Color Block Mini Zip Pouch - Tutorial

Sew a mini zip pouch that's perfect for carrying just the essentials!  Makes a great gift!

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This color block mini zip pouch is just big enough to hold credit cards and ID, and maybe a bit of cash, too.

With a swivel hook sewn into the side, you can clip it to your key ring or bag so it’s always easy to reach for.

I used my mini zip pouch as a small money bag at my daughter's Girl Scout cookie booth one year!  Clipped to my belt loop, it kept the money close and secure.

I’ve got a tutorial and free pattern for you below.

You can make them up in prints, but I’ve been having fun playing with oddball color combinations in solids.

Pink and mustard and lavender? Yes!

Mint and dark blue and orange?  Yes!

Mustard and coral and eggplant?  Yes yes!

I can't figure out which is my favorite!  The colors are all so fun together!

I choose three colors for each pouch – a top and a bottom color for the outside, and a third color for the zipper and the lining.  I like to match the fabric for the lining and the zipper tabs to the color of the zipper.  And just for fun, I matched the thread to the zipper to tie the colors together when I top stitched it in.  That is all entirely up to you.

Pssst.... Do you want to make a larger zip pouch?  I've also got a pattern for a color block cosmetic bag.

Color Block Mini Zip Pouch

Materials

Quilting weight cotton, scraps are okay

Fusible fleece, scraps are okay

7” (or longer) nylon zipper (affiliate link).  Don’t use a zipper with metal teeth!

Swivel hook (affiliate link)

Wonder Clips (optional)

Temporary marking pen

Free pattern

 

Prep your pieces

Cut out all pattern pieces.  Mark notches with short snips less than ¼”.

Fuse fleece pieces to the back of the outside pieces.

Press ¼” under on short ends of the zipper tabs, then press in half.  Your zipper tab pieces are prepped.

Now for the swivel hook strap.  Press swivel hook strap in half.  Press raw edges to the center and press.

Top stitch down both sides close to the edge.

 

Now let’s get to sewing your mini zip pouch!

All seam allowances are ¼”.

Sew the outside pieces

Sew the outside top to outside bottom along longest edge, right sides together.  Press seam allowance open.

Sew the zipper

Open zipper part way.  Bring the open ends together and wrap a zipper tab around them.  Use Wonder Clips to hold it in place.  Topstitch close to the folded edge.

Make a mark on the zipper 4” from the stitched edge of the zipper tab.  Wrap the other zipper tab around the other end of the zipper so the folded ends line up with the mark.  (You’ll need to trim your zipper to do this.)  Clip in place, topstitch close to the folded edge.

Ignore the notches cut in the zipper.  They're the result of a mismeasurement on my part a few steps down.  I was able to rip stitches and start over with the correct measurement, but there's no way to un-notch once you've notched....  🙂

Pull the ends of the zipper tape out from the zipper tab and trim to ¼” to reduce bulk.

Mark the center of the zipper on each side of the tape.  I fold it in half and cut a teeny tiny notch, but you can also just use a marking pen.

Now to sew the zipper to the bag pieces!  Let’s make a little sandwich.  Layer an outside piece face up, then the zipper face down, and then the lining face down.  Match the center notches so everything lines up.

Use a zipper foot to sew along the zipper.  When you get to the zipper pull, stop with the needle down into the fabric, raise the presser foot and pull the zipper pull past where you’re stitching.  Put the presser foot back down and resume sewing.

HANDY TIP: Even though it’s a gentle curve, it can still be difficult to get it to all lay smoothly while you sew it.  The fabrics can slip pretty easily.  Using clips can help a lot, but what I found to be the easiest thing to do was to start at the middle notch and sew to one end, then flip the work over and sew from the middle notch to the other end.   It only took till my 5^th pouch to figure this out, hence the photo with the clips in place.

The ends of your zipper tabs will extend past the ends of the bag pieces.  This is okay.

Clip curves, turn right side out (zipper teeth peeking out).  Press.

Use the same process to sew the zipper to the other side of the bag.

Topstitch the fabric down both sides of the zipper.

HANDY TIP:  I get so annoyed with my lining fabric creeps while I’m topstitching and makes a little flap that gets in the way of the zipper.  If you use a glue stick right at the seam to glue the lining to the seam allowance, you can keep the lining back where it belongs.  Just make sure you press with a hot iron before stitching so your glue will be good and dry.

Assemble the pouch

Trim the ends of the zipper tabs even with the bag.

Thread the swivel hook strap through the end of the swivel hook.

Baste it to the left edge of the bag outside, raw edges aligned, 1/8” from the edge.  Make sure you sew through just the bag outside, not the lining.  The strap will be facing the inside of the bag.

UNZIP THE ZIPPER!!!!!!  This is super important so I put in caps and bold and used a ton of exclamation points.

Open up the bag and flatten it so the outside pieces are right sides together and the lining pieces are right sides together.  Mush the extra fabric at the zipper tabs toward the lining.

Sew down the sides and across the bottom, leaving 2.5” along the bottom of the lining to turn it. Do not sew the notches at the corners.

Box the corners.  Open up the corners and flatten so the raw edges are aligned and the side seam goes down the middle.  Sew along the raw edges.

Do this for all four corners.

Turn the bag right side out.  Use a ladder stitch to sew the hole closed.

Give it a good press and admire your new color blocked mini zip pouch!