How to make a flowered zipper pouch using a flower stitch foot

I made a little zipper pouch with fabric from an old jeans. The pouch itself is a really easy sewing project. A friend of mine asked if I could make a pouch to put a book in when traveling. Because it’s a gift, I decided to decorated the fabric with some little yellow flowers for which I used the flower stitch foot and my darning foot. I really like the result!

Because the flower foot Is more complex than most presser feet, I also made a video to show you how to use this foot.

With a flower stitch foot you can make circles of stitches with a basic sewing machine. The circles almost automatically look like little flowers when you start using different stitches and stitch widths. With different colors of thread and even twin needles, you can be really creative and make beautiful embellishments. The possibilities are endless. A flower stitch foot is also used for making round buttonholes.

The flower stitch foot is a screw-on presser foot and can be used on low shank machines. Most domestic sewing machines are low shank.

The flower stitch foot consists of a large ring base, a driver arm on the right and a foot clamp to attach the foot on your presser bar. On the right, there is a latch that drives the base. If you lift the latch, the base stops turning.

The adjustment screw on the back left allows you to slide the base from left to right to make circles in various sizes, move it towards the + sign to make bigger circles, move it to the negative signs for smaller ones. The smallest circle you can make with it is ¼ inch, the biggest 1 inch in size.

Let’s attach the foot. Raise your needle to its highest position. Remove your standard presser foot & the presser foot holder. Screw off the entire foot, not just the snap-on part.

To attach the flower foot: slide the foot clamp around the shank. Make sure to place the driver arm above the needle holder and then securely tighten the presser foot screw.

Don’t forget to lower your feed dogs because the flower stitch foot does the transportation of your fabric.

Set your stitch length to 0. In fact the stitch length is irrelevant when using the flower foot. Reduce the upper thread to a looser setting.

Walk the hand wheel through a couple of manual stitches to see if all is clear.

Most fabrics need a stabilizer for the flower stitches. I didn’t use stabilizer because my jeans fabric was sturdy enough. Using a stabilizer prevents thinner fabric from puckering and ensures that your stitches lay flat and look professional.

I used all purpose thread but of course you can use machine embroidery thread as well.

Bring the bobbin thread up to the top.

Take the time to play with your flower stitch foot on some scraps to get used to it and see what result you get with different stitches. If you like a specific flower when you’re experimenting, write down the stitch and the width. Really, half of the time I forgot how I got a certain design.

Don’t use stitches that are too complex. To start, try a zigzag stitch, an overlock stitch, a blind hem stitch, an overcast stitch and a serpentine stitch.

When the foot is attached, you have chosen a stitch and your thread, bobbin and needle are in place, just start sewing until you get a circle. To lock your threads with your machine, set your machine to a straight stitch, then with a tip of a screwdriver, raise the latch that drives the base of the foot, and stitch in place for 3 to 5 stitches

If you want to stitch 2 circles for 1 flower, don’t move your fabric, it is very difficult to find the center again if you do. Just loosen the screw, move the base of the flower foot to the + or - sign and tighten the screw again.

If you want to change the color of your upper thread, try to do it without moving the fabric, put the tension to 0, change the thread and continue sewing.

What you need 

• A zipper of your choice 
  
• 2 pieces of sturdy fabric, rectangular, same length as your zipper 
  
• 2 small pieces of fabric, square 
  
• A flower stitch foot 
  
• A darning foot 
  
• A zipper foot 
  
• A heat erasable gel pen, if you want to draw your design first 
  
• Clips 
  
• Scissors 
  
• Matching thread 
  
• Contrasting decorative thread or all purpose thread 
  
• A sewing machine and a serger (or use the overcast stitch on your sewing machine or even attach an overcast foot)A Hot iron 
  

Draw the design on your fabric with a heat erasable gel pen or just try without a design.

Sew the flowers on your fabric with your flower foot and thread sketch the stems and leaves with a darning foot. Want detailed instructions on how to thread sketch using a darning foot? See my tutorial: How to thread sketch with your sewing machine.

Bring all the threads to the wrong side and knot the threads to secure.

Finish the raw edges of the 4 sides of the 2 pieces of embellished fabric. You can use an overcast foot for this on your sewing machine or use your serger.

In the pictures below, you can see the different stitches I used.

Fold the 2 small pieces like a bias tape, press them with your hot iron and pin them to the ends of the zipper and sew them onto the zipper.

Pin the 2 big pieces of fabric to the zipper, wrong side up, right side facing the zipper and sew on the wrong side.

Topstitch along the zipper on the right side

Put the 2 pieces together, right sides facing each other, sew the 3 sides of the pouch.  Take the end of the zipper along. If necessary trim the small bias-like pieces you have sewn to the zipper.

Turn inside out and… ready!!!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or mail me at an@madamsew.com. I also love to receive pictures of your projects to see what all of you are making! Have a nice day!