As I work my way through these Made By Me activities and blog posts, I am realizing that I need to start playing “Never Have I Ever”. I originally thought that by sewing items for myself, I would be able to do something nice for me as well as set aside time to do something relaxing. But now that I am five projects into this blog series, I am really learning amazing new techniques.

With that said, today’s Made By Me post has me working with cork for the first time. Thanks to Cristy from Love You Sew’s cork coin pouch tutorial, I made an easy, fun and super functional project!

Cork was something that I have always wanted to work with but I just was never sure what I would pair it with that I would use every day. After seeing Cristy’s IG post, I realized that I didn’t need to pair it with anything – just use it as-is in a perfect pouch for anything small that would otherwise get lost in my giant purse. I will probably use mine daily for a few bucks and my credit cards. And it will be perfect for vacations too – carry the necessities and not be weighed down by a purse full of kid stuff, coupons, and snacks.

Since this isn’t my design, you can head to Love You Sew and sign up for her newsletter for the instructions. I will walk you through my experience and tell you how easy it was.

I purchased my cork when I was picking out some fabric for a dress at Sew to Speak, a local to Columbus fabric store. I love the way it feels – it is actually pretty soft. I thought for sure it would be scratchy and dry.

My third “never have I ever” for this project was using these fun little clips. I have always been a pin girl. So much of a pin girl, in fact, that I do not own a pin cushion but instead a pin cup! Yep, I use an old one cup measuring cup to hold all of my pins. Because you can’t use pins on cork (or leathers and suedes), I used these clips in conjunction with some fabric glue to keep everything together while I drew my curves.

Speaking of drawing on my curves, how do you love my new Steelers bowls? If you haven’t followed me for a while, I will announce proudly that I am a Pittsburgh fan. I was born in Denver but grew up in and went to college in Pittsburgh. My parents still live there. Black and gold are my colors for every sport.

From start to finish, this fun little pouch took about 30 minutes (not including glue drying time). I made two of them: one with a D ring and one with a spring clip. I am definitely going to use this versatile pouch for a quick, small 'keeper of the things' when I don’t have to haul a purse around.