With the school year started, I was thinking of some fun things to hand-make and send to school with Stella! While this zippered pouch made the perfect pencil case for her, it can also be altered in size to be used as a cosmetic bag or coin purse, etc., and when personalized makes a great gift too!

First start by selecting the size you would like your zippered pouch to be and make sure you have a coordinating zipper the length of the opening to your bag. Also I describe a lined pouch here, so it is always fun to have different coordinating fabrics for the inside and outside of the bag. I chose to make my front panel out of burlap with a strip of the inside fabric along the top, and I stenciled the letter S with paint. Get creative! This project is also great for using up some leftover scraps of material you might have.

Materials:

  • Zipper
  • 2 inside pieces of material (for the lining), cut to the same length as the zipper
  • 2 outside pieces of material, cut to the same length as the zipper

Let’s Begin:

  1. We will start one side of the bag at a time by sandwiching the zipper in between the fabric: one piece of your lining fabric face up, then the zipper, then one piece of the outside material facing down. (Inside and outside materials right side together with the zipper in between.)
  2. Now, using your zipper foot, sew a straight line across the top, between the edge of the material and the zipper teeth.
  3. Repeat this with the remaining two pieces of material on the other side of the zipper edge.
  4. Now lay out your bag with both pieces of the lining to one side and both pieces of the outer material to the other side of the zipper. Unzip the zipper about halfway. (This is a very important step since you won’t be able to turn the right sides out, once sewn, if the zipper is completely closed!)
  5. Pin the zipper to the side with the lining. Sew around the outside edge of the materials, leaving a few inches on the top of the lining side open to slip fabric back through. Also make sure to sew on the outside of the metal zipper parts so that the zipper is functional.
  6. Turn the bag right side out and stitch up what is now the bottom of the lining. Then push the lining inside the bag, fill with goodies, and zip it up!