Zipper Pouch

With a little fabric and a handy zipper, you can make a perfect little travel case for anything, makeup, toiletries, or even use it to tote pencils or craft supplies.

We'll start with the embroidery. Hoop up your fabric with some cutaway stabilizer. Put your design at least 4 inches up from the bottom to leave plenty of room for sewing, and stitch away! I picked a design to feel a little love. It's a good shape for a long narrow bag such as this.

Once your design is done sewing, cut your fabric to size. To make a case as large as mine (and one that fits a 9 inch zipper nicely) cut out two 6 by 10 rectangles (one with the embroidery on it) like shown.

You'll also want to cut two rectangles the same size of your lining fabric.

Now, to tackle the zipper. A word of warning before you begin, if you don't want a double seam near your zipper (scroll down a bit to see what I mean) you'll want to sew the lining first, and then the outside layer. I like the look, but it is a bit tricky to keep the seams lined up. You can also sew it my way but when you stitch the lining you can use matching thread to hide the second seam.

To stitch a zipper, lay one of your cover pieces right sides together with the zipper, lining up the top edge of the lining with the edge of the zipper, like shown. Pin in place. Sew a seam down the edge, but not too close to the zipper. We'll get to that.

Fold your fabric so it's right side out again. It should be facing right side up, with the zipper pull facing out. Fold the fabric edge over again, so the fold just butts up against the zipper teeth. Pin in place, and now sew a second seam as close to the zipper as possible. If you don't have a zipper foot, don't fret, I didn't either. The only tricky part is sewing past the zipper pull itself, and you should be able to sew down to it, stop the machine, lift up the foot, zip it past, and then resume sewing. Don't try and sew right past it. You WILL get a wonky seam line.

Repeat this for the other side.

Now for the lining. We're basically going to repeat what we just did, but without the second seam.

Line up your fabric, right side in, with the edge of the zipper. Remember, it's the back of the zipper that's facing up now. Pin in place and sew a seam down the edge.

Remember, this seam will show up on the top of your bag, so keep it nice and neat and use matching or invisible thread. When you're done sewing, you can fold it right side up again. Repeat for the other side.

Here's what your bag should look like now. If you did it my way, your cover should have a nice neat zipper down the middle, with two seams down either side, and your lining is nice and neat and folded over on the other side. We're ready to make it into a bag!

First, a very important step! Unzip your zipper at least half way. Without this step, you won't be able to turn your bag right side out again! You'll be a sad bear if you forget it.

Fold your bag with the cover pieces together, and the lining pieces together, both facing right sides in. Pin all the way around the edges, but know that you're going to keep the top of the lining side open.

Starting on one side of the lining, sew down the long edge, over the zipper, around the cover and back up again. Leave the top of the lining side open!

Turn everything right side out again. This is what it should look like. Don’t tuck your lining in yet, unless you want everything to drop right through your lining. Sorta defeats the point.

Fold in the raw edges, and press and pin the open edge shut. Sew a seam close to the edge to close up your lining.

Push your lining back inside your case. Ohh, how pretty is that?

Your case is done! Simple and slick, but a nice case with a zipper and a fancy lining is nothing to sneeze at. You can use this little case to carry all sorts of things. Plus, you have some oh-so-swank embroidery on the front to make it your own.

Open it up and fill it with your goods. The lining will keep everything nice and safe, and that little pop of color gives it a nice surprise.