Applique Zipper Pouches & Bunting

 Personalised Teacher Appreciation Gifts

My daughter finishes school next week before (hopefully) heading off to university in the autumn. Schools in the UK, like many throughout the world, have spent much of the last year in lockdown. Those in the North were particularly affected, with far more closures than down South.  Some elements of the UK press would have their readers believe that teachers have been on an extended holiday over the last 16 months.  Nothing could be further from the truth, my daughter's teachers have been amazing and consistently delivered high quality lessons via Zoom whilst also being physically available in school for vulnerable students. 

It's therefore been a pleasure to stitch gifts marking our appreciation for the fabulous job they've done.  Sewing for women is pretty straightforward but I always struggle to come up with ideas for men.  After quite a bit of faffing (timewasting!) I finally decided to upcycle school badges, previously unpicked from outgrown uniform blazers.

The first 'male' gift was this pencil case.  I stitched the salvaged school badge onto one side and on the other the recipient's initials. I designed the letters in the style of an American Varsity font, which was perfect for both the school theme and masculine tone.

 

The second masculine gift also used upcycled school badges, this time stitched to pennants on each end of a string of personalised bunting.  It's for my daughter's very wonderful Head of Year and, whilst he may not have a use for it at home, he will hopefully find a place to hang it it in his school office.  As before I created the letters in an 'American Varsity' style also adding a red ric-rac trim and yellow tape to coordinate with the colours in the badge.  The flag fronts were cut from an old work shirt of my husband's whilst the backs used old school shirts! 

Once the men's gifts were completed I started on the women's and for these I used a cute pencil case design which I  had previously created as a pattern for a magazine.   

I wanted the gifts to be personalised, so embroidered names on the fronts rather than the original 'Write on' sentiment

 

Whilst I was stitching away I was usually kept company by at least one of our three cats.  Luna also seemed keen to make another appearance here at SewforSoul, so here's some bonus kitty spam!!

 

Thank You Teachers!

Zipper Pouch Tutorial

Lined Zipper Pouch with Matching Tabs & Contrast Panel 

Zipper pouches are my 'go to' project when stitching gifts.  They're so versatile and the recipient can always find a use for them: pencil case, make-up purse, travel bag, gadget case, clutch bag...etc....etc., the list is endless!

I stitched up this particular pouch for my husband's goddaughter.  The matching travel mirror, personalised with her initial, was made with my trusty badge machine one of my favourite playthings!

The dark green bottom panel is a 'waxy' type cotton which almost looks like leather.  It came from a pair of jeans that cost just 20p from a local car boot sale as I knew the fabric would be perfect for little sewing projects!  The eye-catching zigzag fabrics are from the 'Sophia' range by Makower and I originally used them to make these sprocket cushions, published in Sewing World Magazine.

Zipper pouches are the perfect sewing project for beginners as they (generally) only use straight lines.  They also introduce the slightly more challenging skill of inserting zips but their dinky size means should the worst comes to the worst not too much fabric is wasted!

On that note, it's important to remember that sewing does take practice and we all make many, many mistakes when learning.....and continue to do so!  My sewing has improved greatly over time simply because I've become more adventurous and now just get stuck in!  The main step in this direction was the growing prevalence of 'car boot sales' where I can buy old clothing, sheets, curtains, duvet covers...etc...etc., for next to nothing!  Previously purchasing supplies was an expensive business and as such I was extremely reticent to pick up my scissors and hack into fabric unless I was sure of the outcome. This obviously lead to a vicious circle whereby I didn't have many sewing skills but was too nervous to expand my stitching repertoire!

So grab some fabric, whether new or upcycled, and create your own gorgeous zipper pouch    

Zipper Pouch Tutorial  

Use a 1 cm seam allowance throughout.

The first step is to create the pouch exterior.  Cut two 21 x 11 cm rectangles from your chosen patterned fabric for the pouch top and two 21 x 7 cm rectangles from a contrast fabric for the lower section.  If the fabrics are a pale colour or light weight consider applying a fusible interfacing to the wrong side of your rectangles.

Sew together in pairs and then press seams towards the darker fabric.  Top stitch lower contrast panel for a lovely professional touch.  

Next cut two 21 x 16 cm rectangles from your lining fabric.  I chose a darker colour as this makes for a much more forgiving and practical choice, disguising make-up smudges or marks from leaky pens!

Now stitch the zipper tabs using your contrast fabric and this tutorial from one of my previous posts. If you want to miss this step out just make sure that your zipper is at least the width of your prepared pouch pieces!

The next step is to create your zipper sandwich.  To do this simply place your lining piece down with right side up and centre your zip on top of it right side up, there will be some overhang but this is trimmed off later along with the seam allowances.  Then put one of your lining pieces on top, wrong side up. Pin or tack the zip sandwich securely and then sew in place using a zipper foot. Repeat for the second side.

Open out the pouch and press neatly.  Then top stitch through all layers of fabric on either side of the zip, using your zipper foot or an edge stitch foot.  As with the stitching on the lower panel, it gives a professional finish and also prevents the lining from getting caught in the zip when in use.

Match up the outer fabrics right sides together and the lining fabrics, again right sides together. Ensure that the zip is at least half way open so that you can turn the pouch right side out after stitching!

Pin the sides together pushing the zip tab bulk towards the lining.  Then sew all the way around the outside, leaving an opening in the lining for a turning gap.

Trim seam allowances to reduce bulk.  Turn the pouch through to the right side and gently push out rounded corners using a large wooden knitting needle or other blunt point.

Lightly press and then using a small ladder or slip stitch hand sew the opening closed.

You've now stitched a fabulous zipper pouch!

Zipper End Tab Tutorial

How to cover zip ends ~ An easy DIY!

It's been absolutely ages since I lasted posted a tutorial, so without any further fuss here's a new one ~ Demonstrating how to create the little tabs covering zipper ends of bags and pouches.  They're such a cute little design feature, adding a pop of colour and a fabulous professional feel to your finished makes. 

So that you could see the difference they make for yourself, I began by stitching up an example pouch without tabs......

Just look how pinched and puckered the bulky zipper teeth make those poor side seams....

Now doesn't that look better?!

Tutorial

The first thing you'll notice about this tutorial is that I'm not one for lots of complicated measuring.....I'd much rather get on with the actual sewing and then cut off the 'extra' bits later!  This makes the whole process sew much quicker and easier 😀

To begin, firstly cut two strips of fabric just a touch wider than your zip and approximately twice the finished length of the tabs (I think about 1½ cm looks perfect) plus an extra 5 or 6 centimetres ~ See I promised no real measuring was needed!

Now cut your zipper so that it is roughly 4½ cm shorter than your pouch side pieces. I sew my seams with a narrow ¾ cm allowance but if you stitch a wider seam just cut your zipper proportionately shorter.  Trimming the zip also loses the metal 'staples' from the zipper ends, sewing machines needles do not come off best in a fight against them (guess how I know that!).  You could also sew the zip ends closed with a couple of hand stitches, I don't bother but I guess there is a slight risk you might lose the zipper pull off one or other of the open ends! 

Next fold under approximately 1 cm on each end of your fabric strips press, then fold in half and press again.  From now on the fabric strips will simply be referred to as tabs.

Place one zipper end just inside the first folded tab and hand tack into position.  The less zip you have within the tab the better, as the whole point of the exercise is to reduce unnecessary excess, thus eliminating the annoying puckering that comes from those bulky zipper teeth.

Machine stitch into place and repeat with the other zipper end, you'll then be left with the ends looking like this;

Now continue constructing your pouch in the usual manner......

....and once you've stitched your zipper pouch sandwich, simply trim off the excess tab fabric 

Looking good!

There you have it, a quick and easy guide to creating zipper tabs,

I told you it was easy!

For the pouch above I chose to stitch the tabs in a high contrast fabric for a very modern effect, but they also look great in matching fabric;

In the pouch below I made the tabs an absolutely integral design feature of the finished item... 

Pretty cute huh?

See More SewforSoul zipper pouches here

Appliqued Paris Pouch

Eiffel Tower Embroidery

I've been pretty busy at the moment renovating a flat for my elderly parents-in-law to move into, so blogging has taken a backseat.  I have done a little bit of sewing though, mainly finishing the last of the teacher appreciation gifts for the wonderful educators who have guided my son towards his GCSEs.  This Paris themed pouch was, not surprisingly(!) for his lovely French teacher.  The lovely Paris map fabric was kindly sent to me in a online swap by 'Quirky Hannah' who blogs here.

Suede and Fabric Pencil Pouch

Our Next Teacher Appreciation Gift

 

My latest zipper pouch is for a rather wonderful music teacher, who I previously wrote about in this post when I made him a gift thanking him for his triumphant school production of 'Guys and Dolls' - As you can see that journal had a somewhat 'quirky' feel to it, so this time I wanted to stitch up something rather more sophisticated!

SewforSoul Fabric Portrait

I chose a fabric with a lovely antique pen nib print, which cried out to be a pencil case, and for some added texture and interest contrasted it with a suede panel along the bottom.  I then whipped up a matching tassel for the final finishing touch. 

 Thank You Mr Grehan-Bradley!

A Gift For A Geography Teacher

Appliqued Globe Zipper Pouch

Our eldest child left school last week and that old cliché 'it only seems like yesterday he was a babe in arms' has never felt so true!  We have been incredibly lucky with all his teachers and we wanted to show our appreciation to the wonderful educators who have given him so much over the last five years.

This little applique zipper pouch is for his Geography teacher, who also teaches our daughter History and they both love him!  In fact Geography is one of the subjects George is hoping to continue for 'A' level in September.

A few years ago I made this pencil case for a friend, who had been promoted to Head of Geography, and the children suggested that Mr Mitchell would like a similar design.  

I took the children's idea (but made it a bit less fussy as it's for a man!) and whipped up a personalised pencil case.  I find it quite challenging stitching for men but hopefully he'll like it - And as a Geography teacher he will at least appreciate the fact that the fabric for both the main case and the lining came from upcycled work shirts which had seen better days!

Good luck to everyone sitting exams!

Linen Zipper Pouch

Appliqued Violin Pencil Case

My son has taken violin lessons at school since Year Four (he's now in Year Eleven!) and sadly his lovely violin teacher is leaving this week.  He wanted to give her a personalised gift to thank her for all those wonderful years of lessons, so I designed this linen zipper pouch featuring a cute little violin applique.

The beautiful sky blue linen was a gift from my bloggy friend Jude and if you haven't visited her page then get there now, you're in for a real treat!  She posts far more regularly than me and most months can also be found published in lots of  magazines.

The brown linen was salvaged from a pair of Mr. Larkin's shorts which had seen much better days.  The initials were then cut using some old table napkins, carefully avoiding the more marked patches!

Thank you Ms Jones ~ You'll be missed!

See More SewforSoul Pouches Here