Just a quick update on the crafting front.  MartMan (the hubs) has been interested in creating his own soaps, and I thought it might be nice to make him some “soap pockets” to put his creations in.

I used a throwaway towel for this first pouch, mostly to test my embroidery.  For a standard sized bar of Dove soap, I cut my fabric 5″x 9″.  I serged the inside edges of my pouch, which takes less seam allowance than sewing.  If you’re sewing, I’d recommend making the width a bit bigger, at least 6″ to a standard bar of soap, like Dove.  For MartMan’s homemade soap, I’ll have to adjust the width, since homemade soap bars tend to be wider.  If you’re putting your own soap in these pouches, measure the inside width of your mold and add enough for a 1/2″ seam allowance on each side, plus some give for the bulk of the soap.  9″ length is just about right.  

I embellished with binding on the envelope outside edges before folding and sewing together the long edges.  I used satin fabric cut 3″ wide, then ironed in half, then quarters folded over the edge and sewed on. This would be a good place to experiment with those decorative stitches on your sewing machine that you never use!

The claw foot tub and ducky embroidery is self-digitized using Singer’s Autopunch, which came with my embroidery machine, then Sew What Pro from S&S Computing.  I have three bubbles that float above ducky’s head, that I totally forgot to include.  It came out great though, and I see some improvements to be made for the next generation of soap pouches.

Determine your center for the back by measuring down from the top of the envelope 2″ and up from the bottom 3″.  The area in the center becomes your embroidery area for whatever design you put on the pouch.  After you’ve embroidered and installed the satin border, turn the pouch on itself, folding 2″ at the top, 3″ at the bottom.  You should have an overlap of about an inch.  Sew the sides, turn inside out and you’re done!