Zipping It Up

My son just started back to school.  He is a big first grader now!  He's my first born and, as I'm sure any mom will tell you, it is unbelievable that they get so old so fast.  As I send my kids to school, I like to have them give their teacher a little gift.  All of my kids love giving gifts and it is my love language so it's a little way of saying, "Hey teacher!  I've got your back.  Thanks ahead of time for taking my precious child (that I wouldn't let out of my sight for the first three months) into your hands for the next 180 days!".

So with that being said--here is how you can make a zippered pouch.  It is a simple and cute gift that you can give to your child's teacher, to a dear friend, or just make yourself something special :)  

Materials needed:

2 pieces of interface (10" x 13")

2 pieces of inside fabric (10" x 13")

2 pieces of outside fabric (6.5" x 13")

2 pieces of outside fabric (4.5" x 13")

one 15" zipper

Iron interface onto the wrong side of the inside fabric pieces.

Sew fabrics 1&2 of your outside pieces of fabric together.

Place the zipper, upside down, on the right side of the fabric.  Then place your inside piece of fabric, right side down, onto the zipper.  Sew along the zipper through the two layers of fabric.

After sewing your first layers together, turn the materials so that the zipper is on the outside and the inside of the fabrics are against each other.

Place the rest of your material as shown in picture 1.  From the bottom up, the order should be:  outside fabric face up, sewn pieces with zipper inside fabric facing up, then the unsewn inside fabric piece on top facing down.  I've staggered them in picture 1 so that you can see the order, but you'll want all four edges to line up as shown in pictures 2 and 3.

Pictures 2 and 3 show a close up of the fabrics that are supposed to be touching each other.  Make sure the seam where your two outside fabrics are sewn is lined up so that when you sew, your border (the brown geometric fabric on my pouch) will be in alignment all the way around the pouch.  Again sew along the zipper.

The next step is to open the bag up and lay flat as show in the picture below.  The insides of your fabrics will be against each other.  Then where the arrows are pointing, top stitch through the two fabrics and the edge of the zipper.  This step secures the zipper a little more and also gives the bag a finished look. 

Almost done!  Open the zipper a little over two-thirds of the way (what would that be?....five sixths...too technical?  moving on.).  

Place the two pieces of outside fabrics together and the two pieces of inside fabrics together.  Both of them will have the right sides of the fabric against each other as shown in the picture below.

Sew around the outside edge of the entire bag.  Make sure to leave a small opening in the inside fabric layer as shown in the picture so that you can turn the bag right side out.

Turn the bag right side out and really poke at the corners so that they will be square.

After turning the bag, at the small opening fold the fabric in and top stitch closed.

You can then shove the inside layers (the turquoise and white geometric print) into the outside layers (apple and pear print), iron flat and then zip to close.

And, wala!, you are done :)

This tutorial is so easy to change up.  You can get different sized zippers for a smaller or larger bag.  There are so many different fabric options.  Plastic coated fabric could be used for the inside fabric to make a really cute wet bag that can be used for diapers or carrying around swimsuits.  Or you could add ruffles, a monogram or an applique to the outside fabric before getting started to mix it up.

A zippered pouch takes no time at all and is one of those gifts that most anyone would love to receive.  Now back to my sewing machine.  My younger two start preschool next week and I can't leave their teachers out!  And once all the kids have started school, I'll have a little more time to sew and I like making homemade gifts for people.  Christmas will be here before too long, ya know!  ;)