First: 10 MInute Drawstring Pouch Tutuorial

That's right friends, I sewed something. And I took pictures of it! The sewing something is not the surprising part, but the taking pictures part is. The posting of the pictures is particularly mind-boggling. Blogger and I have not been getting along recently, and we've been fighting about pictures. 

Regardless, here is what I made:

What: Drawstring pouch for sunglasses

Materials: Two scraps of different fabric, and 8-10 inches of ribbon or twine or string. 

Why: Because I'm too cheap to buy a sunglasses case. Or nice sunglasses for that matter. They're sentimental. But I do want to protect them. 

How long: 20 minutes. This includes time for photo taking, two phone calls, and some very loud and distracting thunder and lightning. 

How: Allow me to show you

1. Size it up. Allow room for seams. Approx. 1/4 inches on all sides. 2 inches for the top. 

2. Pin it up. Pin all the way up one side, and leave about 1" space at the top of one side. If you squint you can see the seam stops well below the pin on the left. 

3. Repeat with second fabric. I chose a nice flannel (because I already had it) to be a soft liner for the sunglasses pouch. You can see here how I left a space at the top of one side of each pouch. 

4. Pin the pouch tops right sides together. Match up the sides with the gap. Sew all the way around the tops of the pouches. Skip the gap. 

5. By now you should have a long rectangle of fabric that is "inside out" with a 2" or so gap in the middle. Pin the lips of the gap back. This will be where the drawstrings come out. 

6. Carefully  sew the hem of each lip back. Do not sew this opening shut. You may need to roll back the lip that you are not working with and pin it. It should look like this when you finish this step.

7. Fold your long rectangle in half where the two sections of fabric meet. Match up the corners and sew at a 45 degree angle at both corners. Cut off the corner. This step will prevent the pouch from getting twisted, tangled, or infuriatingly inverted.

8. I don't know I don't have this picture, but reach through the lips of the gap that you sewed shut is step 6. Grab one of the corners, and pull is out of the gap. Pull gently until you have turned your pouch right side out. All of your seams should be hidden on the inside now, the corners are secured to one another, and you have the gap for the drawstring.

9. Now we need to sew around the circumference of the top to make a pocket for the drawstring. Locate the bottom of the gap, and use that as a guide.

10. Grab a safety pin and your ribbon, thread, twine, or whatever you are using for the drawstring. Attach the pin to your ribbon, and thread it through the drawstring pocket. Go around the whole pocket twice as shown in the next pictures. This will help keep the pouch closed when you want it closed.

11. Tie off your ribbon and you're done.