Make a Travel Pouch in 20 Minutes
This week I have a really easy, fast, and scrap-busting little project for you! I like to dive into my fabric stash to try to find the perfect match for a project like this.
This useful little pouch can help you to organize your purse, lunch bag, or you can use it to store your toothbrush and toothpaste, to store your take-away cutlery set and napkin, or for taking some craft tools with you wherever you might go. In addition, the pouch is easy to wash..
It definitely makes a great little handmade gift! You can make it in different sizes– But the size in this tutorial works both for a standard plastic cutlery set or a normal toothbrush with a tube of toothpaste. Check the size of your cutlery or toothbrush before you start cutting so that you get the right size. If it isn’t quite right, just add an inch in length and/or width.
These pouches can even sell for 16 dollars a piece on Etsy!
So, if you are looking for a beginner friendly project this is it! The only hard thing is the edge topstitching. Keeping a straight line at ⅛” can be a bit of a challenge.
To begin, gather your basic sewing tools, a snap button or a little piece of velcro, 2 matching fabric pieces 3 ½ by 19 inch, some thread, and off we go!
1. Cut the fabrics and fusible interfacing: cut two pieces of fabric and one piece of interfacing all measuring 3 ½ by 19 inches.
2. Iron the fusible interfacing to one of the fabrics, to make the pouch a little sturdier. Want to make ironing your fabric easier? Check out our wonderful bestselling wool pressing mat!
3. Pin the 2 fabric pieces together, right sides facing. Leave a 1 ½” turning hole in one of the long sides.
4. Sew all around at ¼”. I’m using the ¼” quilting foot with guide from our store. Perfect to keep a straight seam
5. Clip the corners.
6. Turn inside out though the turning hole. Push out the corners with an awl.
7. Press the seams so everything is neat and flat.
8. Fold over the top, leaving a flap at the top edge- this will become the closure on the finished pouch. Press again.
9. Edgestitch all around, closing the 2 long sides. If you have one, I would strongly advise to use an edge joining foot to get nice even edge stitches
10. Add a snap button in the flap. We sell 2 snap button sets in our shop: plastic snap buttons and metal snap buttons.
Ready!
I timed it. Making the second pouch only took me 18 minutes! Everything was in place when I started, so I gathered the material I needed and set up my iron and sewing machine. Threading my machine with black thread also happened in those 18 minutes :-).
Download and print this tutorial HERE
MadamSew has some wonderful tool deals for you!
Check out the snap buttons, metal buttons, the wool pressing mat and the edge joining foot here:
