The Peek-a-Boo Pouch: free sewing pattern

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Sew a darling snap pouch with vinyl pockets on the inside for first aid items, toiletries, cosmetics, or anything else! Don’t be fooled because this project is sewn with vinyl. It’s very easy!

And I even have a video to show you how. I LOVE this handy pouch!

This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing. Find it here. 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. Of course, if you already own my PDF library of Optimized for Printing files, you can find it there too.

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It’s Sew Easy TV asked me to share a how-to tutorial for this pattern on their show! You can see it on YouTube.

And of course I LOVE this pouch too because who doesn’t need a travel sewing kit?

To make these pouches even better, I re-cycled the vinyl on all of them… it came from the package that my dog’s bed came in. I know I should have sewn him a bed instead… maybe next time. 🙂

Plus… this sewing project is totally fat quarter friendly! As you can see, I dipped into my stash of Cotton + Steel fat quarters for two of the pouches.

These amazing adorable Peek-a-Boo Pouches are all because of you, dear readers. You voted for them this month in our Pinterest Un-tutorials series. Thank you!

So are you ready for the Peek-a-Boo Pouch sewing pattern? Let’s go sew!

DOWNLOAD THE PEEK A BOO POUCH PATTERN TEMPLATE HERE

The easiest way to put the pattern together is to stack the pages, slice 1/2” off of both long edges, and tape the pieces together with no overlap. Then cut around the piece. A detailed photo tutorial for sewing the Peek-a-Boo Pouch is below.

You will need:

  • 1/4 yard of fabric for the exterior & pocket trim
  • 1/4 yard of fabric for the lining
  • 1/4 yard of fusible fleece (or other interfacing)
  • 1 zipper, 8” or longer
  • 1/4 yard of vinyl (can be purchased in the home decor section of the fabric store, from Amazon, or re-purposed from the packaging that bedding, curtains, pet beds, and lots of other things come in)
  • 1 snap
  • Wondertape (very helpful) or double sided tape

Note: I used Kam Snaps, but any snap will work fine including the sew in kind if you don’t have a snap setter. You could also use a square of velcro instead.

Cutting:

Using the pattern piece, cut:

  • 1 from exterior fabric
  • 1 from lining fabric
  • 1 from fusible fleece or other interfacing

Cut 1 strip 1 1/2” x 8” for the pocket trim.

Cut 2 pieces of vinyl 6” x 8”.

Prepare the Exterior:

1. Attach the fusible fleece or other interfacing to the wrong side of the pouch exterior piece.

2. Attach one half of the snap to the right side of the exterior, centered and 2 1/2” from the bottom edge. (as indicated on the pattern piece)

3. To make sewing a perfectly symmetrical curved edge easy… trim away the seam allowance on the top third of the pattern piece. Trace the stitching line onto the wrong side of the pouch exterior piece, including the opening for turning the pouch later.

I traced it with a sharpie so it would be easy for you to see in the photos. A pencil or pen works fine too.

Set the pouch exterior aside.

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Prepare the Pockets:

1.  Apply a strip of Wondertape or regular double sided tape to one 8” long edge of the vinyl and attach it to the wrong side of the zipper, on one zipper tape only.

2. Apply Wondertape or double sided tape to the other piece of vinyl in the same way and stick it to the opposite side of the zipper (again on the wrong side).

3. Topstitch on the right side of the zipper, along both sides, to attach the zipper to the vinyl pieces.

Notes: The vinyl is against the bed of my sewing machine and it moved just fine under the foot, but it tended to stick to my sewing machine bed and extension table. I held the sides of the vinyl up with my hands and let the machine pull the zipper through. You also might need to use a zipper foot if your regular foot is too wide to sew along the zipper tape. My straight stitch foot worked fine for me.

4. Press the 1 1/2” x 8”  binding strip in half, wrong sides together. Fold long edges to the center, press. Fold in half again and press.

5. Clip the binding strip around the top edge of the vinyl. You could use pins but be very careful not to poke holes in the vinyl that will show – they don’t go away.

6. Stitch the binding to the top edge of the vinyl. Make sure you catch both sides of the binding in your seam.

Sew the Pouch Together:

1. Place the vinyl piece on top of the lining piece – with both right sides up and the bottom edges aligned.

2. Place the pouch exterior on top, right side down. Clip all the way around. Or pin – but be careful to place the pins within the 1/2” seam allowance.

3. Starting at the top, backstitch and then stitch along your marked seam line. Then continue sewing around the pouch with a 1/2” seam allowance. Pivot at the bottom corners.

At the top of the pouch, sew along your marked seam line and backstitch at the opening.

4. Clip the corners. Trim the thicker seam allowance to 1/4”. Cut notches into the curved edges.

5. Press the seam allowances at the opening back.

6. Turn the pouch right side out through the opening.

7. Sew the opening closed. I hand sewed my openings to make them look exactly like our inspiration pouches, but you could topstitch along the top curve instead to close the opening.

Press the pouch flat from the fabric side – don’t let your iron touch the vinyl!

8. To finish the pockets, stitch through all layers on the top zipper tape, right over of the previous stitching.

9. Sew a divider line in the top pocket, if desired.

Note: This is the only time you will sew directly on top of the vinyl. My presser foot got stuck so I placed a drop of sewing machine oil under it to help it glide smoothly over the vinyl – yay! Then I wiped away the excess oil.

10. Fold the bottom of the pouch up and the curved flap down. Mark the location of the other snap half. Install or sew on the other half of the snap.

All done!

Thanks again for helping me to write another fabulous sewing tutorial! See all of the U-Pick winning sewing patterns here.

Happy sewing,

Disclosure: some of my posts contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of those links I may receive a small commission, so thank you for supporting SewCanShe when you shop! All of the opinions are my own and I only suggest products that I actually use. 🙂