Cash Envelope Finish!

I have finished my Cash Envelope for the competition over at 'from blank pages'. Thanks again to Diane for the fabrics and materials!

So here it is:

 I only use 4 pockets as I wanted it slightly less bulky. I am thrilled with the finished product, definitely the most complicated thing I've ever made!

Oh and a gratuitous bunny pic, now he's feeling better:

Cash Envelope Sew Along progress

So I've made a start on my Cash Envelope. One of the things I really love about blongland is it pushes me out of my comfort zone. I would never have attempted this if I hadn't won the materials (huge thank you Diane!), and it's by no means easy, but it is challenging me, and showing me what I can do, and I'm really enjoying it!

So I'm following Diane's Sew Along tutorial. Here's what I've got so far:

Front

Back

Inside

That's Day 1 and Day 2 complete, tutorial-wise. I've made a few changes. Firstly, I used two strips to do the decorative band on the outside. I wanted to use the colourful fabric for the band, but that straight onto the main fabric just didn't show up well enough. I had plenty of denim spare after I'd cut all my pocket pieces, so I did the main decorative strip in denim, then cut a piece 0.5" narrower in the colourful fabric, as you can see here:

Outside

Secondly, the driver's license pocket. I am using the denim from my fabric bundle Diane sent me, and it is quite heavy, so I removed the interfacing from just this piece, as it was just impossible to work with. In hindsight, I think next time I would either use a lighter fabric, or not use the interfacing - the denim is quite heavy enough without that extra weight too. Then, when I had put the window together as per the instructions, the denim was fraying on the inside corners, where it overlapped the vinyl. I knew this would get worse with use, so rather than have a major rethink, I decided to do some decorative corners with my pocket fabric. I used the selvedge so it wouldn't need any bulky hemming, and just did little triangles over the offending areas:

Finally, I didn't have enough fabric to do the optional 2nd main piece (due to some inaccurate cutting early on!), so I did it without, not realising that this would mean I could see the ugly interfacing down the middle between the inside pockets when this stage was finished. I know this will be mostly covered when I sew the pockets in, but still, I want to make this the best I can. So, once I saw where this optional bit was going to go, I realised I would have enough if I cut the second piece the same size as the interfacing. So I did that, used bondaweb to attach it right at the end, and Bob's your aunt's husband's dentist's chiropractor!

Probably won't get time to get any more done today as one of my bestest friends is coming at 6pm and it's 1.30pm here now. I am still in my PJs, desperately need a bath and the house is a tip. Oh and we have no food or drink in the house!!!

In my defence, I didn't get to make a proper start on the Cash Envelope last night as I was visiting my friend in hospital. She had what was supposed to be a fairly routine procedure 3 weeks ago, but a catalogue of errors following surgery means she has been back in hospital twice since then, and she's in a pretty bad way. I always says that she is really jammy, because she always seems to get great opportunities, or mess up and have no ill consequences, but this whole debacle makes me think actually she deserves anything good that comes her way, because her body has let her down so much. If you're reading this, I love you Larzie-pops :) If you could think of her in your prayers, I would really appreciate it.

It arrived, it arrived...

My prize from Diane at 'from blank pages' has arrived!! I won a whole set of materials (fabric, zips, vinyl, etc) as part of this:

So I am off to make a start on my cash envelope! I need to get it finished by the 10th March in order to take part in the competition, and I have a friend coming this weekend, eeek!

ETA: Here you go Cherie! A picture of the stash!