Sewing the Closet Case free Pouf pattern

Hi, I hope you’re all doing well! Me? I’m caught in a weird sewing limbo at the moment – if you follow me on Instagram you might have seen that I received a brand new sewing machine this last week. And it’s still sat in it’s box taunting me from my sewing table! It’s a gift from my family for my upcoming birthday and they’re adamant that I’m not allowed to open it until the 26th of this month…

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Which is 21 looooong days away. The comments on this post by the way, are absolutely hilarious – it really helped knowing my mental anguish was understood, haha!

However, an unexpected side effect of knowing just how fantastic the new machine is (it’s the Pfaff Quilt Ambition 630), is that I am now loathe to continue to sew on my old one in the interminable period before my birthday. I know this is absolutely ridiculous but I just can’t bring myself to do it! The upside is, whilst I fill the echoing-void-between-machines planning future sewing projects; it also gives me time to finally share some of the things I’ve made recently but not blogged. Starting with the Closet Case Patterns freebie pouf pattern!

I’ve made a few simple home decor things in the past, cushions, mats and whatnot but I’m seeing this pouf as legitimate furniture! It is a BEAST; it’s so heavy! And squishy! And I absolutely love it! I also really enjoyed sewing it up. Which is good because I’ve already received a few requests to make more for family and friends…

I made this one for my husband for Fathers Day the other week. He is a massive football (soccer) fan and a lifetime Wolves supporter so it was obvious I had to sew it up using the Wolves colours of gold and black. I also appropriated a fabric badge from an old football top of his that was heading for the bin and topstiched it on.

It is a really simple sew and comes together fairly quickly. I made this whilst trying to home school at the same time; I’m not the worlds’ best (read: I’m possibly among the worlds’ worst) at multi-tasking. Thankfully it’s not a project that requires much thinking!

I made my own covered button (using this multisize tool) and piping, for which I cut and sewed together long 1.5″ wide bias strips of the black fabric. Having pressed it in half, and using a zipper foot, I then sewed the 3mm piping cord in the centre fold. I used my handy little Seam Gauge and Chalk Liner Pen to measure and mark the tape so I could then trim it back to its required 3/8″ to match the seam allowance used in this pattern. Simple.

For the base, I used industrial-strength velcro (I have an unfathomable amount of the stuff in my stash!) in lieu of the 22″ zipper. 22″ sturdy zips aren’t the cheapest, I didn’t have one in my stash and I worried the weight this pouf carries would be a strain on the zip itself. I honestly think strong velcro is your best option (especially if you’ve got a hardwood floor!) The instructions for the pouf only cover a zip insertion, but if you lay your two base half circles together on the floor (each with the straight centre edge finished), it’s easy to work out where to place your velcro – I think I sewed both within the marked seam allowance and then folded one side back on itself and topstitched it in place. Hopefully you can see what I mean from the above pic.

The fabrics were mostly offcuts from my stash, remnants from a pair of Eleanor Jeans and a second Moss Skirt if memory serves; the mustard cord I had to buy in (and interface) as I really needed an exact shade for that – to make it ‘Wolves’ appropriate!

I used Wonder Clips when sewing the top and bottom circles to the sides. There’s quite a thickness here – especially if you’re adding in the piping – and pins just wouldn’t have cut it.

I initially simply stuffed the whole thing with the horrendous pile of fabric scraps I’ve accumulated over the last few years (which had been haunting me all the while!) I am thrilled to have finally busted that scrap pile…but…

… I resorted to using polyester stuffing as well. Once I’d initially filled it with just the fabric scraps, I felt the whole thing just looked a bit flat and … sad. It was also really hard, despite pushing the smallest scraps into the outer edges, to get a decent smooth shape. So polyester stuffing to the rescue. I used a whole kilo of the stuff just to round the thing off and give it some extra squish and squash. I could probably get a bit more in there to be honest!

He was a happy chappy on Father’s Day and absolutely loves his pouf. He has also, thankfully, now stopped pinching my foot stool!

Whilst we’re here, I thought I’d also show you the Wolves medal hanger I made him a little while back. Steve (my husband) is a keen runner and is accumulating medals at rather a pace (see what I did there?!) He’s already filled up one board so I stepped in, with the aid of my Cricut Maker and made him another…

I used permanent vinyl and two layers of chipboard, coated with Modge Podge. It’s strong and is nearly already almost full…

It’s funny, the whole while I’ve been writing this post, I could hear my husband yelling at the TV from the other room. Yeah, you guessed, it – Wolves are playing!

Right, now I’m back off to source some more fabrics and dream of sewing them up on my shiny new sewing machine!

See you soon!

For more regular chat, find me on Instagram @sewsarahsmith 😉

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