Zippered Pencil Pouch

You Will Need

- PROJECT BUDGET
- Almost Nothing

A cute pencil pouch! yay!
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I wanted to make a pencil pouch for college. You can either hand sew it, or use a sewing machine. I find hand sewing to be a brain task like solving a puzzle. I do love a good challenge. Don't worry if it doesn't come out straight(mine's a little lop-sided), because nothing perfect.

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First, gather your materials. I used a seven inch zipper, needle and thread, scissors, straight pens,a ruler(optional and not pictured here), and of course some fabric.
Then, Measure out your material by the length of your zipper. It should be a little bit wider than the zipper. Rememember to double your fabric so it has two sides. You should cut your fabric in a square or rectangle(or oval!)shape in your own size preference. I want mine big enought to hold pens, pencils, jumbo highlighters in different colors, correction tape/fluid and possibly other things, so I'll make mine 5x8 1/2.

Optional bottom: Next, cut out a rectangle the same width as your "body" piece and the length of your chosing. This will be your bottom of the pouch. This is so your pouch will become wider when you want to stuff more objects into it. If you do not want a flat bottom, you can just sew the two bottoms of your body piece together later.
Now at this point I suggest that you tidy up your work area. Fold up your fabric and set aside your scissors, bottom piece, and zipper. We need a clean work area!

Now, you need to pin your material so both inside pieces are on the outside.
Now, we will begin to sew. Start your stitching a little bit more than half an inch from the top. In the picture, mine is marked by the cross-ways needle. I used lavender thread and my stitches a lot of the time are tiny. Stop when you get about half an inch from the bottom, if you are wanting a flat bottomed piece.
Do the same for the other side.
Now, we're going to on the zipper. This was the tricky part for me. Fold over your fabric that we left at the top of the pouch. Now from the underside, pin your zipperon onto your fabric. I will show more detailed pictures.
Underside of the pinning. This is so you don't stab yourself with the hiding pins if you were to pin it the other way when we turn the pouch the rightside out.
Now, turn the pouch rightside out. Begin sewing where the metal(or plastic) pieces start and follow them until they stop.
Now, I shall take a slight break. Here is a picture of my kitties. Hahaha...it's late...
For the next step, I had to turn my pouch inside out again and the 1/2 inch piece down and pin it. We still want to have our zipper to go together when we pin it on the other side.
Now, turn it rightside out and pin your zipper on, and taking out the other pins.
Now you can unzip your zipper and sew just like before.
Both sides of your zipper are sewn.
Now you can put on your bottom piece! (if you chose to have one.)
Just pin the right side of your fabric to one of the sides and stitch that up.
Do the same for the other side, but this time, turn it inside out, putting the outer fabrics together.
And you should have it.