I recently got a bunch of little 4.5" zippers and I became obsessed with figuring out how to make a little pouch with a zipper running down the middle. I knew I wanted to do something that would use up some scraps, so I wanted two patches on one side and the rest of the pouch made from linen. So now that I've got it figured out (and I've got four of these under my belt to get this far!), I figured I'd share it with you.

Here's what you'll need:

2 pieces of coordinating fabrics for the patches - 2.5" x 3.25" each
1 piece of linen (or another fabric for the body) - 6" x 6.5"
2 pieces of muslin or lining fabric - 6" x 4.5"
1 - 4.5" zipper (the zipper part is 4.5 inches, the total length of the fabric around the zip should be about 6")
Approximately 14" of bias tape

I recommend you starch and iron your fabrics before you cut them -- and if possible, use a rotary cutter to cut your fabrics. Of course you will need scissors and a sewing machine (see my sewing machine review here). Also, a fabric glue stick will make your life much, much easier!

You will sew with a .25" seam allowance for the whole project. Good luck!

The first step is to put the two patches together and sew along one of the short ends (sew along the edges that are 2.5" long).

Iron the patches open and put it right-side down against one of the lining pieces so they line up on the 6" side. If your lining piece has a right/wrong side, put the right side together with the right side of the top fabric. Do the same with the linen piece.

Sew the patches to the lining and the linen to the other lining piece with a .25" seam allowance. Turn and press.

Now you're going to sew your zipper on. For this pouch, the zipper is not enclosed between the top fabric and lining, but rather sits neatly under them both. I have found this was the neatest way I could sew them. If I were sewing a pouch that had the zipper on top, I would have enclosed it, but for this pouch, this way just made the most sense.

Position the zipper underneath the 2-patch piece and muslin and sew down the top. Do the same with the linen.

Next open the zipper (this is IMPORTANT!). Put the right sides of the patches and linen together (pull them away from the lining fabric) and sew together with a .25" seam allowance. You'll have something that looks like this:

Take a picture of the little gremlin who is pestering you because he thinks the six-hundred dollar camera you're holding is a toy and desperately wants to "Push but-ton?" and take "Pick-ture?"

Now put the right sides of the lining together (make sure your zipper is down!) and sew them together. Now turn the whole thing and you'll come up with something like this:

You'll notice that the top of the pouch seams along the side of the patches (which will be the side of the pouch) while the lining seams along the middle back of the pouch. This is because when I tried to seam both lining and top fabrics at the same place, it was too bulky in that spot when I attached the bias tape and turned. This method makes for much nicer corners on the finished pouch.

(You can also turn it so it's right-side out at this point if you want to see how it's going to look.)

Now, see that little metal piece at the end of each zipper? Using that as a guide, even up each side of the pouch so that there's .5" of material beyond that little metal piece. Use a rotary cutter if you have one.

Now snip off about 7" of bias tape and baste it to each side of the pouch. Bias tape has an uneven fold so that there is more fabric on the back side of the tape. This is to make sure you catch the backside when you're sewing. So make sure you put it on right!

I like to use a fabric glue stick when I apply bias tape. It makes it much easier to turn under the edges. To hide the end of the bias tape, fold it under from front to back and tuck it underneath on each side.

Now stitch the bias tape on. The closer you stitch to the edge of the bias tape, the neater the corners of your pouch will be. Turn your pouch and poke out your corners.

You'll have to pull on your pouch and iron it a bit to get the shape right. The linen tends to pull funny. I bet it would work better with a lighter-weight fabric, actually.

Add a tassle with some linen scraps and tiny rick rack. Sit back and marvel at your ingenuity!

This is my first sewing tutorial, so let me know what you think! I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have! I have some more photos of the finished pouch at my flickr page.

Since today is Sunday, you also get to see my Sunday Stash!

These are all fabrics I've gotten in swaps from the Craft Room Destash group on flickr. I love love them all. I think I'm going to make Freyja a little hat with the umbrellas and I see the Panda's and the flowers becoming change purses.The flower fabric is actually my favorite fat quarter in my whole stash right now... so it just might be too painful to cut into it right now!

Enjoy the tutorial and let me know if you'd like me to post other tutorials in the future!