Transcription
Hey, it's Vanessa, The Crafty Gemini. I post weekly videos right here on my YouTube channel, and in this tutorial, I'm going to teach you how to make these really cute and easy zippered triangular pouches.
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All right, so let's go over the supplies we're going to need to make the triangular pouch. First, you're going to need your fabrics. And I find that the 10-inch by 10-inch squares that come already in a pre-cut pack, this is a cotton and steel collection I'm using, these work great for this project. One square will give you one pouch if you're okay having the same fabric on the outside and on the inside. If you want to have two different prints, then go ahead and grab two squares.
Okay, aside from that, you'll need one zipper. And I prefer to work with these nylon or plastic teeth zippers because you can cut with a pair of scissors right through them. Uh, these are 7-inch zippers. Yours should be at least 6 inches. We're going to use the chunk that we need for the project, and then we're going to trim away the excess at the end. So anything longer than about a six or seven-inch zipper will work great for this.
Then you're also going to need something to back your fabrics with. So for this project, what's giving it the body on the outside here is this product. It's made by Pellon and it's called Thermolam Plus. It's fusible on one side, and it's kind of like a fusible fleece, but it's a little bit bulkier, like a little loftier and fluffier. So I like working with this, um, because it gives it a good hand and I don't have to do any quilting lines. If you're going to use fusible fleece, you can just fuse it like I'm going to do with this product. If you're going to use regular quilt batting, then you will want to go through and do some type of quilting on it to keep everything from shifting around on the inside.
Then for the lining fabric, I like to use this lightweight fusible interfacing. You can leave the quilting cotton as is, and it'll work okay. I like to back it because I just feel like it lays a little bit nicer. And this product is also made by Pellon. It's called Shape-Flex. It's fusible on one side, and again, you can see how sheer it is, so it's really nice and lightweight.
Aside from these things, you're going to need your basic sewing supplies. So a rotary cutter, some quilting rulers, whatever coordinating thread you want to use for the fabric that you'll be using, a pair of scissors. I like to use Wonder Clips in this project, uh, your iron, ironing board, a rotary cutting mat, of course, and then a sewing machine that has a zipper foot or zipper sewing capabilities.
Let's get started. So I picked out my two fabrics, one for the outside, one for the inside, and I am going to slice them right down the middle. These are 10-inch squares, so I'm going to measure 5 inches over and just slice it right down the middle. So that's two pieces that are 5 inches by 10. Right? So we'll set these aside. I'll be able to make two pouches.
All right, let's move that out of the way. And here we have our tube. So just grab one set. And now we're going to cut the coordinating pieces out of our lightweight interfacing and of the Thermolam Plus. All right, so just decide which one you want for your outer and which one for the lining. The lining goes with the lightweight, and the outer fabric goes with the Thermolam. And I think I'm going to do it this way.
All right, so I have my two fabric pieces fused to their corresponding, um, stabilizers or interfacings. We grab our zipper. I have a 7-inch zipper here. And one thing to note when you're buying zippers is that the full length of the zipper from beginning to end of the zipper tape is not the size of the zipper, okay? Okay. So if you're looking for a 7-inch zipper, it's going to be longer than the actual 7 inches because the measurement actually just goes from stop to stop. So from the end right here where these little metal stops are, all the way to the other bigger stop, from here to here should be about the 7 inches. And if I measure it, this one is just a little bit under 7 inches. That's fine. Usually, you'll have from the ends of the stops outward, you'll have at least half of an inch to 3/4 of an inch, um, additional on the tape.
All right, so this is a 7-inch zipper. That means that from stop to stop, it's about 7 inches, okay? And we're going to leave it that way because we'll be able to trim it down further. If you have a longer zipper, it'll be a waste, but if that's the only zipper you have, then sure, go ahead and use it.
All right, so I have the fabric. This is my outer fabric, pretty side facing up. I'm going to grab my zipper and flip it so that the right side of the zipper and the zipper pull is facing down. And I'm going to line it up so that the raw edge of the zipper tape matches up against the raw edge of my fabric piece down here. All right, now you, it doesn't have to be centered. Um, you don't definitely don't have to do it like this and try to match it up because we are going to trim it down. So I like to use it a little bit bigger and just trim away just a little bit from the project. It makes it a lot easier to work with as well.
All right, so I'm just going to put one clip here to hold it steady in place for me. Now you're going to take your lining fabric and flip it so that the pretty side is facing down. And again, match up this short raw edge here with the other two that we've lined up already. Let me remove that clip. Line this up so all my layers, I have my outer fabric, the zipper, and the lining fabric, all lined up nicely there. And we're going to head over to the sewing machine, put on our zipper foot, and stitch this side down. It's not hard. Watch how I do it.
Okay, so my zipper foot is installed. I'm going to stitch so that all these three layers right here are caught. And I've set up so the zipper foot is the leftmost side of my zipper foot. You don't want to stitch over your, um, zipper teeth. That's what the zipper foot helps you for, helps you with. Do a couple back stitches. All right, so that side is done.
Now, what we need to do, and I can do this right here at the sewing machine, I don't have to head back to my table. We have these two, right? I'm going to sandwich this so that the pretty sides of both fabrics are showing. I'm going to go and topstitch these two layers down. Just pull it good so that you don't get like a bubble up here. You don't want anything interfering with those zipper teeth when you're opening it. And we're going to repeat the same exact thing close to the zipper tape on this side.
All right, so that sandwiches both of those layers, lays everything nice and flat. This is my outer, this is my lining. Now let's do it to the other side so we can complete the little pouch part.
Okay, so here we have our two fabrics. What you're going to do is kind of make a little sandwich. So first, let's do the outer fabric. This is the one with the Thermolam Plus. I'm going to fold it up so that now this short edge is touching this raw edge of the zipper tape on this side and match up those sides. Okay, now the important part here is to make sure that you're matching up the fabric along with this one. So if you put it like this, it's not going to match up. The raw edges of the fabric as you fold it up need to match. So we'll put a little clip here in the meantime, and we'll pull this over here so it's all lined up flush and put another clip. So that's the outer fabric.
Now let's flip it. Grab your lining fabric and bring it up again to that side of the zipper tape as well. So I take my clip off and I re-clip it. Now I'm grabbing the lining, the zipper tape, and the outer fabric. Clip it there. Take this one off and do the same thing on this side. All right, so this is what you should end up with when you look at it from the side. So now we're going to take it to the sewing machine and stitch again, the same thing we did with our zipper foot on this new edge of our zipper tape.
All right, so now we need to do that top stitching line that we did to the other side as well to keep things from interfering with the zipper. So we are going to open the zipper, flip this whole thing right side out. It's not going to open all the way, right? Because the zipper is still attached and the end of it is there. But remember this top stitching line that we did here to keep both layers nice and flat down, we need to repeat that to this side because you can see how it's bubbling up. And this part is a little bit tricky, but I'll make it work. I start off on the loose end and I'm going to work my way down to the bottom here, making sure that I have all that fabric on the lining side pulled away from my zipper teeth. Take your time here. Notice what I'm doing. I'm spreading it open so I can get to the last thing without catching my zipper pull or anything else.
All right, so that's done. Here's the beginnings of your triangle pouch. So we're almost there. Let's move on to the next step.
All right, so this is what we end up with so far. Now we need to flip it, um, lining side out. So I'm going to unzip it, flip it so that my lining side is facing out. And I'm going to re-zip this up. So you want to lay it nice and flat so that that zipper is going somewhat in the center, as centered as you can get it. So now we head over to the sewing machine and on the side, right when the zipper is closed, just like it is here, it should be upside down how you're looking at it where the zipper pull is. Ignore that side. You're going to be stitching down the opposite side where these little zipper stops are on the end. We're going to use a quarter of an inch seam allowance and we're going to stitch this down only on this side. Now make sure that you're grabbing all your layers in there so you can stitch and catch them all in your seam.
Now, right here, this seam is going to be unfinished inside the little pouch. If you leave it like this, if you have a serger, you can go ahead and surge it, or you can also go to your sewing machine and select a zigzag stitch and do that. So I'm going to do a zigzag stitch just to finish off that edge a little bit neater.
All right, and now at this point, I can trim away my zipper tape only from this end. Don't trim this side yet.
All right, so we're going to work on that side next. So now this seam was sewn flat that way, and this one is going to be sewn in the opposite direction. And you can see how you're going to end up with that kind of triangular shape.
All right, so before we do that, let's make the little tab that we're going to insert. I went ahead and cut a little piece of scrap coordinating fabric that measures 2 inches by 4 inches. And now we're going to turn this into a little loop. So to do that, I flip it, pretty side of the fabric facing down, fold it in half lengthwise. I'm going to press a crease down the center, open it up, then bring in the ends or the sides here, the long sides, in towards the center so they can meet at that crease in the center. Give it a good press, and then all you've got to do is refold it down that center crease line so all those raw edges are enclosed. And now I can head over to my sewing machine and stitch two lines down, one to keep this from flapping open, and another line on the end, just because I like to do it that way.
All right, so here are the next steps. We have our zipper. It's closed, and we have our little tie here. All right, I'm going to open the zipper inside here. That's going to help us flip it right side out. Okay, once we stitch this neck seam, this thing, I'm going to fold it in half, make a little loop, and let me set it aside for a second so I can show you what you're going to be doing. You've got to fold this up so that the zipper teeth match up as perfectly as you can get it up here. I'm going to put a clip right there for now, and then we're going to match up the raw edges again, like we've been doing along all these sides. So here, and want to make sure you're grabbing all those layers. And here, put a clip.
And now this loop is going to be inserted in between the seam. So just so you know, it's going to be like right here. Let me take this top one off, and you are going to put this this way. So grab it with the loop and insert the loop inside so that it's touching or facing your outer fabric. And you're going to put it in somewhere here. The raw edges, this is what you're matching up, the raw edges of this little tab with the raw edges of the outer fabric side. And so try not to put it too close up. Just bring it a little bit down so you see where it's going to end up. Here is a sample from the top of the zipper down about half of an inch or so. So I'll do that right there. Rematch these edges up and put a clip right on it. So I'm grabbing all those layers. So there it is. And then my zipper teeth are going to match up here.
So now we're going to head to the sewing machine and we're going to stitch this down here using a quarter of an inch seam allowance, backstitching at the beginning and at the ends to secure it. And then again, because it's going to be an exposed seam, we're going to go back and zigzag stitch this all the way down. If you have a serger, you can use that too. So I went ahead and finished that seam on mine on my serger, just so you can see the process and how it would look.
Now all you've got to do is flip this baby right side out. So finish, finish opening the zipper if it's still a little tight or you didn't give yourself enough space.
All right, and here is your finished little triangular pouch. This size is kind of small, so it'd be good for like lip glosses or just to throw a few different little things in. For kids, it would make a great little coin purse. You can see my daughter likes to throw in some little toys that she has in them. You can put the tab on the outside, but also on this one, I went ahead and put the tab on the inside in case you have like a keychain or something that you want to loop in there or tie up. You can also hide it in there without having it slip out or anything.
You can make these in bigger sizes. The one that we made today, remember, we started off with pieces of fabric that measured 10 inches by 5 inches. We cut the squares down, uh, these squares down in half. These ones that are just a little bit bigger than this one, we're using pieces that measured 10 inches by 6 inches. So you can see that one extra inch to the width of the strips that we used gives it a little bit taller of a size. So you can feel free to customize these and make them in all kinds of sizes that you want.
Another option, if you don't want to make the little tab back here with the coordinating fabric, is to use some ribbon. So I just did this little sample with a little ribbon. You can do that as well, and there's so many different ways that you can customize these to whatever your needs are.
That's it for this video tutorial. I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll give this project a try. And if you do, make sure to upload some pictures to somewhere on social media. You can find me all over Facebook. I'd love to see your pictures there. I'm also on Instagram. You can find me @CraftyGemini or just use #CraftyGemini and I will find your pictures that way as well. If you enjoyed the video, make sure to hit it with the thumbs up below, share it across the different social media sites, and don't forget to click that subscribe button so you won't miss out on any of my future video tutorials. Thanks again for watching, and I'll see you all next time.
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Bye.