29 December, 2012

Zippered pouch

With all my stuff rattling around loose in my rucksack I decided I needed a zippered pouch to keep some knick-knacks in while traveling. A friend invited me to go to a fabric/craft shop with her to buy googly eyes, and seeing a shelf of discount fabric scraps I was inspired to make one myself.

So, I got half a yard of duck cloth (a thick canvas-like cloth) and a zipper, then began searching for suggestions on sewing one. I found several tutorials, such as this one about how to make a lined zippered pouch,and this one about how to make the corners look nice. Since duck cloth is pretty thick, lining didn't seem necessary, so I opted for a simpler style without it.

Dad dug up Grandma's old featherweight Singer sewing machine and I read the manual to familiarize myself with its use (been a few years since I used a sewing machine!). We dropped oil into every little nook the manual said to drip oil into and I did a quick practice run on a rag, then got to work. Without a lining, I could use the sewing machine to sew all three sides of the material to each other after sewing each to the zipper. With a lining, you have to leave a few inches unsewn then push the material right side out and sew the rest up by hand.
finished zippered pouch with mechanical pencil for size comparison

And the other nice thing about duck cloth: you can draw on it!
zippered pouch with colored pencil sketch

I'm pleased with it, and if I can find affordable zippers, I will be making more (zippers are so expensive!).