Mouthy Stitches W is for Wellies

Tumbleweeds around here....  sorry for the absence.

I always feel like I've got to have something finished to show you and then the something I'm working on can take longer than I thought.  Remember when I told you I joined my first Flickr swap - Mouthy Stitches?  I got my zipper pouch finished last night ready for posting tomorrow.  I'm going to share with you it's evolution from concept to finished item.

Wellies (a.k.a Gumboots) Pouch Original Concept

When I came up with the design (based on this) I didn't know my partner very well since she wasn't active on Flickr, I mainly had her mosaic to go by.  I knew she liked raw-edge applique and free-motion embroidery so at least that was something we had in common, and some examples of pouches she liked.  Our tastes are probably the complete opposite ends of the spectrum as far as colour goes since her one colour dislike is probably one of my favourites and is in about 80% of my stash.  Yeah, that was stressing me out!

Practice Pouch

The pattern is the Perfect Zip Bag Pattern by Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Fransson).  I love the way her sewing is so thorough and finished professionally.  I'm quite critical of handsewn items looking too "homemade", I still want things to look like they're made properly and neatly.  Here's my first practice pouch which is less than perfect.  One side of the lining got stitched on upside down, I had to unpick the pocket because that was useless being the wrong way up!  The corners didn't work out very well which is not so noticeable in this photo.  The second time around I made sure I measured exactly how far I needed the seam to be so that the corners were going to turn properly.  It was worth doing a practice, especially since I've never sewn a zipper before.

Raw Edge Applique and Free-Motion Embroidery

It became clearer over time that my partner liked umbrella fabrics so the red umbrella fabric was going to have to be used and that drove the colour direction for the pouch.  I had the brilliant idea of "W is for..." after I posted my design idea.  I kept it to myself because I wasn't sure how I was going to execute it.

Pouch with spare zipper pull

When it came to the crunch, there were some comments that the red/green combo was a bit Xmassy and I couldn't resolve the wellies sitting on a green background (it was just decorative but I wondered whether it looked like it was supposed to be grass and it just didn't seem to make sense) plus it didn't work with the umbrella fabric so in the end I ditched the green background.  

Interior with Pocket

I had tried to incorporate green somewhere else or introducing teal as my partner showed a preference for those colours but what I had just didn't work with that umbrella fabric.  Luckily I found an old Pop Garden fabric on sale at a LQS, with it's earthy feel, green and pops of red and blue it was a perfect match.

So that's my finished pouch, off to the post office tomorrow and winging it's way around the world!  I hope my partner is happy when she receives it.  Now I'm just waiting in anticipation for mine to arrive!

Edited to add: Forgot to mention that this is linking to Sew Modern Monday!