How to Make a Zippered Pouch With a Flat Bottom

August 4, 2016 · 12 Comments

How to Make a Zippered Pouch With a Flat Bottom

I was recently sent some fabric from the people at Stitch Craft Create so that I could participate in their blog hop. The fabric was a selection of fat quarters from the new Tilda collections, Memory Lane and Cabbage Rose.

When the fabric arrived, several potential projects jumped out at me, so I’m having a lovely time working my way through them!

Project 1 was an easy fabric basket. You can find the tutorial here.

This project is a lined zippered pouch with a flat bottom. I had a couple of ideas of what to make with this particular fabric, but decided in the end to make the zippered pouch. Like the fabric baskets, you can always find a use for these things! They can be used for make up, pens and pencils, random bits of stationery, small things that get lost at the bottom of your bag, bobbins, dolls clothes, anything small! They make great gifts as well.

The zippered pouch is very easy to make. I’m going to show you how to make the template, but if you don’t want to make your own, you can print one off for free here.

The boxed corners give it a flat bottom and also makes it a bit roomier inside.

If you wanted to make one from a particular piece of fabric that you have in your hoard but you don’t have enough, you could either add a contrasting section at the bottom or just make it a different shape, by starting off with a piece of paper the same size as the fabric you want to use.

Zippered Pouch Tutorial

You Will Need

Fabric for the outer and the lining, interfacing (I prefer sew in interfacing for these kind of projects, but the fusible kind will be fine if that’s what you have), a 15 cm zip, paper, pencil and ruler (or the template you can download here), usual sewing supplies.

Making the Template

1. Take a piece of A4 paper and put the zip on the paper next to one of the long edges. Make sure it’s in the centre, then mark off a cm or so past where the teeth end.

2. Draw a line from this point to the bottom corner on the same side.

3. Fold the paper in half and cut along the line you have drawn. You now have your template!

If you don’t want to faff about doing this, you can download a template here.

Cutting Out

Using your template, cut 2 from the outer fabric, 2 from the lining and 2 from interfacing.

From the outer fabric, cut 2 little rectangles about 3 cm x 7 cm.

If you are using fusible interfacing, fuse it to the wrong side of your outer pieces now.

Sewing Up

Making the Covered Ends For the Zip

1. To make the covered ends for the zip, take one of your rectangles and fold it in half. Fold the ends inwards.

2. Put the folded rectangle over the end of the zip and pin it so that the raw edges on ends are folded inwards and the end of the zip is covered. If you are using a zip with closed ends, you can always trim a bit off if it’s too long.

3. Repeat for the other end of the zip. Top stitch the tabs at right angles to the zip.

Making Up the Zippered Pouch

1. Take one of the outer pieces and one of the interfacing pieces. Place the outer piece on top of the interfacing with the right side up. Put the zip along the top edge with the teeth down. Make sure that the zip is centred and the edge of the zip tape is aligned with the top edge of the purse.

2. Take one of the lining pieces and place it on top of the zip face down. Pin in place, then sew along the top of the purse pieces.

3. Turn the pieces the right way out and top stitch, keeping close to the zip side. Using a zip foot makes this much easier, but it is possible to do without. I managed without for ages and now I wouldn’t be without it! The best kind are the sort where you can sew zips on either side. I’ve included a couple of affiliate links for zip feet at the bottom of this post.

4. Repeat for the other side. You should now have a kind of weird butterfly shape with a zip in the middle.

5. Open the zip. This is very important! You will have serious issues turning it the right way out if you don’t do this!

6. Now you’ll need to rearrange things a bit so that the outer pieces with the interfacing are together on one side of the zip, and the lining pieces are together on the other. Push the zip and the covered ends towards the outer. Pin it all together.

7. Leaving an opening in the lining, sew all the way round. Trim the seams.

I have to admit that sewing the area with the zip can be tricky. I actually broke a needle sewing over the zip the first time. So my advice would be to go gently when you get to the zip area, and possibly even use the wheely handle thing to move the needle rather than the pedal.That way you can control it more easily and stop if there is resistance!

8. To make the boxed corners, squish one of the corners flat so that the seams are together. Measure up 2 cm from the corner and pin. Sew across the corner at right angles to the seam. Repeat for the other corners. Cut the corners off.

9. Turn the zippered pouch the right way out and hand sew up the opening.

You can make a zippered pouch in this way in different shapes and sizes. It’s possible to make a chunkier looking thing by making the boxed corners are bit bigger. Just measure further up the seam from the corner.

Here are some affiliate links for zip feet.

Amazon UK

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Amazon.com

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Minerva Crafts

Linking up here.

Burlap Purse Tutorial

May 3, 2016 · 15 Comments

A Burlap Purse Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I made this bag for the Minerva Crafts Bloggers’ Network. I love the fabric and it’s so pretty, I decided I needed a little burlap purse to go with it!

The burlap purse is made in the same way as the bag. The front sections of burlap and cotton are sewn together and the pleats made. Then the lining, interfacing and purse outer are trimmed down to the same size. It’s all sewn together and then attached to the clasp frame.

How to Make a Burlap Purse

You will need

Scrim (I keep calling it burlap, but I actually used scrim which is lighter and easier to work with), cotton fabric for pleats, cotton fabric for lining, sew in interfacing, purse frame.

The stuff I used came from Minerva Crafts. These are affiliate links.
Scrim Fabric

Gutermann Ring a Roses Summer Loft Kaleidoscope Poplin Quilting Fabric

Gutermann Ring a Roses Summer Loft Ring of Hearts Poplin Quilting Fabric

The clasp frame I bought from my local fabric shop, but there are some on Minerva crafts here.

To Make the Pattern Pieces

If you don’t want to faff with making your own pattern, you can buy one here for £2.

1. Draw round the outside edge of the purse frame, marking off the top of the hinges. Don’t worry about the clasp.

2. Draw a line along the bottom where you would like the bottom of the purse to be. A bit extra will be needed for the boxed corners, so add 1.5 cm and draw another line.

3. Draw down to the bottom line from where you marked the hinges. From the bottom of this vertical line, mark 3 cm outwards. Draw this new line from the hinges.

4. Decide where you would like the pleats to be. Mark those on by drawing 2 more lines.

5. Using the purse outline as a template, draw the pattern piece for the lining and the interfacing. Cut it out.

6. Cut out the pattern pieces for the purse outer. You will need 1 side piece and 1 centre piece. You will also need to make an extra piece for the inside of the pleats. This will need to be the same height as the other purse pieces and 3 cm wide.

If all this seems like to much aggravation, you can buy a pattern here.

Cutting Out

1. Using the purse shaped pattern piece, cut 2 of the lining and 2 of the sew in interfacing.

2. From the burlap, cut 4 side pieces and 2 centre pieces.

3. Cut 4 of the pleat insides from cotton fabric.

Sewing Up

1. Take 1 of the cotton pleat insides. Sew it to the long straight edge of one of the outside edge pieces.

Take another of the outside edge pieces and a pleat inside and do the same again, remembering to have the outside edge piece the other way round!

Sew the pleat insides to the centre piece.

Repeat for the remaining purse outside pieces. You now have 2 purse outer sections.

2. Press the seams towards the cotton sections. Now fold the pleats so that the seams meet in the middle of the pleat. Pin, then sew a few stitches at the top of the pleats to hold them.

3. Pin the bottom of the pleats so that some of the pretty pleat inside is exposed.

4. Pin one of the interfacing pieces to the wrong side of the purse outer section. Trim down the outer so that it is the same size as the interfacing. Repeat for the other purse outer and interfacing.

5. With the right sides together, sew the purse outer plus interfacing around the outside edge, between where the hinges of the purse frame will be.

6. Trim the seam, but not too much as the scrim will fray!

7. Squish the corners so that the seams are together. Measure up 1.5 cm and pin. Sew across the corner. Cut the corner off. For a more detailed tutorial on sewing boxed corners, please see this tutorial here.

8. Take the lining pieces and sew from where the hinge will be on one side to about a third of the way along the bottom. Repeat for the other side. It is important to leave an opening so that you can turn it the right way out!

9. Make the boxed corners in the lining in the same way as you did for the purse outer in Step 7.

10. Pop the lining inside the purse outer so that the right sides are together. Sew around the opening.

11. Turn the purse all the right way out. You might like to press it a little bit at this point. Slip stitch the the open part of the lining.

11. Using some strong thread (or ordinary thread doubled), sew the purse to the frame. To sew it, you will need to use back stitch so that you have stitches running continuously around the frame. I would be lying if I said this wasn’t a fiddly nightmare! My tip would be to not trim the seam allowance at the top of the purse to closely. If it is a bit thicker, it will be less likely to keep slipping out of the frame. Also when you are sewing, insert the needle at an angle so that the stitches are not visible on the purse lining. And be prepared to keep jabbing at it with the needle and meeting only the frame and not the hole!

I think the fiddliness was worth it!

Linking up here.

Appliqued Flower Purse Tutorial

September 6, 2015 · 6 Comments

The last couple of purses I’ve made have been tiny so here is a purse tutorial for a rather bigger one!

I love the whole retro, Scandi, massive flowers and geometric shapes thing that is going on at the moment. I am old enough to remember the 70s first time round (just about!) and I adore the clean, modern take on that time that could be described as the decade that taste forgot. Uncle Ber, I remember your wallpaper!

Anyway, I recently had a bag project featured in Sewing World, so I’ve made a lovely purse to match!

I wanted to keep the purse fairly simple. It is lined, with a pocket. The zip ends are covered with tabs so that they look neat and it features an appliqued flower made from simple, geometric shapes.

The instructions below include how to make the pattern, but if you don’t want to, you could buy the pattern here.

Appliqued Flower Purse Tutorial

You will need: fabric for the lining and the outer, sew in interfacing, 20 cm zip, fabric scraps for applique.

I bought all the fabric from Plush Addict which at the moment is my favourite online fabric shop!

1. To make the pattern pieces, you will need to draw a 4 sided shape that looks like a triangle with the top cut off. It is apparently called an isoceles trapezoid. I would not have known that if it was not for the internet.

The shape needs 14.5cm high, 23.5 cm across the top and 28.5 cm along the bottom. This includes a 1 cm seam allowance.

The pocket piece is the same shape just with 1.5 cm cut off the top. The interfacing pocket piece will need 2.5 cm off the top.

For the tabs for the zip, cut 2 rectangles 6.5 cm x 2.5 cm.

For the flowers, make 1 rectangle 1.5 cm x 13 cm and 2 circles, one larger than the other. For the leaves, I drew a box, then I drew an ellipse diagonally in the box and made one end pointy.

If drawing is not your thing, you can download a pdf of the pattern here.

2. To cut out, you will need 2 each of the main purse shape from the outer, the lining and the interfacing.

For the pocket, cut one piece of lining and one piece of interfacing.

For the flowers, cut one of each circle from contrasting fabric, one stem and 6 leaves.

3. Pin one of the bits of interfacing to one of the outer pieces. Arrange the flower pieces and pin. Starting with the stem and using a smallish straight stitch (smaller is easier!), applique the flower pieces to the outer.

4. Fold the top of the pocket section over the piece of interfacing and sew. Pin it to one of the lining pieces.

5. Fold one of the tab bits in half. Pop one end of the zip between the halves and tuck the raw edges underneath. Pin to hold it then sew across the tab. Do the same for the other tab.

6. On top of the outer piece that now has a flower on it, put the zip face down and along the top. Place one of the lining pieces on top of the zip. You should now have a weird kind of sandwich with the zip in the middle. Pin, then sew the zip in.

7. Turn the outer and the lining the right way out. Top stitch along the outer and the lining where they join onto the zip.

8. Repeat for the remaining purse pieces. So you should have interfacing, then outer right side up, then zip, facing down, then lining, also face down. Sew the zip in, the turn out and top stitch.

9. Open the zip a little bit. This is very important! I actually forgot to do this and ended up reaching for the unpicker (again!). Sew around the edge of the outer.

10. Sew around the edge of the lining, leaving a gap along the bottom.

10. Measure 2.5 cm up from the corner of the lining. Squash the corner flat, pin, then sew across it. Cut the corner off. Repeat for the other corner of the lining and the corners of the outer.

If you would like more detailed instructions for making boxed corners, have a look at this tutorial here!

11. Turn the purse the right way out and slip stitch the bottom section closed.If you liked this, you might like my other purse tutorials.

Little Button Purse

Little Purse With Lace Zip

Easy Button Purse

August 16, 2015 · 6 Comments

Recently the boys attended the children’s holiday club at our church. They had a great time!

One of the ways in which the children were motivated to join in was by giving them fake coins to put in little purses. They were all counted up at the end of each morning and, at the end of the week, the group with the most coins won a small prize and the individual children with the most coins won prizes too.

Unfortunately the sweet little purses that the girls were given were not very well made and, by the end of the second day, a lot of them had broken. The boys’ purses fared better; the only issue was that some of the tags fell off.

Knowing that this was something I could help with, I offered to make some replacements. As the children needed new purses for the next day, I needed to come up with something that was quick to make but would also be robust enough for the children to put their pirate money into.

So I came up with this!

I wanted the purses to be lined and they needed to have a flap so that the money wouldn’t fall out. They also needed to be quick to make.

They did come together pretty quickly but they took longer than I expected! However i managed to make enough so that the kids whose purses had broken all had a pretty replacement the next day.

Here is how to make them!

How to Make an Easy Button Purse

1. Cut 2 rectangles. One will be the outer, the other the lining.

2. Cut a piece of ribbon or lace the same width as the rectangles. Pin it to the outer rectangle near one end. Sew in place along the edge furthest from the short end of the rectangle.

3. With the right sides together, sew along both the long edges and along one of the shorter edges. Trim the seams and turn out. You might want to give it a quick iron at this point.

4. Tuck the raw edges inside and pin. Sew along the unattached edge of the trim. Hopefully that will also hold the raw edges in place. If not, you will need to tuck a little bit more underneath.

5. Fold the rectangle into three. The top will be the flap. Sew along the edges of the bottom 2 sections.

6. Decide where you want the button to be and make the button hole in the flap.

7. Cut the button hole open and, using a pin, chalk or a pencil, mark where the button needs to go. Sew on the button.

I made about 15 in the end. The little girls liked them and they were robust enough to contain their pirate money!
If you like this post, you might also like this post about making a little purse with a pretty lace zip!

How to Sew Boxed Corners

August 6, 2015 · 3 Comments

As I have gradually got better at sewing and I’ve tried more things, I have been amazed at how easy things are that I previously thought were some kind of wizardry only available to people were amazing at sewing.

Magnetic snaps were one such thing. I wrote a post about using magnetic snaps a few weeks ago. You can read it here. If you are making a bag, a snap is so much less of a faff than a zip!

Another thing that I really wanted to be able to do but didn’t believe that I could was sew boxed corners. When I finally figured it out, I was amazed at how easy it was! Now I use them all the time, at least I do when I’m making bags!

Boxed corners are great because they give your bag or purse a bit more shape and make them feel more bag like. It’s also much easier and quicker than adding a gusset.

How to Sew Boxed Corners

1. Take the front and back sections of your bag. Pin with the wrong sides together. Sew the sides and the bottom. Trim the seams.

2. Squash one of the corners flat so that the side seam and the bottom seam are together. Measure up from the corner and pin. How far up you measure is up to you! You might need to experiment a little bit. The width of the corner will be the width across from where you measured. There’s probably some maths for working it out. I don’t know what it is though, I would just measure it!

3. Sew across the corner at right angles to the seam where you have pinned.

4. Repeat for the other side then cut the corners off.Easy, see?

If you are making a lining for your bag, obviously you will need to do the same for the lining.

You can use this for all kinds and shapes of bags and purses, as long as they are flat at the bottom.

How to Make a Zippered Pouch With a Flat Bottom

Zippered Pouch Tutorial

You Will Need

Making the Template

Cutting Out

Sewing Up

Making the Covered Ends For the Zip

Making Up the Zippered Pouch

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A Burlap Purse Tutorial

How to Make a Burlap Purse

You will need

To Make the Pattern Pieces

Cutting Out

Sewing Up

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Appliqued Flower Purse Tutorial

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How to Make an Easy Button Purse

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How to Sew Boxed Corners

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