Free Pattern and Tutorial: The Pochi Pouch – part 2

Are you ready to finish your Pochi Pouch? If you haven’t started yet, see the Pochi Pouch Part 1.

In Part 1, I showed you how to draft your own pattern piece for the Pochi Pouch so you can make it from your own fabrics or a left over 12 1/2” quilt block (like I did – so fun!).

If you would rather download and print a pattern, you can use the main pattern piece for my Patchwork Potholder pattern. It will make a slightly smaller pouch with the same cute shape.

See how to use fat quarters with this pattern (layout diagram too).

UPDATE: This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing. Find it here. The pattern in the blog post below is totally free to read, print, and sew! Just hit CTRL +P on your computer to print. The PDF download is inexpensive and optional.

You will need:

• 1 exterior pouch cut from the pattern piece
• 1 pouch lining cut from the pattern piece
• 1 stabilizer piece cut using the pattern piece or by tracing around a pouch piece cut out of the panel. The stabilizer can be fusible fleece, cotton quilt batting, or ByAnnies soft and stable (my favorite for this project).
• A strip of fabric 1 1/2” x 40” cut on the bias (see my easy video tutorial for bias binding here)
• A zipper, 12” or longer.

Sandwich the stabilizer piece in between the pouch exterior and lining pieces (with the exterior and lining pieces facing out) and sew 1/8” from the edge to hold the layers together.

Tip: If you find it tricky to sew all 3 pieces together at the same time, you can sew one fabric piece to the stabilizer (1/8” from the edge) and then turn the piece over and sew the other piece of fabric to the other side of the stabilizer.

This is your chance to quilt the pouch any way you like – or not at all. I used straight line quilting on both pouches.

Attach the Binding:

1. Press one long edge of the binding strip over to the wrong side 3/8”

2. Pin the binding around the pouch with the right side of the binding against the right side of the pouch. Stitch with a 1/4” seam allowance, leaving 5-6’’ of binding free at either end.

 Finger press the ends of the binding back to make a crease where it should be joined.

3.  Place the binding ends right sides together and stitch along the crease lines. Trim the seam allowance to 1/4’’ and press it open. Finish sewing the binding to the pouch.

4. Wrap the binding around to the wrong side of the pouch. Hand or machine sew the binding in place, sewing close to the fold. 

Shaping the Pouch 

1. Lay the pouch on your work space right side up. Fold it in half and crease to find the center. Fold the sides down along the center to make a point.

2. Draw a 1’’ line across the point.

 3. Sew along the 1’’ line. 

Repeat on the other side of the pouch.

 Attach the Zipper

1. Mark the center of the zipper on both zipper tapes, as well as the center of the pouch at the top on both sides

2. Open the zipper. Pin the right side of one zipper tape against the wrong side of the pouch.

The zipper teeth should be even with the edge of the binding.

3. Sew along the length of the zipper tape, sewing right next to the binding on the front of the pouch and catching the zipper underneath.

When I made this one I used my zipper foot. The trick is just to keep the zipper teeth even with the edge of the binding.

4. With the zipper still open, pin and attach the remainingzipper tape to the other side of the pouch in the same way

 Finishing

Hand sew the sides of the pouch together for about 2’’, hiding the ends of the zipper. Sew a tack at the top of the stitching to stop the zipper.

Alternatively, machine stitch the sides of the pouch together using a zig zag stitch that catches both sides. Backstitch securely at the top to stop the zipper.

If you are using a zipper that is longer than necessary, hand sew the zipper tapes together to make a zipper stop where needed and trim the extra zipper tape away.

Now fill it with all kinds of fun things!

Visit my Free Sewing Patterns page for more sewing ideas.

Happy Sewing!