It's Raining Elephant Zippy Pouches

After a long drought, I finally got going again. I started by making an elephant zippy pouch for a customer. Yes, yes, I know I said before I don't do customisation. But this was an easy request which I felt I could fulfill without stress. One elephant zip pouch. How difficult could it be?

As it turned out, the difficulty was in stopping at ONE. I think my brain has a brake malfunction.

I made a total of 7 ELEPHANT zip pouches. I know. When it rains, it pours. Let me show them to you in the order I made them. All the elephants are made from 1 shape with slight variations in the trunk.

This is the elephant zip pouch which started it all. The elephant is embroidered using blanket stitch and the tail, if you're curious is done in stem stitch. Oh, look. It has a detachable strap. Main fabric is cotton drill.

Little Miss Pinky was next. Check out the thread I used on the applique. It's CYAN sashiko thread. Also, I put 2 little pockets inside. Main fabric is cotton drill.

My dear Hesitant Grey Elephant zippy pouch was next. Also done on cotton drill. I got a little bored with the blanket stitches and did the applique needle-turned style with my favourite running stitches running all over the body. I was actually reminded of my mother's sewing when I did this elephant. You see, my mother is not very good at handsewing. Her stitches are uneven and all over the place. When I was living with her, she would hand sew reinforcement stitches on my umbrellas and handles of fabric bags and she would never match the thread to the background. So her stitches would stand out. When I was young, I used to get really embarrassed when anyone points out the stitches to me. Strangely, nowadays I find myself wanting to sew "her style" - without any uniformity, neatness and deliberately not hiding the stitches. So this is what I did with my grey elephant.

Sleeping Red Elephant zippy pouch is really just the same style as Miss Pinky. I just gave it a fancy name. Creativity fatigue was starting to creep in. I used my yellow-green cotton drill this time.

Shy Elephant is totally done using embroidery except for the flower eye patch. Stem stitch, running stitch and blanket stitch. I went mad here. Ooh, check out the lovely Free Spirit yellow flower print I used for the lining. Main fabric is cotton drill yet again.

My High Elephant is really a linen-cotton print done on dark green cotton twill. Why is it high? Ate too many flowers! I don't know. At this point, I think I got a little wacky.

I was still sane here but I knew this had to be my last elephant pouch. Little Miss Exotic Elephant was done in chain stitch with a little running stitch. Main fabric is raw linen.

If you're crazy for elephants, please check them out at my Etsy. I've listed all for sale except the one with the strap.

Oh, 1 last thing. My little helper  propping up the pouch for the inside look is my Nurturing Kimmidoll. See you soon.