The Drop Zone is the newest pattern from Patterns by Annie designer Annie Unrein. The finished pouch unzips to make a tray. It’s a quick and easy-to-make pattern that comes with instructions for three sizes. The Small pouch finishes to 2½” high x 5″ wide x 2½” deep closed, and 2½” x 5″ x 5″ open. Size Medium finishes to 2½” high x 7″ wide x 2½” deep when closed, and 2½” x 7″ x 5″ open. Size Large finishes to 3″ high x 9″ wide x 3″ deep closed, and 3″ x 9″ x 6″ open. For my first three tries with the Drop Zone, I made Large.
The cost to make the pouch is minimal. It takes one 24″ or longer handbag zipper; a fat quarter of the exterior fabric and a fat eighth of the lining fabric; a 12″ x 16″ (max) piece of ByAnnie’s Soft and Stable®, the wonderful foam stabilizer created by Annie; a 6″ x 13″ (max) piece of Pellon Shape Flex fusible woven facing; and thread to coordinate with the chosen fabrics.
With most any smaller bag or pouch pattern that comes with multiple sizes, it’s smart to start with the Large or Medium size until you get the hang of the pattern. As this is my summer of trying to decrease the size of my fabric stash, I’m trying to use up fabric I’ve been hoarding for a long time. That intention comes with the hope that I won’t have to purchase any extra fabric or notions to reach the finish line on the construction.
The first I’m showing you is the third of these bags I made. I made the first and second bags with my daughter-in-law and 13yo granddaughter in mind. My son complimented me on the bags when the package arrived. He said he tried to snag one of them for himself, but was quickly told “no.” So I dug into my stash and found the perfect fabric for my software engineer son. It’s from Hoffman International Fabrics and is called “Circuit Surfing.” I believe I found it in Josephine’s Dry Goods fabric store in Portland, Oregon, about 25 years ago. It’s been waiting for the perfect time. The lining I chose was Radiance in Lime from Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics. It perfectly made the colors in that exterior pop. I love how the two fabrics work together. And that Radiance comes in a whole bunch of colors. It’s great lining fabric that has the ability to complement any number of prints.
For my Drop Zone2, I chose two Windham Fabrics coordinating prints from the Midsummer collection by Hackney and Co. The exterior was Honesty Seed in Sage, and the lining was Wildflower Script in Sage. I thought my daughter-in-law would enjoy this print, would find it soothing.
If you like these two prints, there are many pieces from this collection still available on Etsy. Search “Windham midsummer.”
I added a fabric zipper pull onto the metal zipper pull, making it easier to grab. The photo doesn’t show it, but you can see a similar pull on the photo in the preceding paragraph. It’s a free pattern, Zipper Pulls, offered by By_Annie.
All three of these makes are in Size Large. When I work my to-sew list down a little farther, I’d like to make a set of all three in Small, Medium, and Large, and see how they nest. They are clever, multipurpose bags. I can think of all sorts of items that would travel well in these pouches.
My first stab at the new pattern, Drop Zone1 was done up in a bright print that I’ve, predictably, had for years. It caught my eye once upon a time, and has been in my basement ever since. These colors were vibrant and fun, and I added a swivel hook onto one of the pull tabs. Imagine carrying all your adapters in it, and then hooking the whole thing onto the outside of your carryon. I think I’d give that a thumbs-up!
The exterior fabric is La prima Stella by Yamashin, Kanebo print. If I could find it again, I’d buy more. It’s a treat for the fingers and the eyes. The lining might have been sold as a batik or a hand dye. Not a true batik, but varying shades of a turquoise-blue. It looks like the dye pooled up in places. Really lovely.
There will be more of these pouches in my future. Watch for them.
