PinkPlease!: 09/01/2011

I have missed all my blog friends so much!!!

There is nothing like a kind note of encouragement from you guys to make my day.

I have FINALLY gotten a chance to sit down and finish this post that I started almost 2 months ago. Since interest rates are so low right now, my mortgage biz is keeping me busy with refinances and I have also been showing a lot of houses lately (I'm a Realtor too). I also started selling my tooth fairy pillows and they have been keeping me occupied at night. Not to mention my 3 boys are not letting the dust settle either.

Unfortunately, with all this going on in my life, my blog has taken the back burner.

But not tonight, baby! It's comeback time!

I ~~recently~~ posted about this little Swiss Cheese Pouch (don't the circles remind you of swiss?) that I made for the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap. I wanted to share with you a little tutorial on how I created these nifty circles.

I was lucky enough to have ~~recently~~ received an Accuquilt Go! Baby cutting machine. "Amazing" just doesn't do it justice! You can cut (many layers of) fabric into different shapes perfectly, and in no time flat.

Here it is sitting in my "little sewing area."

I was able to choose three dies and I chose:

Go! Circles -2", 3", & 5" (#55012)

Go! Strip cutter - 2 1/2" strips (#55014) and

Go! Birds (#55324)

For the pouch, I wanted to try the reverse applique technique which I've never done before. For those of you not familiar with reverse applique, instead of sewing an item directly onto the front of your project (applique), you sew it to the back of your project and then cut away the fabric from the front. OR you can cut out the shape you'd like using your AccuQuilt Go! Baby first, and then place the accent fabric onto the backside of what you plan to sew it onto and then sew it on directly on the front. (I know this sounds confusing, but I've got pictures to explain what the heck I'm talking about!)

This tutorial will show you how I used the Accuquilt Go! Baby to do the reverse applique technique on this pouch.

For the pouch, I used Anna of Noodlehead's Scrappy Make-up Pouch Tutorial.

For the cute little fabric that covers the edges of the zipper, I used Kelly's Zippered Pouch Tutorial over at Kelby Sews.

Reverse Applique using the

AccuQuilt Go! Baby.

**You will need two Accuquilt Go! Baby cutting mats for this technique**

For the outside of the pouch, I used two pieces of fabric (linen) measuring 9.5" x 8".

Now let's cut some circles. Since the die has 3 different circle patterns that you can choose from (and I only wanted to use the smallest size circle), you need to cover up the other two circles with an Accuquilt Go! cutting mat. Next fold the fabric so the areas where you'd like your circles to be are directly over the die.

Set the additional cutting mat over your fabric before running it through the

Accuquilt Go! Baby and crank away.

Make sure that the cutting mat covering the other circle dies actually covers the dies completely.

Here is what happens if you do NOT.

Repeat the step above by covering the larger circles that you do not want to use with the cutting mat and placing the fabric that you do want cut over the smaller circle.

Cover fabric with the additional cutting mat and crank away.

Here is your swiss cheese piece of fabric.

Place your swiss cheese piece on top of your first piece of accent fabric.

Zig zag stitch around your circle securing the two pieces together.

Here is what it looks like before you trim away the excess fabric.

Turn over and trim away the extra fabric leaving about 1/4" of fabric to the right of the seam.

Repeat around all the circles. Here is one circle that runs off the edge of the fabric. Before sewing, make sure to leave extra fabric hanging over the edge. Sew all around it and then ...

...trim it up.

Ta Da! Here is the front of your reversed appliqued swiss cheese pouch!

Create your cute zipper.

Attach the front of your pouch to cotton batting using spray mount. If you'd like to do a little quilting on the front of your pouch, now is the time to do it!