Thicket Fox care pod

Alisa wanted to make a small-sized, care pod for a youngster, and I mentioned I had those cute animal panels from the "Thicket" collection by Gingiber Zest for your Nest released in 2016 by Moda. I have two sizes: the large panels measure 17 x 22-inches with a motif of about 10 x 15-inches, and the small panels measure 9 x 11-inches with a motif of about 6 x 8-inches. (The size of each animal varies slightly.)

The Spencer Ogg "Doorstep Care Pod" pattern we used called for a body piece of 14 x 31-inches. The simplicity of the pattern makes it very easy to adjust the size. I decided to use the small panel so I cut it out and used some cream-colored yardage from my stash to make the back and facings.

I cut the back to match the size of the fox panel at 9 x 11-inches, but extended the length of the back piece by 1.5-inches to make the body of the bag a little longer so that I wouldn't cut off the fox's tail when I boxed the bottom.

I fused a lightweight iron-on interlining to the body pieces to give the cotton a little gumption.

I cut the two facing pieces of the tote the standard four-inches deep but adjusted the width to nine-inches to fit the top of the smaller bag. I used the template for the handle in the same size as for the standard tote as required for the Spencer Ogg "Doorstep Care Pod" pattern.

I seamed the two body pieces together to make the single body piece and followed the instructions as given in the "Doorstep Care Pod" video, except I reduced the bottom folds to two-inches instead of the prescribed 2.75-inches to make the bottom more in proportion with the size of the bag. I used a double row of stitching to finish the top of the bag and sewed the bottom of the facing down to make it more tidy.

When finished, my baby "Thicket" pod is nine-inches high, by four-inches wide, by four-inches deep -- about big enough to hold a one pound bag of coffee -- or candy.

Note: If I weren't accommodating a pre-printed panel, I would cut the body of this bag 9 x 22-inches. You could cut this small sized bag of one 9 x 22-inch body piece and two 9 x 4-inch facings from a single fat quarter.

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