Free pattern: 1950s butterfly evening bag

I love a good patchwork project but I’m not always wanting to take on making a whole quilt.  Sometimes I want to just make some patchwork squares and turn it into something pretty.  That could be lots of things besides quilts.  Like this adorable patchwork fold over pouch!  Quilted clothing and accessories have become super trendy lately.  Melissa at Polka Dot Chair created this project and she has a tutorial showing how you can sew this pretty patchwork pouch.

If larger patchwork blocks on a quilt are pretty, these smaller scale patchwork blocks in this pouch are sending me over the moon.  They’re just so sweet!  And because they’re made from half square triangles, they’re actually pretty quick to sew together.  Her tutorial includes how to create 8 of these half square triangles at a time.

This is a great project for using up your scraps!  This project uses a ½ yard of a solid fabric and then a total of ½ yard of scraps of various prints.  As long as your scraps are big enough to cut a 5 ¾” square then you can use them.  And pairing the scraps with a solid color in all of your blocks helps keep the look both scrappy but also cohesive.

And while the small pinwheel blocks are perfect for this project, I think you could also substitute other quilt blocks – or even some orphan blocks left over from quilt projects.  

When you’ve got all your blocks made, it’s easy to sew them into a fold over pouch.  It’s basically a larger version of a simple zipper pouch.  If you’ve ever sewn a zipper pouch before, you know how satisfying they are to sew.  Quick, easy, and always useful!  And in this case, a stylish patchwork pouch!

Go to Polka Dot Chair to see how to sew this adorable patchwork pinwheel fold over pouch.

[photo credit: Polka Dot Chair]