolation and often put a little “label” on the front that says “beulentrost” or “gute besserung” (get well). I especially like to personalize my gifts and add the kid’s name to the label.

So for me, making the pouches always starts with my letter-stamp-set and fabric-ink-pad (which I LOVE). I usually make a whole bunch at once – in this case I made a bunch for a pre-school who wanted two for each group with the labels saying the name of the groups.

The next step would be to measure the compress (I make pouches for different size compresses).

You then need another two pieces of fabric (which will be the back of the pouch). To get them, I cut a piece that’s the same width as the front piece, but about 8 cm (3 inches) longer. I then cut that long back-piece into two pieces (about 1/3 and 2/3), so I end up with two back pieces, one about 3 cm (1.2 inches) longer than the other.

Fold and iron one (short) side of each of the back pieces like I did here.

Then sew both of those folded edges with a straight stitch close to the edge.

 

Now you can put aside your two back-pieces and apply the label, applique, initial …. of your choice to the front piece. I use my zig-zag shears to cut out the labels (after letting them dry for a couple house and iron them from the left side for a few minutes!) and then sew them on with a straight stitch a few times around, trying not to be too exact because I like the “unclean” look of the crooked seams…

Then you lay your front piece, right side up, in front of you. Put the smaller one of the back-pieces at the “top” of the front piece (the part you want to be the top of the front side when your pouch is done) with the un-sewn edges and right sides together. Your sewn edge is going to be almost in the middle of the front piece.

 
The next “layer” would be the longer one of the back-pieces (which is your only one left. Duh!). You want to align that again, with the un-sewn edges and right sides together on top of the “bottom” halt of the front piece (this is also the step I attach my label). I’m lazy, so I only use a couple of needles to hold the three pieces together.

  

Now, sew around the whole thing about 0,5 cm / 1/4 inch away from the edges.

Now trim around with a zig-zag and the sewing part of your work is done. :)

Time to turn the pouch right side out and iron …

  

And you’re done! Congratulations!

This was easy, wasn’t it? Now if you sew your own pouch with this tutorial, I’d love to see a picture of your creation(s). ;)

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Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial, Kim!! :)