This week, we are focusing on sewing projects that are both great for beginners and are also practical and usable! Using something that you made yourself is so satisfying and it doesn’t have to be difficult! This step by step pouch tutorial is perfect if you want to create a make-up bag, pencil case or handy pouch that you can always rely on. You don’t need to know anything complicated and only basic tools are required.
What you need:
– Cotton fabric, at least 50cm wide and 20cm high
– Oilcloth, at least 50cm wide and 20cm high
– Zipper, 25 cm long
– Sewing machine with zipper foot
– Iron and ironing board
– Scissors, sewing thread, cloth clips
Step 1
With two A4 sheets, create a pattern piece, which you can use as a template to cut out your fabric. We need two fabric pieces for the interior lining and two fabric pieces for the exterior. The pieces of fabric are each 23 cm wide and 15.5 cm high.
We recommend using oil-cloth for the interior lining of this pouch because it’s easy to clean and durable, making it great for items that will get a lot of use. That said, you can also use a normal cotton fabric too. In our case, we opted for oilcloth for the inside and a cotton blend avocado print fabric for the outside. You could of course turn it around or use the same fabric on both sides.
You will also need two small rectangles of each fabric, as you can see in the pictures. We will use these to attach the zipper. When you have cut out all of your fabric pieces, it’s a good idea to iron them. This makes the material easier to work with and provides a cleaner finish.
Step 2
Let’s make the zipper!
Take the small rectangles of cloth and put them on the ends of your zipper. The pieces with the oilcloth are underneath, with the right side (the “good” side) up. The pieces with the cotton fabric are on top of the zipper, with the right side (the “good” side) down. The ends close with the ends of the zipper and it should be as long as your fabric is wide, so 23 cm.
The zipper should be in the middle. Pin the pieces of fabric tightly and then sew them together in the middle with a simple lock stitch with the zipper.
Now, fold the ends of the upper and lower pieces of fabric to the edge as in the photo below. By ensuring the ends of the fabric are all facing the same direction, we have now elegantly hidden the ends of the zipper.
Step 3
Now put your zipper upside down on the outside of one of your two exterior pieces of fabric (in our case, that’s the avocado print) and fix the fabric in place with cloth clips.
You need the zipper presser foot from your sewing machine. Sew the zipper on your fabric next to the teeth. Your zipper is still upside down, so you can sew it on the outside.
As soon as you come to the zipper when sewing, stop for a moment and raise the foot, push the zipper over, put the presser foot back on the fabric and sew your seam to the end.
Step 4
Leave your fabric as it is (avocado fabric facing up, the zipper upside down) and put a layer of oilcloth on top, with the right (= “good”) side facing down. Fix the layers at the top edge with cloth clips. Use your zipper foot to sew the three layers together near the teeth of the zipper.
Next, you need to put the second layer of avocado fabric right side to right side on the other avocado fabric and sew it on the same principle.
If you now fold both fabrics apart, it looks like the picture above. The two outer sides are sewn to the zipper and the small rectangle pieces of fabric connect everything together.
Step 5
On the one hand, the inner fabric is already sewn of oilcloth, the next page is now:
Now put the two pieces of oilcloth right side to right side and use some cloth pins in place.
As with the previous steps, all layers are stitched together again while the zipper foot of your sewing machine sews close to the teeth of your zipper.
After that, the inside and outside looks like this:
Depending on the fabrics you have used, you now have oilcloth on the inside and casual avocado fabric for the other side. The fabrics are each sewn on the zipper and on the small spacers, so that there is a clean end.
The next step is to make a bag out of your fabric layers:
Remember to open the zipper so that you can turn the pouch right side around at the end.
Step 6
Fold your fabrics so that the oilcloth layers are right side to right side and the cotton fabrics are right side to right side. Round the corners at the edges by neatly snipping off the corner points. Now close the fabric layers around each other with about 1 cm of a seam allowance on each other while leaving a turn-around opening. We left them down in the oilcloth (where the gold scissors are on our photo), so that you do not see the seam after closing the opening.
Then turn your bag right side out from the opening that you left open at the bottom. This is how the bag should look like:
Sit down again at your sewing machine, thread in color-matching yarn and close the opening with a tight-edged lock stitch. Then put the inner fabric inside your pocket and you’re done!
And there you have it, you’ve made your very own zipper pouch! Sewing does not have to be complicated or purely decorative, it can be practical, easy and useful. If you want to learn more and become a sewing expert, we have amazing video courses from professionals. In the meantime, you can practice another beginner sewing project and learn some essential sewing tips and tricks!
If you made this free sewing tutorial, let us know on Instagram by using #makeristcom. We want to see your amazing creations!
