I know, after my recent posting about the “forgotten 14th century queen from France“, you are impatiently waiting for my other finds from my Mission “Medieval Berlin”. Well, I have indeed many beautiful things to share with you. I have new photos of lovely medieval embroidery, “bling bling”, new 14th century museum catalogues and many more other lovely medieval things I found…

…but we also have a “Craft with Racaire” project to finish. I admit it, I neglected this project a little but there was so much I wanted to post about instead. Now I am definitely determined to finish this project as soon as possible.

Especially because I already have so many new ideas for medieval inspired and medieval embroidered projects on my mind. As well as a rather long list of “projects I definitely want to do”. Like an embroidered 14th century floral head band or a new embroidered 12th century fillet or… So many museum photos, so many ideas, so many projects and just so little time… *lol*

Therefore lets start today with the next step towards the finishing, the actual hand sewing for the:

Fast and easy pouch tutorial

As you already might have noticed, I try to provide a lot of extra information and knowledge with my tutorials. They do not only contain a basic tutorial for the actual project, they also contain a lot of extra in-depth information as well as personal thoughts about the described projects and techniques.

The first steps for this project had the purpose to help you to get started. Furthermore they provided a lot of in-depth information about the basic hand sewing stitches “Running Stitch” and “Back Stitch”. While putting together this “basic” information, I was especially thinking about which information could help if you are a newbie to hand sewing. I also tried my best to provide some interesting information for the experienced hand sewers among you.

My personal goal was that whatever level you are when it comes to hand sewing,  that you should be able to work at your hand sewing with a certain ease of knowledge after reading my in-depth postings about the “Running Stitch” and “Back Stitch”. If you would like to reread the postings before you start with the next step – the actual hand sewing – underneath you find a short list of all postings for this tutorial till now:

Step 1) Fast and easy pouch tutorial & how to work with “rapports”
This posting explains how to calculate the needed fabric for the easy pouch tutorial. I also added some extra information: “how to work with rapports” (repeating patterns).
Step 1.1) Hand sewing stitches: Running Stitch…
This posting is an in-depth description of the first and most basic hand-sewing stitch you will need for this tutorial – the Running Stitch.
Step 1.2) Hand sewing stitches: Back Stitch (and Stem Stitch)…
Another in-depth description of another basic and helpful hand-sewing stitch you will need for this technique – the Running Stitch.

…and now you should be definitely prepared to start with the hand sewing.
It is time for some “hand sewing fun”! Let’s put the “fast & easy pouch” together:

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I am sure you remember the picture on the right – it is from my very first posting for this tutorial:
Fast and easy pouch tutorial & how to work with “rapports”.

After following the instructions of my first posting, you should hold a nice long piece of fabric in your hands for your pouch now – like I do on the next picture underneath.

First start with the pinning by putting the corner of the bottom left side on top of the corner of the top left side – or by using the numbers of the picture on the right: put the corner of 5a on top of the corner of 5. I do the same for the corners of the right side.

We work this pouch with the fabric “inside out”. That means we will look at the inside of the fabric during the whole sewing process. This is only important if you have a fabric which has a nice outer side and a not so nice inside (backside), like the fabric I used on the picture underneath. If you are using a fabric that looks exactly the same on both sides (like many linen fabrics,…), just skip this information. 🙂

I start pinning the left edge from the top to bottom – as you can see underneath.

It’s not important with which side you start first – this detail is just a matter of personal taste. 😉

Btw. for this project I “reserved” my pins with the red head for a very special job as you can see underneath:

This two pins with the red heads pinned into the left and right edge indicate the beginning of the second part of our section 3 – the opening for the “drawstring casing”.

I also added two pins with red heads at the end of this section. They will play an important role later in our sewing process.

Side note: The first half of section 3 (seen from the top) will be closed and sewn together – it will later become the backside of your “drawstring casing”. The second part of section 3 will be the opening for the “drawstring casing” and therefore it has to be left “open” and “un-sewn”.

After pinning the left and the right side, I start sewing at the bottom edge. You maybe remember the seam allowance we calculated for the side seams in my first posting – just measure the number you used for your seam allowance from the outside-edge to the inside and start your sewing there. Don’t forget – we use a double seam allowance because the seam will be “folded in” later – therefore give yourself enough seam allowance to work with!

As you can see on the picture underneath I already made a first stitch and another stitch over the same point before I make a very basic knot and continue sewing. This normally prevents the thread from slipping through and makes a faster working from this point possible.

I start my hand sewing by using the “Running Stitch”. I am starting every new line/collection of Running stitches with a “Back Stitch” – as I described in the in-depth postings about this stitches.

As you can see on the picture above and underneath, I try to “work in” the end of the sewing thread into the stitches. I do this to keep the end of my threads under control and out of my way.

Continue your Running Stitches until you reach our first pin with a red head (or whatever color you chose). With reaching the pin with the red head you just reached section 3 and the section for the “drawstring casing”. Please make several stitches at this point to secure your thread and lay your thread over the fabric till you reach the next pin with a red head. Please make also several stitches at this point to secure the beginning of your next sewing stitches….

…as you can see on the photo above. I stopped and made several stitches at one point at the beginning of the section. You can see this in the right bottom section of the photo. I repeated this at the end/at the other side of the section.

As some of you might notice – between this two points I tried to run the thread through 1-2 surface threads of the fabric to keep it in place – this is not really necessary but I like to have control over my threads. You don’t really see this small stitches on the other side but it keeps the thread in place and under control.

You might ask why we are doing all this “extra work” concerning section 3 – the drawstring casing. Well, this “extra work” gives us a nice drawstring casing for our pouch. A drawstring casing which is still connected at the back side of the casing and gives our pouch some extra stability at the top section.

Btw. at the picture on the left side you can see how this section will look like when all the work at the side seams – described in this step – is finished.

But back to our hand sewing – after this point I continue sewing with the “Running Stitch”. Again I am starting every new line/collection of Running stitches with a “Back Stitch”.

At the end of my sewing line – about 2 threads before the edge of the fabric I stop by going over the same point again and again – just some stitches to secure the thread and hold it in place.

Now I “open up” my seam as you can see on the picture above. By “folding in” the right seam – as shown underneath – I estimate the middle of my side seam.
Release and “Close” your seam again and stitch through just one side of the seam before this middle. You should be able to see this middle-edge for some time after you folded your seam. “Open up” your seam again, “fold in” again the raw edge of your fabric to the inside at one side…

…and make at least one stitch to keep your seam in place. I know, this might sound very difficult but it is much easier and works much faster than it sounds. Btw. if you are working left-handed – please feel free to work my directions from the other side.

At the next picture you can see the stitches with which I am sewing the folded seam to the outer fabric. This technique has several great benefits – it is easy and rather fast to do and prevents you from a fraying fabric edge in the future. This makes your pouch much more durable for the future.

But please be careful – for this benefit and to make this technique work for you, you need to give it a chance by giving it enough fabric to work with. In my opinion the folded in seam needs at least 4-5mm (depending on the fabric) at the inside to work properly and to keep the fabric in place and from fraying.

Continue this stitch until you reach the other end of the seam. If you have problems with the bottom corner – don’t worry, I will post some hints for working at this section and how to start a new thread and to hide the thread ends next.

When you get to the other side – please make again some stitches over the same point to secure the thread again like shown at the picture underneath.

Btw. if you don’t have much thread left at the end – you can “sew in” the end of the thread into your seam with long Running stitches. “Long” stitches at the inside (through/inside your seam) and just short stitches on the outside (the visible surface facing you). Please be careful not to stitch through the fabric on the other side and to just work inside the seam and on fabric part facing you because the side you can’t see now (the back side) will be later the visible side…

You can work both sides of your pouch following this directions.

In the next posting I will post some extra hints concerning sewing the bottom corner and how to start a new thread and to hide the thread ends in your seam…

I hope you enjoyed our first step – hand sewing the sides… 🙂

You can find all postings about this project in the category:
Craft with Racaire – #2 fast & easy pouch 

Short overview of the postings till now:
Step 1) Fast and easy pouch tutorial & how to work with “rapports”
This posting explains how to calculate the needed fabric for the easy pouch tutorial. I also added some extra information: “how to work with rapports” (repeating patterns).
Step 1.1) Hand sewing stitches: Running Stitch…
This posting is an in-depth description of the first and most basic hand-sewing stitch you will need for this tutorial – the Running Stitch.
Step 1.2) Hand sewing stitches: Back Stitch (and Stem Stitch)…
Another in-depth description of another basic and helpful hand-sewing stitch you will need for this technique – the Running Stitch.