Open wide zipper pouch extraordinaire

Sometimes I have an idea for a gift and I just have to make it. My dear colleague and friend Ceylan has left our office to pursue her dreams in Istanbul. I knew I wanted to make her something handmade and it was suppose to be something useful, too.

I decided to make Ceylan an open wide zipper pouch in extra big so she can use it as toiletry bag. And since Ceylan loves nail polish, I downsized the free pattern of the nail polish quilt block by Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet and made three of them in different shade of pink.

The bag was suppose to be very chic and classy so I went with Robert Kaufmann Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic in beige and that worked so well.

The other side of the bag has her name in the same shades of pink. The letters are hand drawn first and then transferred into fabric. I quilted in simple diagonal straight lines with this beautiful pink of 50wt Aurifil thread. The bag has a great texture!

 The zipper is pink as well and it's such a great contrast to the beige linen fabric.

 The lining fabric is a pink oil cloth so it suits the bag's use and it can be easily cleaned.

This pouch is seriously my masterpiece in form of a bag. I'm not a big fan of zippers but I do like the open wide zipper pouch by Noodlehead and these bags make great gifts. The size is customised though and it's about 15" (38cm) long and 7"(18cm) high.

In total it took me about 10 hours to make the bag and it was done in two days, all after work until the middle of the night.

But it was so worth it! Ceylan absolutely loves it and she said she always thinks of me when she sees the bag, so what is better than that?