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Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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How-to: Faux Leather Pouch

May 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

My friend over at Studio MME recently sent met this Lyle the Crocodile notebook as a thank you for helping her with some WordPress tweaks. I thought it would make the perfect purse notebook, but I didn’t want to watch it get all beat up clunking around with my keys and junk. The solution? A vinyl pouch!

Conveniently enough, I found a nice piece of vinyl on the remnant rack at JoAnn’s a few weeks ago and used that for this project. Other supplies you’ll need are: a pencil, good fabric scissors, straight pins, a milliner’s needle, some sturdy thread, and a magnetic closure.

To be honest, I wanted to develop a custom pattern based on a vest worn by Sean Bean’s character in Game of Thrones, but to do so, I knew I’d need to make up the pattern as I went along. I’m no pattern-maker, but I did work at a baby boutique (no babies are sold there, just baby stuff) in a past life, which means I can wrap a mean baby shower gift. I cut enough fabric to ensure that all sides of the notebook were covered and then some.

Using some chalk, mark any excess fabric you’ll need to trim to achieve the shape shown. Make sure to leave enough seam allowance for a seam down the center of the pouch and for wrapping paper-like seams at the top and bottom.

You can snugly wrap the vinyl fabric around your notebook and pin it in place. Then, set your notebook aside. Whipstitch the two short ends of your rectangle piece of fabric together as shown.

Next, whipstitch across the bottom of your pouch. Then secure the left and right sides of the bottom with even more whipsitching perpendicular to the bottom seam. The bottom seams of your pouch should look like the letter “I”.

Moving on to the top side of the pouch, whipstitch all the way around the raw edge that’s left. If your magnetic closure is a little bigger than your notebook, like mine was, trim it to the size you need. Then, sew or attach the closure to the pouch. Attaching it depends on the type of closure you use, but you can see how I did mine below.

To close my pouch, I fold in the ends and the magnetic closure secures it much like the tape would on the wrapping paper for a present. I’ve been running around for weeks now with my Studio MME idea notebook/vinyl pouch, and so far, it’s surviving! If any of you have other ideas about how to tweak this idea or try a different closure, leave a comment and let me know. :)

Filed Under: How-to Tagged With: game of thrones, notebook, pouch, vinyl, whipstitch

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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handsoccupied

Yarn craft designer & author. Into intarsia knits, latch hook, color & vintage-modern style.
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Sneaking in a few stitches in the shade. 😎 Sneaking in a few stitches in the shade. 😎
Another morning of filming! One of the knitting vi Another morning of filming! One of the knitting videos I’d like to release soon is a big overview of how to swatch and why - if you have any questions or favorite tips, let me know. 
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To be honest, I want to be able to link to this video as a resource when I get angry gauge questions, so please don’t hesitate to share your best tips. Together, we can tame the knitting Karens. 😆
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#stopswatchandblockit #handsoccupied #knitting #knittersofinstagram
A big issue I've had in the last year is putting t A big issue I've had in the last year is putting together new design work but not doing any independent releases of them. Chalk it up to anxiety, burn out, or whatever but here we are. 
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Last week I turned 35, so in honor of that here’s 3 things: 
❤️ a picture of me at my most stylish 
💛 a little glimpse at some of the design things I've recently been working on
💙a promise that I will be releasing some of the pictured designs this year. Getting back in the swing of things after taking it easy is hard 😆 - wish me luck!
Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhoo Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhood while I shot a new crochet tutorial today. With any luck, editing will go smoothly & I’ll be posting new videos to YouTube regularly soon! Got any requests for tutorial topics? 
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#handsoccupied #crochet #studiodog #crochettutorial
This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t you think? ❤️💛💙
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Pattern: modified #soldotnacrop sweater / yarn: various from my stash
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