Tutorial: Zipper Pouches

Sorry for the long break, friends.  I was off galavanting with my best, best friends to celebrate all of us turning 30 this year.  We've known each other since we were in high school, and I can't even tell you what an amazing blessing it is to have not just one, but TWO friends that love you and know you so well.  I hope you have that, too.

For their birthday gifts, I wanted to make them something but had a pretty limited timeframe due to craziness with classes, work, etc.  Enter the easiest sewing project, possibly ever:  Zipper Pouches.

Let me just say, I adore zipper pouches.  As an unorganized person, they help me keep my ish together.   And they're cute.  It's a win-win.  And speaking of not being organized... I can't find my photos that I took for this tutorial.   So, they'll be added later.  Whoops!

Here are the steps to follow to make your very own zipper pouches, what I would call a "medium" size.  I've broken down every little thing as much as possible so it should be relatively easy to follow.  If you're a newbie at sewing (and trust me, I'm far from pro!), your first pouch may come out a bit of a mess due to learning to use a zipper foot, but keep at it!  Your pouches will only become better with each try! :)

Tutorial: Zipper Pouches

1. Gather your materials:

     - 4 rectangles of fabric, measuring 12"x9" ea 

     (2 rectangles will be your exterior fabric, and 2 rectangles will be your interior lining)

     - 2 rectangles of interfacing, measuring 11.5"x8.5" ea

     (interfacing can be at whatever thickness you'd prefer, or you don't have to use any)

     - 1 zipper, at least 12" in length 

     (if you are using a metal zipper, use exactly the length of your fabric; if you're using a plastic coil zipper, then you can use at least 12" or longer as it can be cut down)

     - thread 

2. If you are using interfacing, iron on your interfacing to the wrong side of both exterior pieces of fabric.

3. Lay one exterior piece of your fabric out, right side up.  Lay the zipper along the upper raw edge, right side down (zipper side down).  The zipper pull will be on your left.  The extra zipper material on the left side of the pull will be lined up with the raw edge of your exterior fabric.

4. Lay one interior piece of fabric right side down on top of the zipper, lining up the sides with the raw edges of the exterior fabric piece underneath.  Pin the exterior fabric, zipper, and interior lining together along the top of the raw edges where all three parts come together.

5.  With your zipper foot on your sewing machine, sew along the pinned line with a 1/4" seam allowance.  At approximately 1" before the end of the seam, STOP sewing and backstitch (keep your needle down and in place when your finish backstitching).  

6. Push the remaining length of the zipper down (I call it the zipper "tail"), in towards the fabric.  You want to get it out of the way, and then continue your seam along the two pieces of fabric all the way to the end of their raw edges.  I really had to manhandle the zipper to keep it out of the way AND keep my seam allowance along the remaining fabric, so don't be afraid to really use those muscles.

7. Flip the fabrics - you'll see that now you have an exterior and interior piece for one side of your zipper pouch.  Hooray!  Press both pieces away from the zipper.

8. Complete steps 4-8 again, with these exceptions: the zipper pull will be on your right, and this time some of the fabric will be attached to the zipper before the new fabric is attached.  Once you've pressed the pieces, the fabric will lay out like a book on either sides of the zipper.

9. Open the zipper halfway.  Make sure that the zipper is pinned on the raw edge of the material so the teeth still line up, since it's halfway unzipped.  Tuck the "tail" of the zipper inside the fabric and make sure it stays there!  Take the two interior fabric pieces and pin them together, right sides together.  Leave a gap of approximately 4" along the bottom that will not be sewn together at this time.  Take the two exterior fabric pieces and pin them together, right sides together.  Take your time pinning; re-pin as needed to ensure that both the interior and exterior panels are smooth and lay flat.

10. Sew an ongoing seam along the pinned perimeter of the exterior and interior fabric with a 1/2" seam allowance.  Remember NOT to sew that 4" gap along the interior fabric, and to make sure that your zipper "tail" stays tucked inside the fabric and isn't included in your stitching.  Go slowly around the zipper pull area as your seam should run directly alongside it and if you're off at all on your seam allowance, you may lose a needle if it hits the zipper pull... just speaking from experience. :)

11. Pull your pouch right-side out through the gap you left along the interior fabric lining.  Pull out the zipper so the "tail" is sticking out on top of the pouch.  You're almost done!!

12. Tuck in the raw edges of the interior lining that haven't yet been sewn.  Press them in a straight line (not necessary, but it makes the final sewing easier), and sew along the edge as closely as possible (you could hand sew this, too, but I just use my machine).  Tuck the interior lining in the bag.

You have a new zipper pouch!  Congratulations!  Now go stuff it with things and be happy.

Here are the pouches I made the other day.  The flower print on the left had a panel added to the bottom with canvas chevron print to add some structure as I didn't have any interfacing.  The smaller elephant print pouch in the front has a gusseted bottom so it'll sit flat; see the pic below to view the bottom.  If you have questions on how to do that, just message me and I'll send you the steps!

You can see the different lining material used on one pouch, and the gusseted bottom of the smaller elephant print bag here.  I used a canvas chevron print for the bottom as it's thicker than cotton, but you could use cotton, too.

My zippers were too long for my bags, so I cut them off and made tabs out of the chevron material.  Again, just message me if you need a quick "how to" for those!