Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Quilted Zipper Pouch Tutorial

Im sure that like me you always have more then 1 project on the go at once. I've recently been making lots of pouches to keep my WIP's separate, organised and looking pretty on my shelves. These pouches can be made in whatever size you need and with whatever you want on the front. Here are a few examples of what I mean






So this tutorial isn't about the piecing on the front, I will leave that up to you, its purely about assembling a quilted zipper pouch. Im going to use this as my pieced front, now its pretty massive but then I find it handy to have pouches of all sizes. I often use them to store and carry my WIP's and so hopefully this will be handy for some that are on the larger size. (If you do want to make the same pieced front then I have a tutorial for that, head to the tutorial page for the link)

So this is what you need:
Pieced front (or plain or embroidered)
Zip at least the length of the width of your front
Fabric for pouch back and tabs
Fabric for lining
D-ring (optional)
Cotton or bamboo wadding (batting)

Start by making the zipper end tabs - Cut 2 pieces of fabric 1" by 2.5" each. Press the two edges in and press in half

Place one of the tabs over the end of the zipper, machine stitch in place, 1/8" from the fabric edge

Line the zip up with the front of your pouch, mark zip 1" from pouch length, machine stitch a couple of rows over the zipper teeth and then cut 1/4" from this point

Take second fabric tab, place over the edge of the zipper so stitch lines are covered, machine stitch 1/8" from fabric edge

Using the front of pouch as a pattern piece, cut back of pouch, 2 lining pieces and 2 pieces of wadding to the same size (cut the wadding slightly larger so you get an overhang if you prefer)

Turn top edge of front piece over by 1/2" and press in place, repeat with one of the lining pieces.

Place the two pieces wrong sides together and sandwich one edge of the zip in between. Pin and then machine stitch.


Take a piece of the wadding and butt it up against the seam that you have just created, I then spray the topside of the wadding with a little 505 to gently hold it in place. Flip the lining fabric back so that you just have the front and the wadding together and quilt as desired.


Repeat with the back of the pouch. So the outside is quilted and the lining is not

Bury your quilting threads and trim any excess wadding.

Make a tab for the D-ring, cut a piece of fabric 2x the width of the inside of your D-ring plus an extra 1/2" (so if your D-ring measures 1" inside then you need to cut your fabric 2 1/2" wide) by 2" long. Turn the 2 side edges in by 1/4" each, press. Fold in half and press again. Topstitch both sides close to the edge.



Open the zip!

Put the front and the back of the pouch right sides together, Placing the D-ring on the tab and sandwiching it inside the fabric. Pin in place and machine stitch with at least a 1/4"seam allowance.


Trim the bottom corners of the pouch diagonally to reduce bulk in the corners.

Put the lining fabric right sides together (push the zipper end tabs up and out of the way as you do not want to catch these in your seams. Machine the two sides in place with the same seam allowance that you used for the outside of the pouch.

Turn the pouch so that the right sides of fabric now face outwards but the lining is hanging out.

Fold the bottom edges of the lining in by 1/2" and press in place, pin together and sew.

Push lining down inside pouch, use finger to push the zipper tabs up and out.

Press if desired



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