There are about as many ways to make a zipper pouch out there as there are sewists, so I thought I'd share my favorite method. Thank you so much to Fairfield World for supporting my creativity by providing me with products to try and compensating me for blogging for them. All thoughts, ideas, opinions, and enthusiasm are 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links.
My favorite pouches are lined and have some support material (batting or foam). You'll want to choose will depend on how much support you want the sides to have an what you want your quilting to look like. My favorite is using Support Soft Foam Stabilizer, but my husband prefers the batting.
You can also make pouches in just about any size depending on your wants and needs. The photos in this post show two different size pouches with two different support materials. I love the support foam filler because it gives a bit more protective padding to the contents and makes the pouch less floppy, but both will work well.
The small pouch measures approx. 5" by 8 1/4", finished. The large pouch measures approx. 5" by 10" finished with the inner dimensions of each just slightly smaller. You can choose any dimensions you like.
Here's what you'll need to make your own:
- 1/6 yard of outer fabric (I chose Encylopedia Galactica Diagrams in Black by Andover Fabrics)
- 1/6 yard of lining fabric
- 1/3 yard of Support Soft Foam Stabilizer OR 1/6 yard Soft & Toasty™ Cotton Batting
- 10" zipper (or longer, trimmed)
- Contrasting Scraps for zipper ends.
- Any desired embellishments. (We used No-Sew Hexies using Alison Glass's Sunprints 2017 collection for Andover Fabrics.)
- Basting Spray or pin.
Directions:
Start by cutting out your fabric pieces. You'll need TWO rectangles for the outside from your main fabric and TWO rectangles for your lining from your contrasting fabric. My larger pouch pieces were cut to 6" x 11 1/2". My smaller pouch was cut to 6" by 9 1/2 inches. When choosing your size, keep in mind that you'll lose about an inch top to bottom and 1 -1 1/2 inches side to side from our quilting and seam allowances.
Add any embellishments you want for your bag or leave yours plain.
Go here if you'd like to learn how to make these no-sew hexies.
Pin or use a bit of basting spray to layer your outside pieces onto the batting or your support foam.
Quilt as desired. Quilting lines will show more using the Support™ Foam than they will using the batting.
Now it's time to prepare the zipper. If you're using a longer zipper, you'll want to trim it down to be about 1 1/2 or 2" shorter than your fabric.
You'll need two small scraps to sew to the ends. You could use your main fabric if you want them to blend in, but it's fun to use contrasting fabric for just a little bit of POP.
Stitch your fabric scraps to the ends of your zippers, sewing just past the ending spots. If you had to trim your zipper be sure to sew extra securely on the trimmed end...if your zipper head comes off there will be no getting it back on.
Iron and trim about 1/8 WIDER than your zipper.
Trim any excess zipper bits because they'll make our pouch corners too bulky.
Stitch one side of your zipper pouch to your zipper with RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Line your scrappy zipper ends up with the side of your pouch and the zipper itself about 1/8 inch in from the side of your pouch as in the picture. Stitch with a generous 1/4 inch seam allowance.
At this point your pouch should look like this with one side of the pouch stitched to the zipper.
Repeat to sew the second side of the pouch to the other side of the zipper.
So that you have something that looks like this.
You'll need two small scraps to sew to the ends. You could use your main fabric if you want them to blend in, but it's fun to use contrasting fabric for just a little bit of POP.
Stitch your fabric scraps to the ends of your zippers, sewing just past the ending spots. If you had to trim your zipper be sure to sew extra securely on the trimmed end...if your zipper head comes off there will be no getting it back on.
Iron and trim about 1/8 WIDER than your zipper.
Trim any excess zipper bits because they'll make our pouch corners too bulky.
Stitch one side of your zipper pouch to your zipper with RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Line your scrappy zipper ends up with the side of your pouch and the zipper itself about 1/8 inch in from the side of your pouch as in the picture. Stitch with a generous 1/4 inch seam allowance.
At this point your pouch should look like this with one side of the pouch stitched to the zipper.
Repeat to sew the second side of the pouch to the other side of the zipper.
Now we're going to sew our lining on. It's a bit counter-intuitive, so you'll want to pay close attention. Line the RIGHT side of your lining fabric up to far size of your zipper. So that the bottom of the zipper is FACE DOWN into the lining fabric.
You should end up with something that looks like this when you open it up. (One pouch is upside down in the picture.) You should be able to open it up flat so that the RIGHT side of the outer fabric is UP and the RIGHT SIDE of your lining fabric is DOWN.)
OPEN YOUR ZIPPER HALF-WAY at this point, for easy turning later.
Line up RIGHT SIDES of your outer pouch with each other and RIGHT SIDES of your lining are with each other.
Begin stitching at the bottom of the lining. Stitch the lining portion with a 5/8" seam allowance and your outer pouch with 3/8" seam allowance. (This makes more a less baggy lining.) Leave an opening of 3-4" for turning your pouch.
Make sure the scrappy tags at the ends of your zipper bulge TOWARD the lining as you sew.
Clip corners and trim your seam allowances. This will make the seams less bulky and your lining fit better.
Turn your pouch right side out. Stitch your opening closed. You could make it look really polished by hand sewing and hiding your stitches...but I figured it would be inside the pouch and no one would care.
And that's it! Prepare to become addicted to these sweet and easy little bags.
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