Tie Dye Zippered Pouches

I can’t believe these pouches are made from remnants! And they are so easy to make. If you’ve never done a zippered pouch before because you’re afraid of zippers, put that fear aside. Zippers are super-easy!

Yesterday, I posted my Tie Dye Sampler Quilt which I made using Tulip Tie Dye. I dyed 15″ squares of fabric, that were later cut down to 12.5″. I kept the remnants, along with the extra backing fabric, extra binding fabric, and the splotch fabric… because every little bit of fabric can find a good use!

I used these bits and pieces to make a couple zippered bags. I love little zippered pouches. They come in handy for so many things… make up, personal items, snacks… or hiding toys for my toddler in my bag, and then pulling them out when we have an unexpected delay…

They are so easy to make, and super-stylish when made with these tie dyed fabrics! I started by stitching together strips cut from squaring up yesterday’s quilt blocks. I tried to keep the “interesting” parts of each strip in the middle. I then cut this piece into 2 horizontal strips, each 2.5″ wide.

I used those strips, as well as the fabric I used yesterday to clean up the drops of tie dye that fell on the drop cloth. This was easy. I just lay the fabric down over the drips, waited for the dye to absorb, then picked it up, and repeated the process. I didn’t rub the fabric around, so the colors wouldn’t get all mushy and muddy. When done, I sprayed it with water to let the dye run a little bit, and to let the color soften.

For the zippered bags, I cut my pieced strips and my blotchy fabric to width for my zipper, In this case, 8″. So, 2 strips 8″ wide, and 4 large pieces (2 for the outside, 2 for the lining), 8″ wide. I stitched the strips to the top of 2 of the large pieces.

Then it was zipper time. Super easy. Just sandwich the zipper between a piece with the strip (this is the outside of the zippered pouch), and a piece without the strip (this will be the lining). The pieces of fabric should have their right sides together, and the top of the zipper should be facing the outer fabric.

I stitched this down with my zipper foot. The zipper foot doesn’t get in the way, and keeps the stitching a uniform distance from the zipper teeth. The only tricky part is to stop when you get to the zipper pull, and with the needle down, finesse the zipper open so that the pull is out of the way. Then, continue stitching.

I did the same on both sides, opening up the fabric right-sides-out when done. Still using my zipper foot, I top-stitched the fabric along the zipper to keep it secure. I then trimmed the sides, making the right and left even, trimming off the excess zipper (which will just add bulk if left on), and trimming the bottoms of the pieces 6.5″ away from the zipper on each side.

Then, I opened up the fabric so that the zipper was still in the middle, but now both outer pieces are on one side, and both lining pieces are on the other. VERY IMPORTANT: I opened the zipper halfway, so that I can turn it right side out later. Skipping this step is a major pain!

I stitched all the way around with a 1/4″ seam, leaving a hole at the bottom (the bottom middle of the lining side) for turning. Then, I flipped the whole thing right side out, stitched the hole closed, and tucked the lining inside the pouch.

The second pouch was made the same way, with the extra binding from the Tie Dye Sampler Quilt for the top, and the extra backing for the body and lining.

I’m thinking I need to bead up some custom zipper pulls for these pouches now!