Travel Sewing Pouch Tutorial

Travel sewing pouch might be just the thing you need to keep your essentials compact and portable. Free Sewing Tutorial.

Sizes: 7.5” x 17.5” (19cm x 44.5cm) opened;  7.5” x 9” (19cm x 23cm) closed

And there’s a handy little zippered pocket in the back!

So before we get started, here are a few essential points:
    Use quarter inch seams throughout
    Avoid directional prints for the main/outer fabric (it will be upside down when the flap folds over)
    All cutting instructions are shown width x height

Materials/Cutting:
For main/outer/flap cut:  1 x (8”/20cm x 17”/43cm)
For front/small pocket cut:  1 x (8”/20cm x 10”/25.5cm)
For lining cut:  1 x (8”/20cm x 17”/43cm)
For medium pocket cut:  1 x (8”/20cm x 13”/33cm)
For large pocket cut:  1 x (8”/20cm x 16”/40.5cm)
For zippered pocket lining cut:  2 x (8”/20cm x 9”/23cm)
From sew-in vilene cut:   1 x (8”/20cm x 17”/43cm)
You will also need:
Elastic hair bobble
Button
Basting Spray (505)
5” plastic zipper
Zipper foot
Non-permanent marking pen/tool

Method:

1 Spray baste the vilene to the wrong side of the main/outer fabric.

2 Iron all 3 pockets in half widthways, wrong sides together. Top stitch along top/folded edges.

3 Place the small and medium pockets together (aligned at the bottom & side edges). Chalk & sew lines onto the small pocket to create dividers as required. Use a reverse stitch at the top/folded edge. Do not sew a central line through all layers as this will be sewn in the next step.

4 Place the small and medium pockets on top of the large pocket, again aligning bottom and side edges. Mark a line that runs vertically through the middle of the small and medium pockets only. Sew on this line, through all layers, again using a reverse stitch at the top edge.

5 Place the pocket section on top of the lining (right side facing) aligning the bottom and side edges. Machine tack together. Put to one side.

6 Make the back/zippered pocket: Hand or machine stitch the open end of the zipper closed to hold in place.

7 Place one of the zippered pocket linings right sides together with the outer fabric, aligning the bottom and side edges.

Draw a line on the pocket fabric, 2” (5cm) down from the top and 1.5” (4cm) in from each side.

8 Next draw a line ¼” (6mm) above and below the first line. Join up the sides and draw > shapes ¼” (6mm) in from each side.

9 Pin the layers together and sew on the outer lines only through both layers. Do not sew on the centre line.

10 Carefully cut along the centre line and > lines into the corners. You need to cut right into the corners without snipping the stitches.  A small pair of embroidery stitches are useful here.

11 Push the pocket fabric through the letterbox opening to the back. Press well so no pocket fabric is seen.

12 Place the zipper into the letterbox opening, so that the ‘teeth’ are showing on the right side. Pin and carefully sew around the opening using 1/8” (3mm) seam allowance.

13 Pin the remaining pocket lining piece right sides together with the first pocket lining piece. Do not pin through to the main/outer fabric.

14 Clip or pin the outer fabric back out of the way before sewing around all sides of the pocket linings.

15 Complete the pouch: Machine or hand tack an elastic hair bobble to the top edge of the outer fabric, centred and with the main loop pointing down.

16 Place the outer piece right sides together with the lining/pockets. Pin and sew around all edges, leaving a 3” (8cm) gap in the top of one of the sides. Carefully snip the corners at an angle to remove the bulk.

17 Turn the pouch right sides out, push the corners well out and press well.

18 Hand stitch the gap closed and sew on a button 2” (5cm) up from the bottom edge and centred.

Fill with all your sewing essentials!  Happy sewing!