Ruffled Zipper Pouch Tutorial

 Today I’m going to show you how to make a cute little zipper pouch with pleated ruffles. I’ve seen a lot of ruffled zipper pouches around blogland, but I wanted mine to be a little more tailored than most.

Materials Needed

For the pouch exterior:
1 FQ of Temple Tiles in Inca - cut 2 pieces 5” x 11.5,” and 2 pieces 2.5” x 11.5”

For the lining:
1 FQ of Folk Vision in Salmon - cut 2 pieces 8.5” x 11.5”

For the accent and ruffle trim:
1 FQ of Frida’s Dream in Bright - cut 4 strips 2” x 21” and 2 strips 2” x 11.5”

Other items needed:
• Interfacing or fusible fleece - cut 2 pieces 8.5” x 11.5”
• 12” zipper

Making the Pouch Exterior

1. Press your 21” strips in half lengthwise, so they’re now 1” x 21”.

2. To make the pleated ruffles, I folded and pressed the first few pleats to get me started. I went about 1” from the end, folded the strip back about 1/4”, then went another inch and created another 1/4”
pleat.
It doesn’t have to be exact! It will still look great even if your pleats aren’t perfectly evenly spaced.

3. Once I had those first few pleats in place to establish the rythym, I took the strip to my machine. Stitch down your pleats by stitching about 1/8” from the unfolded edge. Once you get past those first couple of pleats that you pressed into place, just tuck your pleats under as you’re sewing, pleating the strip every inch or so. This sounds complicated, but trust me, it’s the easiest way, and I think you’ll find it’s easier than you expected!

4. You should now have a strip that looks like this. Your pleated strip should be at least 11.5” long. (If it’s not long enough, you could probably sew some more length onto the strip, hiding the seam in a pleat.) Make a total of four pleated ruffle strips (two for each side of your pouch).

5. Take one of your 5” x 11.5” exterior pieces and lay it face-up. Center your pleated strip along the top edge of the piece, with raw edges aligned (so the folded edge of the pleated trim is away from the edge).

6. Put one of the 2” x 11.5” accent strips facedown over the top of the pleated strip, sandwiching the pleated strip between the two pieces of fabric and aligning the raw edges.
Pin, being careful to keep everything lined up (that pleated strip likes to twist and bend and squirm around!)

7. Stitch 1/4” from the raw edges and press the accent piece up, away from the pleated strip.

8. Now do the same with one of the 2.5” x 11.5” exterior pieces. Lay another pleated strip along one edge of the exterior piece, aligning raw edges.

9. The piece you just sewed goes face-down over the pleated strip, with raw edges aligned. Pin into place.

10. Stitch 1/4” from the raw edges and press the pleated ruffle and the exterior fabric up and away from accent piece. Once everything was pressed into place, I top-stitched the accent band, 1/8” from the seams, to give it a more finished look.

Repeat all of the above steps to make your other exterior piece.

Putting the Pouch Together

Now that you have your exterior pieces finished, it’s time to sew the pouch!
If you’ve made it this far, the rest is easy-peasy, trust me!

 11. Fuse your interfacing pieces to the wrong side of the lining pieces. I like to fuse the interfacing to the lining because I think it gives the pouch structure without making the outside too stiff. Lay out one of the lining pieces face up, and center your zipper across the top edge.

12. At this point, I like to tack down the zipper onto the lining piece, just to keep everything straight and aligned. I stitch about 1/8” from the edge, using my zipper foot (which probably isn’t strictly necessary, but hey, it’s a zipper and I have the foot. Might as well use it.)

13. Lay the exterior of your pouch over the zipper, face down, aligning the top edges. Using your zipper foot, stitch 1/4” from the top edge. Because I tacked down the zipper in the previous step, I find that I don’t need to pin in this step—I can just line things up by hand while I’m sewing. I think this method is easier than trying to pin two layers plus a zipper and keep things from shifting around! But if you prefer to skip the previous step and stitch all three layers at the same time, go for it.

14. Press both pieces away from the zipper, so it looks like this.

15. I then top-stitched about 1/8” away from the seam, just to give it a cleaner, more finished look.

16. Now repeat steps 11-15 to attach the zipper to the other side of your pouch. Do the exact same thing you just did to attach the zipper to the first side—just pretend there isn’t all that extra stuff attached to the zipper. Again, press the fabric away from the zipper and topstitch 1/8” from the zipper seam. Looks kind of like a book, right?

17. Now here’s a small step that’s so important, it needed its own picture, so you don’t forget. Unzip that zipper, about halfway! If you skip this step, I promise you’ll be sorry when it’s time to turn this thing.

18. Now flip the “pages” of the book so that the lining pieces are together on one side, and the exterior pieces are together on the other side. Make sure the teeth of your zipper are turned so that all the teeth are pointing toward the exterior pieces. Pin and sew all the way around, 1/2” from the raw edges, leaving a 3-4” opening for turning, in the center of the long side of the lining pieces.

Boxing the Corners of the Pouch

One final thing before we turn the pouch right-side out: We’re going to box the corners so that the
pouch will stand up on its own. If you’ve never done this before, it’s a handy skill to have, and is
used in many bag patterns.

 19. Take one of the corners of the exterior pieces and pinch it together so it forms a triangle, with the seams down the center of the triangle. I finger-press the seam allowance in opposite directions, which allows me to feel whether the seams are lined up with each other.

20. Measure about 1.25” from the tip of this triangle and mark a line across the triangle, perpendicular to the seam.

21. Sew on your marked line, back-stitching at the beginning and end of this seam for strength. Again, make sure your vertical seams are still lined up with each other.

22. Trim off the corner, 1/4” from the seam. Repeat this corner-boxing process on every corner of the exterior and lining pieces (so you’ll box four corners total).

23. Now, finally, you can turn your pouch and see what it looks like! Before tucking the lining into the pouch, stitch shut the opening in the lining.

All done! Enjoy your ruffled  zipper pouch!