We did a LOT of travelling the last couple of months. And this was my first time spending that much time away from home with the 2 girls. As tiring as a 28 hr door-to-door travel via 3 continents was, we got back unscathed, full of wonderful memories, and now sadly back to real life, missing family back home in India. After nearly 2 months of being pampered, we are finally getting some semblance of our routine back. So time for me to get back on the blogging horse!
I made these easy sew zipper pouches just before we left and we just couldn't have enough of these. They are multipurpose and made from leftover fabric and washable. And if you have ever been intimidated at the thought of sewing in a zipper, this is the best place to start.
You need 4 pieces of fabric: 2 for the outer and 2 for the lining. Determine the size of your pouch and cut fabric with a 1/4" seam allowance through out. I wanted mine to be around 10x6. So I cut my fabric at 10.5"x6.6".
Grab a zipper measuring just a couple of inches more than the length of the pouch. In this case a 12" zipper would have been ideal. But I had a a few 16" zippers leftover from a previous project and I was too lazy to go and get some new ones. You can cut off the extras if your zipper is longer.
Place the outer fabric right side up on a flat surface. Now place the zipper face down aligning the top with the length of the fabric.
Now place the lining fabric right side down on top of the zipper. So the zipper is now sandwiched between the good sides of the outer and lining fabrics, making sure the teeth/runner side of the zip is facing the outer fabric. Pin to hold. Run a straight stitch along the length. You don't have to use the zipper feet of your machine as you wont be stitching too close to the teeth.
Once the previous step is complete, it should look like this.
Now here things can get a little tricky. Place the other outer fabric down right side up. Again place the zipper assembly face down along the length and then the lining fabric face down. If you did this step right, you will notice the zipper runner is now on the other side. Run a straight stitch making sure the other fabric does not get caught in the middle.
When you open it up, it should look like this.
You can top stitch along the length of the zipper...but you don't HAVE to.
This is very important. Open up the zipper to more than 1/2 the length of the pouch. You will not be able to turn the purse inside out if you do not do this.
Fold the fabric so that the the good sides of the outer fabric face each other and the good sides of the lining face each other.
Start stitching at a quarter of the length of the lining and continue stitching around. Stop stitching when you reach about a quarter of the length on the other side, leaving a few inches of gap in the lining fabric. You are going to use this gap to turn the pouch inside out, thereby hiding all the stitches.
This is important: Make sure the zipper teeth face the lining fabric when you stitch around.
Cut off the excess zipper ends and the corners of the fabric.
Turn the pouch inside out pushing out at the edges to get neat pointy edges. Open up the zipper fully and it should look like this.
Now to fix the little gap. Fold in the seam along the stitch line and top stitch.
Now shove that liner in and your pouch is complete!
This is an optional step. You can hand stitch a few knots to hold the 2 edges of the outer and lining fabrics together so that the lining does not slip out ever again.
Another optional step, if you want to add a small handle to your pouch so that you can attach it to a larger bag.
Double fold a 6-8" length of fabric and top stitch.
Fold it so that the ends are together. Now pin it along the width of the outer fabric where you want the little handle. Then stitch the outer fabrics together with the handle sandwiched in between.
There you have it. A neat little purse with neat insides....
Best of all...this is washable and takes less than 10 minutes to make one.
I made these easy sew zipper pouches just before we left and we just couldn't have enough of these. They are multipurpose and made from leftover fabric and washable. And if you have ever been intimidated at the thought of sewing in a zipper, this is the best place to start.
You need 4 pieces of fabric: 2 for the outer and 2 for the lining. Determine the size of your pouch and cut fabric with a 1/4" seam allowance through out. I wanted mine to be around 10x6. So I cut my fabric at 10.5"x6.6".
Grab a zipper measuring just a couple of inches more than the length of the pouch. In this case a 12" zipper would have been ideal. But I had a a few 16" zippers leftover from a previous project and I was too lazy to go and get some new ones. You can cut off the extras if your zipper is longer.
Place the outer fabric right side up on a flat surface. Now place the zipper face down aligning the top with the length of the fabric.
Now place the lining fabric right side down on top of the zipper. So the zipper is now sandwiched between the good sides of the outer and lining fabrics, making sure the teeth/runner side of the zip is facing the outer fabric. Pin to hold. Run a straight stitch along the length. You don't have to use the zipper feet of your machine as you wont be stitching too close to the teeth.
Once the previous step is complete, it should look like this.
Now here things can get a little tricky. Place the other outer fabric down right side up. Again place the zipper assembly face down along the length and then the lining fabric face down. If you did this step right, you will notice the zipper runner is now on the other side. Run a straight stitch making sure the other fabric does not get caught in the middle.
When you open it up, it should look like this.
You can top stitch along the length of the zipper...but you don't HAVE to.
This is very important. Open up the zipper to more than 1/2 the length of the pouch. You will not be able to turn the purse inside out if you do not do this.
Fold the fabric so that the the good sides of the outer fabric face each other and the good sides of the lining face each other.
Start stitching at a quarter of the length of the lining and continue stitching around. Stop stitching when you reach about a quarter of the length on the other side, leaving a few inches of gap in the lining fabric. You are going to use this gap to turn the pouch inside out, thereby hiding all the stitches.
This is important: Make sure the zipper teeth face the lining fabric when you stitch around.
Cut off the excess zipper ends and the corners of the fabric.
Turn the pouch inside out pushing out at the edges to get neat pointy edges. Open up the zipper fully and it should look like this.
Now to fix the little gap. Fold in the seam along the stitch line and top stitch.
Now shove that liner in and your pouch is complete!
This is an optional step. You can hand stitch a few knots to hold the 2 edges of the outer and lining fabrics together so that the lining does not slip out ever again.
Another optional step, if you want to add a small handle to your pouch so that you can attach it to a larger bag.
Double fold a 6-8" length of fabric and top stitch.
Fold it so that the ends are together. Now pin it along the width of the outer fabric where you want the little handle. Then stitch the outer fabrics together with the handle sandwiched in between.
There you have it. A neat little purse with neat insides....
Best of all...this is washable and takes less than 10 minutes to make one.
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