Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Easy Quilted and Lined Zipper Pouch Tutorial

I have always had a great fear of zippers.  I don't exactly remember where this fear originated but I figured it was time to nip that in the bud.  I was so successful in my endeavor that I decided to write a tutorial so others can join me in my success.  The tutorial is for a quilted and lined zipper pouch - seen below. Be sure to read through the entire tutorial before starting.

I wanted to make something fun and useful with my Nancy Drew fabric.  My Nook Tablet needed a new case and the idea was born!

Supplies: Four pieces from a layer cake or four pieces about two inches larger than you want your final product to be.  You'll also need batting and a zipper.

To make the quilting step easier I spray basted my fabric to my batting after cutting the batting slightly larger than my fabric.

Quilt just the one layer onto the batting.  Be sure to use the fabric you want on the outside.  I'm more or less new to free motion quilting and I decided this would be the perfect time for me to try out my skills.  The diagonal wavy lines I attempted turned out pretty good.

Cut to size. It is very important that you do this AFTER you quilt because your piece will bunch up and shrink a little with the quilting. Make sure you cut your non-quilted or lining pieces down too.


Ready to sew! Just FYI, for the Nook Tablet I needed the pieces to be 9.5" by 7.5" with a 6" zipper.

Layer and sew on zipper. Put your lining piece right side up.  Then the zipper also right side up.  Finally place the quilted pieces with right sides together.  See picture.  Sew with a zipper foot lining up with the edge all the way across with the needle closer to the teeth. Tip: When you get to the zipper pull it's really hard to go around.  With the needle down stop and move the zipper pull out of the way and keep going.

Layer on the other pieces and repeat.  Again start with the lining piece right side up.  Then place the side you just sewed with lining sides together with the zipper on top.  Finally place your quilted piece on top.  See picture.  Once again sew all the way across with the zipper foot on the edge and the needle closer to the teeth.

Press away from zipper teeth. This step makes the top stitching much simpler.

Top Stitch. Sew 1/4" on either side of the zipper and go all the way across.

Your project should now look like this.

Place matching sides together. The lining should go with the lining and the quilted with its pair. Make sure the zipper is unzipped so you can flip it after you sew around.

Sew 1/4" around. Leaving about a three inch hole (mine is about 2" and was slightly small) start on the lining side and sew 1/4" inch from the edge all the way around.

Flip right side out. Using the hole you just made turn the whole thing right side out.  There will be a hole left in the binding which you will take care of in the next step.  Make sure to push out your corners so they lie flat.

Sew up the hole in the lining. Since it is going to live at the bottom of my bag I just did a top stitch 1/8" away from the edge.  If you really care you could hide your seam.

Bask in the glory of a job well done. Hurray!  You made a quilted and lined zipper pouch!

Take Pictures.

Put stuff in it. The End.


1 comment:

  1. Woohoo! Way to conquer the zipper. I did my very first zipper this week. I was so excited when I did it and it wasn't nearly as bad as I have been envisioning it to be all these years.

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