Zippered Pouch Tut.

Everyone on Etsy is selling these lil zippered pouches. And why not - the are so useful! I carry 2-3 in my purse/diaper bag at any given time. I've been making them for myself and friends so I thought I'd show how easy they are to make:

first, cut your fabric.
I usually let the length of the zipper I'm using be the guide. (If you need help shortening a zipper check out my post here)
*for a great deal on zippers, check out my store!

The with of the zipper will be the with of your pouch. I cut my fabric about one inch wider than the length of the zipper and then double that measurement for the body of the bag.
so in my case I cut a rectangle that was 7inX14in.

Then taking the shorter sides, do a narrow "dropper over" zigzag stitch.
like this:
Than with your zipper facing up, turn your fabric facing down

line up one of the short lengths with the fabric of the far side of your zipper.
It should look like this:
With a medium length, straight stitch, sew your pouch fabric to the zipper's fabric.
Then turn over your fabric, finger press the fabric back and top stitch the bag's fabric back on itself.
Like so:

Repeat these steps with the other end of the bag's fabric to the other length of the zipper.


to do the top stitch of the opposite side, it will require some maneuvering of the fabric and some fandangeling of your machine, but it will work.
then you have this:
now through one of the sides, turn your pouch inside out and line up the edges
sew along the sides to close up the bag, then do a narrow zigzag to finish the seams off.
open the zipper, turn the bag right-side out and your done!

and look, your corners are perfectly square because you shortened your zipper to the exact length!
Sew, I wont be putting my zippy-pouches in my store, but if your would like to custom order one (in virtually any size) drop me a line!

enolley@rocketmail.com