Pouch making 101

Pouch making 101…….

In my honest opinion one of the greatest modern conveniences is pockets.   Jeans, dress pants, jackets and whatever else generally have pockets somewhere to carry your belongings.  The Renaissances pocket is a belt pouch.  Pouches are and can be made out of any material one desires.  I’m partial to leather. (Shocking I know) A few months back I offered to make a leather item of choice to our Winter Scarlett for her birthday present.  She took time to think on it and decided on a pouch. Now I haven’t made a pouch in a while as I was given a good half dozen by a former festie and haven’t had the need to make any.  So this was a fun refresher. 

Items needed:

Material (I use leather)

Pattern (I based mine off one I have done in the past, Google pouch patterns to find one you like)

Sewing machine (industrial for the leather will save you needles and many choice curse words)

Hole punch

Suede lace



material



The first step was making a pattern; I had a general idea of what pieces I needed so I set out to collect the fabric and leather to complete the project and did a paper mock up pattern to make sure the thought process and what I remembered were on the same page.  Now I used a upholstery leather (think jacket or chair) for the body and tooling leather for the flap and securing base (I’m making these words up, I’m sure there’s a real technical term for it, mine are simple and I know what I’m talking about in my head, if you proceed to a leather shop and use these terms I’m not responsible for the confused look you get from them.)  The reason I use tooling leather is because it’s heavier and sturdier and will be more likely to withstand the constant pulling and tugging from the drawstring portion of the bag and be less likely to rip out in the long run.  You can use any material really for either pieces, this is just my preference.



Pattern



Once the paper mockup was completed I set out to transferring the pattern to the leather and cutting it out.  The pouch body is an oblong oval cut in half (front and back) and a wide strip (I use 2.5 inches) that runs the length of the outside (circumference) of the oval.  

I’ve added a picture  below as it’s just easier to show a closer detail of what I cut out of the tooling leather than explain.  Essentially the front is a smaller scale of the body of the pouch and the back is a circle joined with a rectangle.  The dots are punch marks for holes and the dotted line is where to cut for the belt to pass through.



detailed tooling leather section pattern

Once all the pieces are cut out it was a simply a matter of sewing everything together. First step was sewing the tooling leather to the respective front and back pieces of the pouch body and then sewing the whole pouch together.  Take a minute to line up the flap and base piece to their respective front and back pieces.  The back of the tooling pieces should be against the respective outside portion of the pouch.  Once the securing flap and base has been sewn on sew the pouch together ensuring the finished pieces (outside of the bag) are touching (the pouch is going to be constructed inside out.)  Once the pouch is sewn together turn it right side out and punch out your holes in the bag for the drawstring.  I punch two holes per tooling section, two holes on each side of the tooled piece, and one hole on each of the side of the strip piece. For those keeping score at home that is a total of 14 holes along the top of the bag about a ¼ inch from the top.  Thread your lace through the holes starting from the back and ending in the front.

There are four more holes to punch out on the securing base.  Once those four are punched out take another section of lace and starting from the top two holes go in from the front and come out from the back through the bottom two holes, this will give you a loop to secure around your clasp on the top flap.

Finally punch a hole in the top flap and secure the button/clasp you wish to decorate the bag with.  At this point you should have a completed pouch.  Take a few minutes to pull the drawstrings a few dozen times to close and then pull open the bag to get the pouch broken in a bit.

One thing to note, I had to go back and re-sew was the front of the pouch to the side strip piece because they didn't line up.  Keep the front and back pieces pulled taunt against the strip side piece.  If you don't do this you’ll find the front and back pieces have a tendency to not line up and you’ll have to go back and rip the seam out and re-sew as I did.  Also if you’re using tooling leather make sure you decorate (tool) punch the holes and dye the leather prior to sewing it to the pouch.  It makes it much easier in the long run as you won’t have to fight the pouch body to complete the tooling.  If you’re following this step by step for some reason instead of reading it all first then you’re kind of hosed at this point.

Ta Daaaaaa

Just do a freaking pushup already

This week has been a very “blurg” start to it.  Sunday I started out eating okay for breakfast and lunch and then skipped the rest of the meals electing instead to have a cinnamon roll that was leftover from Saturday for my second lunch and dinner.  I didn’t get the egg bake done on Sunday so I didn’t have a breakfast for Monday but I stopped at a restaurant by my work and got eggs and a piece of steak and for dinner that night I had an veggie omelet without cheese from Keys café and had a piece of toast. 

Come yesterday I couldn’t get myself motivated to do anything and it was the combination of the past two days and feeling like crap for not sticking with diet or allowing myself to cheat when there was really no need.  I made it through yesterday without any cheat sources and felt better today and thus far today I have been feeling much better.

For those two days I had a feeling of dread, that the diet was ending and that it was just a fad and all the newfound changes were……

<Anderson Pity party for one….your table is ready….Anderson party of one your table is ready>

Yeah, I threw a pity party for myself.  I made it through but it was the first real time I’ve encountered anything of resistance since I started back in January.    I’ve never been a fan of fears and I generally tend to avoid things that I know cause me fear.    For the past month plus now I’ve been doing assisted push-up (against a wall or countertop) before each meal along with air squats.  Gets the heart rate going and a nice boost of energy and gets the body needing food and being that the food I’m feeding it is healthy then it’s a good go round for all parties.

That little backstory brings me to my point.  I’m afraid of doing pushups.  Even when doing the p90x I did knee pushups.  The last time I can remember doing a successful push up was in football in High School.  I look back and I can’t tell anyone why I’m afraid of the proper pushup…but I am, kneeling, against a wall, whatever modified form you can think of I’ll do it.  But the traditional good old fashioned pushup frightens me.

Now why bring up the pushup you ask? 

Because……One of the goals I set for myself is to bench press 225.  Now….a regular pushup is somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 – 70% of your body weight.  As it stands right now, if I can do a push up I “should” be able to bench press 225.  I haven’t tried the max bench press because each time I go to the gym it’s for a circuit exercise not to see how much I can lift; nor have I tried to do a push-up because, well I think I’ve hit that subject the last paragraph or so.

Last night I was home alone with my daughter and I thought I should give it a whirl, what’s going to happen?  I can’t complete one and she sees me on the floor and wants to play, I can and she sees me on the floor and wants to play?  I let the opportunity pass by and she fell asleep and I worked on leather stuff to support writing an upcoming blog with pictures.

Today I have thus far been struck down by the pushup Gods….It really started last night with my industrial sewing machine starting to act up on me while I was sewing a pouch and cowl together but I managed to make it through and cleaned out the sewing machine and readjusted everything to help it run properly.  This morning I managing to get a shower in this morning because I’ve been meaning to take a bath and relax at night but have neglected that for other projects.  (It’s rare I shower in the morning, I’m more of a before I go to bed kind of guy.) Driving in to work separately because I have to work tonight I got to my car pick up site and was getting my bag out of the car and smartly put my coffee on top of the car with my keys.  I grabbed my keys and the coffee cup got caught in the antenna and spilt over the side of the car onto yours truly.  So now I’m sporting the newest rage cologne “Eu du Espresso roast” I grab my bag throw it into the other vehicle that just arrived and grab my jeans and determine to figure something out.  I walk into work and we have a badge access system.  I go first and swipe my badge and hold the door for the person behind me as they scan their badge I start to go through the door and my badge leaps out of my hand back into the entrance hallway…luckily I have an old throwback football jersey here and am wearing that along with jeans, unfortunately I remember why I don’t care for this throwback jersey, it tries to strangle me, the neck hole is made for someone with a smaller neck, so it has been turned into a V-neck to avoid feeling like I’m suffocating myself for fun today….…..it’s going to be one of those days.

I need to just do a friggin pushup and get this over with

PS…if you never hear from me again it’s because I didn’t do a pushup….let it serve as a reminder to do your pushups!!!

A shift in the blog theme begins.....or as I like to call it...closer to Fest time

Quick Monday blog post.  The past week was a whirlwind to say the least.  Between house stuff, and preparing for selling children’s clothes at a consignment sale I didn’t really have anything to blog about.  I did make the leather hats, however I forgot to take pictures and it’s more of a viewer friendly activity than one to read about.  I will be starting on a pouch for a friend this week and I will ensure that I take pictures of that construction along the way.

I didn’t make an egg bake last night as a to-do list of more substantial things was needed to get done. So I will be making the egg bake after work tonight for the rest of the week.  I’m also decided that this week I’m going to give myself off of lifting weights and focus on the kettle bell swings 3x this week (Tues, Thurs, and Sat) and walking on Monday and Thursday for my exercise for the week that is scheduled, and hopefully a few bike rides this week for training for the upcoming Tour De Cure.  I’ve had a few nagging pains from my hip and bicep for a few weeks now and I don’t want to injure anything too much by pushing through them.  Tonight/Tomorrow I’m going to try to start the pouch construction so hopefully by Wednesday I’ll have it completed and can make a post about it.

With only 16 weeks to go until the opening Cannon of the 2012 Minnesota Renaissance Festival I’m thinking the blog is going to be switching more from health/food/fitness to more general focus on the Festival portion of life.  (Costuming, leather craft, story design etc.)

The topics that I have on the agenda are:

Doublet construction

Tights

Bracers/archery arm guard

Chain mail sleeve

Creating a story

These aren’t necessarily going to be for sure topics to post about but they are the most likely and it won’t be in any particular order, it’s what time is given/allotted to me in the “Real world” to complete and I remember to take pictures of (it’s much more fun to explain something with visual than with words unless completely necessary.)

What I'm giving up

Along my weight loss journey the most frequent question I’ve been asked of late is what “I’ve had to give up”.  I actually feel like I gave up very little.  Yes I traded processed food for home cooked meals and a scheduled eating pattern.  I tell them the only thing that I feel I really gave up is the Variety because I found it easier to eat the same meals day after day with the exception of cheat day.  To that most people respond “I don’t know how you do that” or “I could never do that.”  In reality, look at what you eat day in and day out.  I’m willing to bet that, for about 70% of your meals it involves the same or similar items at least 3-4 times a week.  Maybe I’m wrong maybe I’m right but that’s my honest opinion.  I don’t think that people have nearly as much variety in their food choices as they think, especially upon hearing that I have an egg bake for breakfast and chili for my two lunches.  My “variety” comes from dinner, and if I’m out with my client with work I end up having the Cobb salad without the blue cheese crumbles and Olive Oil and Vinegar for dressing.  The other nights it’s meat and veggies.  I am the type of people that can, and have, ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch for months on end.   

But I digress; I don’t believe I gave up much of anything.  I gave up a half hour to an hour a day or so to make sure I got some exercise via biking, walking or lifting weights.  I gave up the idea that this is just something I can do to lose weight and hopefully not gain it back, because it’s a lifestyle choice.  Most importantly I gave up a lot of excuses and rather unhealthy lifestyle and accountability. 

I am looking forward to continuing to get healthier, and reach all my goals and set more along the way.  This is creating something inside of me that reaches the part of me that wants to help people.  I know that If I can do this with the excuses I’ve been allowed to tell myself and given myself and resigned myself for many years that this is how it’s going to be and to just deal with it, anyone can do this.  But it takes that moment of realization.  Unfortunately it didn’t set in a few years ago when it really should have, in my opinion. 

Three years ago today my father passed away from multiple health complications.  I remember looking at his pictures when he was my age and younger and hearing everyone comment on how much we were and looked alike.   Of my two older brothers, I am the one the most resembles my dad in all aspects of life.  There are still days that I long to be able to give him a call on the phone and hear him say what I know I’ll hear in the conversations with him but realize I can’t.  Those are the moments that help keep me committed to changing myself.  Because I don’t want my children to have to feel that they may have missed a chance to spend time with me because I couldn’t, or rather didn’t take the time to really change myself for me and for them.  Time is short and precious and it will be gone before we even realize it, so I intend to make every moment that I can count with friends and family that I can while I have it. 

RIP Pop, Love you

bye bye 50!

I finally hit the goal of 50lbs lost as of last Friday (20^th for those keeping track at home) I am fairly certain it didn’t happen the week before that (weighed in on Thursday instead of the normal Friday) because I had actually overworked myself and sent my body into a bit of a starvation mode, apparently it thinks that if I only give it around 1500 positive calories I’m trying to starve it. Sheesh, stupid body.  So I re-evaluated the plan and decided that the days I really hit the workouts I should add a protein shake or some substitute to really offset the loss so as not to send the message to my body we’re starving.

Last week apparently flew by because I didn’t have a single post.  In a recap, I watched both the kids (Mon), helped a friend work on his deck (Tues), cleaned the house (Weds), both jobs again (Thurs) and made cinnamon rolls for cheat day (Fri).  I had one bike ride in there and otherwise just the regular weight lifting and walking on Thursday with my client at the 2nd job.

Did I mention Cinnamon rolls……



go ahead......be jealous.....

Along the way last week I also decided to sign up for Tour De Cure the ride to prevent Diabetes.  Somewhere along the line the thought of riding a bicycle 28 miles seemed like a great idea.  I think it was the Free fee waiver for work and a bicycle jersey.  Yes folks, in less than 45 days yours truly will be donning a bright red bicycle jersey.  I think this is my punishment for running outside in the rain last week to lock up the shed and fix the water spout without a shirt on….come on it was DARK… I mean I’m sure I glowed like one of those snap and glow sticks you can really only find on the 4^th of July but dang. 

If you feel compelled take a look at the info @ http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR  Search by my name (Theodore Anderson, all official sounding and all) and donate whatever your heart leads you to do.

(Editors note: I just re-read the blog and found the humor in the fact that the first thing I talked about was cinnamon rolls followed in the next paragraph by a diabetes awareness bike ride.....)

Otherwise the only other things I ramble on about in this blog would fall under costuming or rehearsal for renaissance festival.  Neither of which had any major breakthrough/developments since the last blog.  I am in the midst of making a new hat for myself so we’ll see if I can bore you with enough for a post on that.

The man in the mirror

I had a moment today where I looked in the mirror and for the first time since I started this healthier journey I thought I could really SEE the difference in the person looking back in the mirror.  The stomach looked a little smaller, there seemed to be a bit less lumps and curves in the outline and yes, even the face looked a bit thinner. 

Then something that I’m not really comfortable with set in…

Fear…

I’ve spent so much of my life being the bigger, if not the biggest person; what happens if, no… when, I reach those goals? 

A lot of my identity is being larger than everyone.  I never had a fight, outside of football practice field, because no one wanted to mess with the larger guys. 

Then I rationalized things a little more.

I’m always going to be one of the bigger guys; I’m tall and fairly strong.  My build, I think I’ve mentioned before, isn’t going to allow me to be the Matthew Mcconaughey (First name I could come up with after couple minutes of thinking) size.

Speaking of size, I’m also weighing in today as tomorrow finds me off of work to help out a friend with some of his home projects.  So here’s to hoping that 50 lbs. has managed to drop off a day earlier so that can be another goal I can cross off the list.  I realize, looking back that I’ve spoken a bit about goals.  I’ve set a lot of goals, and have added more to them as time went by.  The point of each goal is to give me something to work towards.  It’s never something that I deep down know I most likely will fail at because that’s not the point.  That’s part of the reason I didn’t include P90X into my plan regularly.  I know that come the 3^rd or 4^th week I’ll have to be switching something around or have to skip and make up a workout here and there and mentally that will lead me to a sense of failure.  Something like 2 miles a day walking/biking/hiking/getyurarsemoving I can do….I can do the 2 miles during my breaks at work.  Not all these goals have to be shared; they don’t even have to be written down, though it does help.

So whatever it is, stick to it.  Yes, as I’ve found, there will be moments where you have to stop and realize that there is a change happening to you and with that change may come fear or any other human response.  But that’s okay, keep plugging through it and you’ll be able to conquer more and more with each step.

leather scale mail update and general thoughts

Back to the blogging trail today.  Yesterday found me home with a teething and growth spurt fever induced daughter.  Rather than face daycare calling every hour I elected to stay home with her.  We watched Mall cop in the morning on a recommendation of a friend, aside from a few chuckles that’s an hour and a half that I will not be getting back in my life.  Otherwise when she went down for her afternoon nap I managed to get some work in on the leather scale mail project and get the scales on the back completed.



Still pieces to be put in place around where the
bright green trim is, and buckles along the sides
but this is the meat and bones of it.



I have to say, now that the hardest part is done, I’m not feeling it.  I don’t see it working well with my mind’s eye view of Little John.  I’m hoping that once I get it fully completed with buckles on the side and the black scales dyed/painted more woodsy colors I’ll be able to picture it more. Or maybe with some accessories for the colder days it’ll work out.  Next on the costume schedule is a new Leather Robin Hood hat.

Last night I headed to work at second job and we ended up walking around Rosedale Mall.  I actually lost count after the first 45 minutes on how many laps we had completed.  I did download an App for my phone that tracks distance covered last Tuesday so I’ve come to rely on that for my rides and walks of late.  Tonight doesn’t look like there will be a bike ride as Sunday my rear bike tire met a sloppy seconds piece of glass that the front tire wanted nothing to do with.  Nothing warms the heart like a love story between glass and rubber and pushing a bike, bike carrier, boy and groceries a little over a mile home. I picture Jack Black playing my role.

Tonight there are plans in place after work and not getting home until later so it looks like the mileage goal will be met the good old fashioned way, with dog and leash.  I’m actually proud of myself in the fact that I’ve hit at least 4 miles every day in some fashion of distance covered since last Tuesday.  I’d say prior to that but the App wasn’t downloaded until Tuesday morning to make it official.

Any comments/thoughts on the scale mail project are welcome below!