Handy Little Fold-Up Pouch Tutorial
(I originally wrote this tutorial for the 2014 Q3 Finish-Along link-up, hosted by Katy over at The Littlest Thistle)
I’ve had a little fold-up sewing pouch for donkeys’ years, but I’ve rarely used it. I found it hiding away in a drawer in my sewing room a month or two ago, and when I pulled it out, it occurred to me that the reason it was languishing unloved in a drawer was because it wasn’t the right size for what I needed.
So I decided to make my own version that ticked all my boxes.
Initially I thought I’d use it as a take-along pouch for when I wanted to sew some hexies on-the-go, but I soon realised I could also use it as a little clutch for a night out, to hold travel documents and the like – well, you get the idea! I fiddled and faffed with the idea until I found something I was happy with. It fits my travel hexie kit, my iPhone and also my passport.
May I present to you a very handy little fold-up pouch!
You will need:
- 1 FQ main fabric for the outside of your pouch and the pockets
- 1 FQ lining fabric for the lining and binding
- Scrap of batting or fusible fleece 6 1/2” x 18”
- 2 poppers (or magnetic clasps, as preferred)
- 1 button, for decoration (optional)
Cutting instructions
From main fabric cut:
- 1 rectangle 6 1/2” x 18” for the outside of the pouch (if you will be quilting the exterior densely, I would cut it slightly bigger – say 7″ x 18 1/2″ – and then trim it down to size after you’ve quilted it)
- 3 rectangles 6 1/2” x 8” for the interior pockets
- 1 square 6” x 6” for the interior pocket flap
From lining fabric cut:
- 1 rectangle 6 1/2” x 18” for the pouch lining
- 3 strips 18” x 2 1/4” for binding
Prepare the outside of your pouch.
Fuse fleece to the wrong side of your main fabric 6 1/2” x 18” rectangle, or baste the fabric to your batting. Quilt as desired – I quilted random wavy lines about 1” apart diagonally across the fabric.
Prepare the pockets
With wrong sides together, fold each of the 6 1/2” x 8” rectangles in half along the 6 1/2” length to make 3 rectangles that each measure 6 1/2” x 4”.
Press along the fold to form a neat, crisp edge, then top stitch along this fold, approximately 1/8” in from the edge.
Attach the pockets to the lining fabric
Using a ruler, measure and draw 2 lines on the right side of the lining fabric, one 5” up from the bottom and the second one 9 3/4” up from the bottom. These lines will be covered by the pockets, so use a Frixion pen, regular pencil, whatever you have to hand.
Take 2 of your prepared pockets and place them on the lining fabric, with the raw edges aligned along the lines you just drew, and the topstitched edges pointing down to the bottom of the lining.
Pin in place and sew onto the lining fabric with a 1/4” seam allowance.
Flip the pockets up toward the top of the lining and press towards the top of the lining.
Take the third pocket and place it at the very bottom of the lining, aligning all 3 raw edges of the pocket with the raw edges at the bottom of the lining. Pin in place. Then align the sides of the other 2 pockets with the raw long edge of the lining and pin in place.
Use a seam allowance of about 1/8” and a basting stitch of about 4.0 to secure the edges of all three pockets to the lining.
Prepare and attach the pocket flap
Take the 6” square and fold it in half lengthways with right sides together. Pin the raw edges. Mark a gap about 2 1/2” wide in the middle of the long edge, which will be left unsewn for turning.
Sew both short edges and up to either side of the gap you marked, using a 1/4” seam allowance, and backstitching at each end. Trim the corners.
Turn the pocket flap right side out through the gap you left, and push the corners out.
Fold the fabric at the gap under 1/4”, and press the flap flat.
Top stitch along each side and along the bottom edge of the flap; this will close the gap.
Centre the pocket flap approximately 1/4” above the top of the pocket you want to have a flap. Pin in place and top stitch along the top of the flap to secure it to the lining. Pull the threads through to the back of the lining and tie them off.
Add a popper (or other closure) to the pocket flap.
Attach magnetic clasp (if using – if you’re planning on using a regular popper, skip this step)
On the outside, measure up and mark a point 6 1/2″ from the bottom of the pouch, and 3 1/4″ in from either side.
On the lining, measure down and mark a point 1 1/4″ from the top of the lining, and 3 1/4″ in from either side.
These mark where the centre of each piece of the magnetic clasp should be placed.
Attach your magnetic clasp according to the instructions which came with it.
Assemble the Pouch
Place the batting side of the quilted outer fabric to the wrong side of the lining, and pin in place
NB – if you are using a directional fabric, you need to line the top of the lining with the bottom of the outside of the pouch, so that when you fold it up, the fabric at the front will be the right way up. I found this out the hard way 😉
Baste around all four sides with a stitch length of around 4.0 and a seam allowance of around 1/8”, like you did with the edges of the pockets. I used a walking foot because of all the layers. It will look like a complete mess, but the edges are about to be covered up with binding, so it doesn’t matter!
Attach the binding
Sew the 3 strips of 18” x 2 1/4” lining fabric together end to end and press to create a single fold binding.
Attach the binding to the front of the pouch using a 1/4” seam allowance, then fold the binding over and sew to the back of the pouch either by hand or by machine.
Fold the pouch up
With pocket side up, fold the bottom pocket up to meet the middle pocket, then fold up again twice.
Add a popper to secure the front flap to the rest of the pouch, and add a decorative button if desired.
Fill pockets with useful things and admire your handiwork!
As you can see, I made several!
So why not make it your own? Use up your scraps by piecing the outside (I made this one with leftover bits of a jelly roll)…
… or piecing the pockets (I fussy cut my scraps of this glorious Tula Pink octopus fabric to do this)
Make one without any pocket flaps inside (like my Tula Pink one above), or with several, or change the shape of the flap.
The sky’s the limit, so why not get creating?!
LPC
A Bear Called Libby
Last weekend RR and I were invited to celebrate the first birthday of a very special little lady. Miss S, who is known to all as Munchkin, is a lovely little thing, and I wanted to give her a very special present. Well, actually, being me, I wanted to make her something very special! Quite apart from being lots of fun to make, I think that handmade gifts are also a lovely way to give a very thoughtful and personal present.
But what to make? Munchkin is already the proud owner of at least 2 quilts, and her mum, Ms Nexttonicx, is a wonderfully talented dressmaker, crocheter and knitter (amongst her many other skills). I knew I wanted to sew something, so that was a good starting point, but what could I sew? That was the question…
Then, a few weeks ago, Ms Mudpiesandpins introduced (via Instagram) the enchanting Saoirse Bear, a precious little lady she had made from Liberty fabric using English Paper Piecing (yes, I am totally in awe!) This got me thinking about the soft toy patterns that I see each month in my Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine. I was pretty sure that I had seen a bear pattern at some point, so I flicked through all my old copies until I found it. It looked super-cute, and, what’s more, the pattern was billed as “simple-to-sew”. Total result!
And thus, dear reader, Tinky the Bear was born…
Tinky was my first attempt at the pattern, and I was pretty pleased with the end result, but simple-to-sew she was not. She’s actually quite a little bear, and I really don’t do well with small, fiddly things due to my crappy hands. Suffice to say, all those teeny tiny pieces had me all of a kerfuffle, and she came out looking more like some weird alien hybrid of Tigger and a monkey (hence Tinky) than she did a bear suitable for a first birthday present.
Okay then, the actual pattern was great, and I loved the resulting (slightly odd-looking) bear. The real problem lay in her small-ness. So why not just enlarge the pattern pieces?
So I did. And made it half as big again. Proper bear sized 🙂
Knowing Munchkin’s mummy loves all things Liberty, I picked out a fat quarter of beautiful Liberty lawn from my stash, which I had been saving for something special. The newly enlarged pattern used up all but a few tiny slivers of my fabric, so I crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t mess it up, and set to work.
All cut out and ready to sew…
… with a very economical use of one fat quarter 🙂
And thus Libby the Liberty Bear came into existence.
Libby, sunning herself on our balcony
Libby and Tinky take in the view
Chilling out in front of the tv
Having a nice cup of tea…
I have to confess here that hand embroidery is not my strong point. Bear faces are difficult to embroider! I’m still not entirely convinced that she looks “all there”. In fact, the words “deranged” and “slightly psychotic” may have been bandied around (thanks, RR…) Nonetheless, I think she looks friendly, so I wrote a little note, tied it around her neck with a ribbon, and wrapped her up for the birthday girl.
Deranged? Maybe. Friendly? Certainly!
I so enjoyed making Libby and Tinky, that I’m now on my way to making a third bear, and I’ve been thinking about making more soft toys in the future. I have a sneaking suspicion that this could become a little bit of an obsession if I’m not careful…
Well, now that Libby has gone to a new home, I wouldn’t want Tinky to get lonely, would I???
Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.