Hi everyone,
Sarah is recovering very well and keeping nice and quiet! She wrote this tutorial for you before she went to hospital, sorry for being a day late with posting it. She says hello to you all and hopes you enjoy the zipper pouch.
Damian
Hi Smites :) I decided recently that I needed a little pouch to put bits and pieces in, and this is what I came up with! I’m going to make a couple I think, as its the perfect size to hold your Wonderclips, or stitch markers for knitting, your AirPods and an eye mask on a plane trip, or your spending money for the quilt show and a Chap Stick… the possibilities are endless, and what’s more the little square in the middle is the perfect size for the heart block from my Courting quilt pattern, or for a T-Rex from Tula’s new ROAR! collection - or for anything else in your stash that needs to peek through a window. I hope you have fun making it, and filling it.
You will need small amounts of:
Two fabrics for centre window
Two fabrics for backgrounds surrounding windows
One fabric for lining
Iron on fleece for stabiliser
And
One zipper at least 6” with plastic teeth
Cup, mug or circle template of some sort
Zipper foot for your sewing machine
Cutting:
For each panel (front and back), cut
One 2 1/2” square for “window”
Two 2 1/2” squares from background
Two 6 1/2” squares from background
From lining fabric, cut
Two 5 3/4” squares
From iron on fleece, cut
Two 5 3/4” squares
Window Panels:
Stitch a 2 1/2” square of background to the top and bottom of the window square. Press away from the window, and then stitch a 6 1/2” strip to either side of the window square. Press.
Trim the window panels to 5 3/4”, centering the window as you do so. Iron the fleece to the back of both the window panels.
Using a cup or mug (I used a circle template from my Stop, Thief! Quilt), round the two bottom corners of the window panels.
Repeat the rounding process with the two lining squares.
Place a lining piece face up on your mat. Center the zipper over the top face up, and then place the window panel face down on the top, lining all the edges up carefully. Clip or pin together.
Using your zipper foot, stitch through all three layers.
Press both the fabrics away from the zipper.
Trim the closed end off the zipper (not the end with the zipper head!)
Lay the other piece of lining fabric face up on your mat, and use the trimmed end of the zipper to match it up with so that everything is even.
Lay the other window piece face down on top and clip together.
Stitch using your zipper foot.
Press the fabrics away from the zipper again.
Top stitch along the edge of the two window panels, through all 3 layers.
Pull the zipper head back to around 1” from the cut end of the zipper tape.
Trim the other end of the zip back level with the pouch edges.
Leave the zipper open to where you currently have it.
Open the pouch pieces out, and align the two window panels with each other, and the two lining panels with each other. Match the pieces of zipper tape in between. Clip everything in place, leaving a space between the clips on the lining (shown here as the top two clips on the top straight edge).
Begin stitching at the top right hand clip, stitch all around the pouch and end at the top left hand clip, leaving the space between the clips open to turn the pouch through. Make a stay stitch or a little back and forth and the beginning and end of the seam.
Trim the fabric at the all four of the curved corners back to a very scant 1/4” to reduce bulk.
Turn the pouch right side out through the gap in the lining. Take care to poke the corners and edges out nice and flat using a chop stick or a blunt pencil through the hole in the lining. Press.
Turn the open edges of the lining in by 1/4” and stitch them closed. If I was making this as a gift, I would hand stitch with a ladder stitch for an invisible finish - but as its for me I just machine top stitched it. My Chap Stick won’t mind. :)
Push the lining back inside the pouch, all the way into the corners, and press again.
Fill your little pouch with good things!
See you next week Smites
Sarah x