Christmas gift idea: DIY zippered pouch

The sewing machine may just be your best friend for whipping up fun fabric crafts, like this easy zippered pouch.

The sewing machine may just be your best friend for whipping up fun fabric crafts, like this easy zippered pouch.

If you’re still a sewing machine noob (like I am), never fear, for YouTube’s here with its gazillion tutorials to help make life easier for an adventurous crafter.

Sewing a zippered pouch may look like the most intimidating project ever but once you get the hang of it, it only takes minutes to make a stylish hold-all, and just in time for this season of gift-giving too.

Lee Mei Li is the author of Hello Kitty Crochet. 

DIY zippered pouch

Stuff you’ll need. 

Skill level: Intermediate

Time required: 30 mins

1. Start by cutting four pieces of fabric measuring five inches (length of the zip) by five inches. Two pieces will be the front and back of the pouch, and two pieces the lining. Lay your zip face down. 

Stack the front piece, interfacing and one lining fabric together with the right sides facing each other. Sandwich the zip in between — it should run along the top edges of the fabric. Secure with pins.

 

2. With a 1cm seam allowance, machine stitch in a straight line along the top edge of the sandwiched zipper and fabric pieces. Now lay the zipper face down, and sandwich it between the other set of back piece, interfacing and lining. 

Pin in place and machine stitch along the top edge.

 

3. Open up the zip about ¾ of the way. Flip the interfacing and outer fabric pieces onto the left, and the inner lining pieces onto the right. Pin together. 

Leaving an 8cm opening in the lining fabric (part marked in black), sew all along the edges of this piece with a 1cm seam allowance. 

Snip off a small triangle from all four edges to prevent the fabric from bunching up later.

 

4. Turn the whole piece inside out through the opening. Then, tuck in the open edges of the lining fabric and machine stitch it close.