Thursday, November 29, 2012

Rescue complete

So yesterday I posted about my zipper fiasco.  After I got over that momentary panic, I realized that all I needed to do was re-make the pocket panel, and I did not have to pitch the whole project.  After I did that, I received a comment from a reader directing me to this you tube video, showing how to get a zipper pull back on, which I will definitely bookmark for future reference!


This is the Zip Pocket Pouch from Michelle Patterns.  I always have to concentrate really hard when making a pattern like this, with lots of steps and right sides together/wrong sides together, etc., and I have a bit of a difficult time wrapping my head around it, but like all other Michelle Patterns I've tried, taking it slow and one step at a time is the key.  One little note - the pattern calls for sew-in interfacing for some steps.  The only sew-in I had on hand was a heavyweight.  The pattern called for 2 layers of sew-in interfacing, but I figured 1 layer of heavyweight would be sufficient, and it was.  It doesn't make the pouch bulky, and provides just the right amount of structure.


The pattern includes 3 sizes - small, medium, and tall.  The pouch I made is the small size, and it's not super small!  The pouch part is considerably larger than credit card size, you'd probably even be able to fit a cell phone in there.

Okay, a question for you all.  Recently I've been re-sizing my photos to make them fit the width of my blog, which I like, however then clicking on the photo does not direct you to a larger size to allow you to see more detail.  Otherwise, if I don't re-size the photos first, you can click to get a larger view, however I find that the 'large' choice in blogger isn't large enough for my liking and the 'extra large' choice is too big for the width of my blog.  Does anyone have any thoughts?  What do you do/prefer?

18 comments:

Svetlana said...

your pouch looks wonderful, Heather. I bought this pattern a few days ago and I'm planning on tackling it over the weekend.

Izzy said...

Love the pouch! I know what you mean about reading the instructions and then going one step at a time... I'm the type of person who "scans" instructions, and it's come back to bite me a couple of times in the past! :-)

Katie B said...

This turned out really cute! It cracks me up that there's a YouTube video for how to fix it. There's seriously a YouTube video for everything!

Your pictures look good to me! I usually read blogs on my iPad, and I don't often click on them to make them bigger.

Kelli said...

I've been having the same concerns with my pictures and was wondering the same thing. So I don't have any advice to offer other than I don't usually click on other people's pics so, I think I'd rather see it big originally.

Nat at Made in Home said...

Such a great pouch!

Poppyprint said...

My pet peeve on blogs is tiny photos. You've got the whole column people, use it! So, I like big photos. I link my pics directly from flickr, so that if you click on them when reading my blog it should take you directly to my flickr stream where you can look at any size you want. You also specify in flickr, which size photo HTML you're grabbing to insert in your blog post, so there's no extra futzing with the blogger photo controls. But are you on flickr? Duh, this might not be any help to you!

M-R Charbonneau said...

LOVE it, Heather! Great job!

Kristan said...

Ooh, cuute! For pics, I find when I upload to Flickr, then use the medium size from there and insert it into my blog and then choose the XL size from Blogger, I like that better. When I upload directly to Blogger, I have to use the large size and they're not big enough. Though this probably won't work for you because your column is smaller than mine (I only have one side column, so I guess that gives me more space). I think the photos you have here are good, they take up your whole column pretty much.

Cathy said...

Lve the pouch and i love michelle patterns! Your pics are just fine!

Carla said...

Cute little pouch. I make my pics extra large, but I think my blog space is bigger somehow.

Pomegranate Quilts said...

This is a great purse. You chose beautiful fabrics, and did an awesome job saving it from zipperlessness!

Teje Karjalainen said...

It's beautiful and I'm happy you finished it! for me your photos are great size and I don't need to see them bigger. x Teje

Maria said...

Love your pouch. I've made this one also. I used fusible interfacing instead of sew in and it was fine. I also used a magnetic button closure.
I like the photos large and the ones on this blog look fine to me. I usually post mine on xlarge.

Jess @ Elven Garden Quilts said...

It looks fantastic Heather! I might have to give that pattern a whirl, it looks like an extremely practical design :o)

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the You Tube video link! Your pouch is adorable. I also like big photos right in the post. It just looks better, and not having to click to see details is a plus. However, if I want to see something closer, I like the option of clicking. If you're comfortable with a little HTML editing (very little) and a little math (plug in the numbers and it does the work for you), there is an option. You can insert the photo at Large size, then go to the HTML tab and change the height and width measurements. Square photos are easiest because the measurement is the same, thus no math. Just change the width="400" and height="400" so they say "500" or any number you like. For rectangular photos you need to do a calculation so the photo doesn't stretch. It requires a tiny bit of algebra, but once you jot it down, it isn't difficult. Write this down:
Width = 400 = 500
Height = 300 = ?

The first measurements (400 & 300) are the CURRENT size of your photos - what the HTML shows after you insert it. The second measurements (500 & ?) are the size you want it to be. Figure out what your preferred width is and that will always remain the same (500 in the example). To calculate the new height, multiply 500 (new width) x 300 (old height) and divide that by 400 (old width). The result is the new height - in this case, 375. Plug that into the HTML and you're good to go! If it helps to remember, it's called cross multiplying. It's about the only thing I remember from algebra 25+ years ago.

Debbie said...

Darling little purse and again I love it in the pearl bracelet!

RE: photos at a Sewing Summit class we were encouraged to resize our pics to the width of our blog prior to inserting them. Then you'd insert 'original' I believe....I've been meaning to play around with this but haven't yet, so am interested in this convo. Also interested about uploading from flickr. At this point I rarely do that.

Paskiaq said...

It's beautiful! Great fabric choices! I love that pattern and have made it several times. I widened the pattern pieces to get it to fit my phone :)

Allison said...

lovely little pouch!
I have enjoyed reading through the comments & following the discussion about photo size. Lately I have been uploading my pictures to Flickr, then posting them to my blog. I like the XL size, but was afraid my readers might think it a bit rediculous, but it looks like the consensus is that bigger photos are better :)