3 Ring Binder Zippered Pouch Tutorial

Wow! Long time no see!  I'm going to make a better effort at posting once and a while.  I've been very active on Instagram as of late and I find the instant feedback very encouraging as well as enlightening.  I have a better feel about what people are interested in.

So without further ado. For Valentine's Day, I wanted to do something more personal and useful for my children.  They always love things I sew so I thought, a binder pencil pouch filled with a few goodies would be a fun treat for them.  When I posted the pouches on Facebook and Instagram, instant feedback! Someone asked me if there was a pattern or a tutorial and I decided I'd try to make a tutorial for these fun things.  I was so excited thinking I had a clever idea so I search Etsy and alas, a bunch of handmade binder listings. Go figure! Haha.  So, this is not an original idea by any means but I did figure this out on my own and I'm sure there is either some tweaking to be done or maybe even a simpler way to make them but this works for me and I hope it works for you too.

List of Supplies of course included thread and a sewing machine but you will also need:

• 9" zipper
• 3 grommet sets 
• hammer and setting tool for your grommets
• exterior fabric, interior fabric and 1 fusible interfacing cut to size 12" x 19" each
• a couple of scraps about 2" x 5"
• Optional 3 ring binder to check your grommet placings

First step is to fuse the interfacing to the exterior piece of fabric:

Take your scrap fabrics and attach them to either end of your zipper to make it long enough to go across the 12" side of the rectangles. Cut to size to make sure it's at least 12" long.

Change your sewing foot to a zipper foot, we will sew the zipper to the fabric now.

Line the zipper up face down to one side of the exterior fabric and sew.

Next step is to line up the interior fabric. I like to sew from the exterior side to see the first sewing line so I do not sew over the zipper by accident.

At this point, I like the press the fabric back to have a nice crisp line near the zipper.

Fold up the exterior fabric so the bottom aligns to the top of the zipper, you'll sew across but make sure the interior fabric is not anywhere near where you are sewing.

in this picture I folded the exterior fabric up to meet the zipper, but then I flip it so the zipper is facing up when I sew just to ensure that I do not sew over the zipper and ruin my needle.

Now it's time to sew the interior, again, flip this up so the interior fabrics are right sides together and the zipper is pretty much sandwiched between all the fabrics. (I really don't know how to explain this but hopefully the pictures will do the explaining)

Once you sew the interior fabric to the zipper, it's time to open the zipper and pull the fabrics through so you can press everything flat.  As you notice, the sides still need to be sewn shut.  I like to press the zipper down from the top about 1"  I press so there is nice crisp crease that I'll be able to see once I turn the fabrics inside out.

turn the fabric so the interior fabric is facing out.

press again, notice the crease I made earlier is still there!

 Trim up the sides so you don't have all these loose scraggled threads.

Once you have trimmed the sides it's time to sew them closed. Make sure you are catching all the fabrics (and make sure to leave the zipper open or you wont be able to turn this correctly!)

I used a 1/4" seam on either side.

 Both sides are now sewn, the zipper is open and I'm going to turn this right side out.

 Press flat, we will do some top stitching now to reinforce the seams. The top stitching will also give you the opportunity to hide your raw edges on the inside.

You will top stitch around the entire pouch and on the one side where the grommets will be placed, I do multiple lines of stitches to add a little form to the pouch. I do about 1 inch of matchstick sewn lines.

about 1 inch of matchstick lines on the side where the grommets will be place.

Time to add the grommets. I have the tools for my grommets but I don't have the fabric hole puncher so I use my super sharp scissors.  Line up the grommets so they'll fit perfectly on the 3 ring binder loops.  I double check my placement with a binder that I have on hand.  But for tutorial purposes I measured the placement (but I highly recommend double checking! You don't want to get this far and then have the grommets not be place properly)

Grommets were placed at 1" then  5 1/4" and finally 9 1/2"  I pressed the grommet into the fabric to form an indent, outlined with my Frixion pen and snipped away at the circle.

 Place on side of the grommet into the hole.

 Flip and fit the other piece, and hammer flat.

a really nifty tool!

 The grommet is now set, repeat for the other 2.

 And that's it! Sit back and admire your lovely work.

I hope this tutorial was helpful! Please let me know if I need to tweak anything.  If you use my tutorial I would love a link back! You can find me on instagram @quatapochjewel or facebook at: www.facebook.com/quatapoch  Tag me! and tag #quatapochtutorials

Drawstring Bag and Grommet Tutorial

Hey Lovelies! This morning, Miss V asked if I could make her a bag. She has been eyeing up the drawstring chevron bags I made a few weeks ago.  Lucky her (and me!) she got to browse my fabric stash and pick out some fabrics she wanted for her bag. She picked out a Japanese fabric I have had since our time in Japan, a Kokka floral design.

I have a TON of pictures for this tutorial and there are a few things I would change around because they did not quite work, so make sure to read under the pictures.

To start, you'll need fabric(s)  We chose 2 coordinating fabrics
Scissors
handle rope or fabric
2 grommets
hammer
sewing machine with coordinating threads

I changed my mind on the rope for this bag and instead I cut 2 strips of the solid pink fabric and made them into straps instead.

Next, cut 2 rectangles for the exterior of the bag, 2 rectangles for the interior of the bag. I used 15 1/2" x 18"    Cut 1 rectangle which will be the grommet straps, I cut 3 1/2" x 13"

**Picture shows 2 grommet straps, I used only 1**

The 2 rectangles that will be the exterior, press the sides in and stitch. This is important for a professional finished looked because the drawstring will go through and this area will be exposed.

When I finished this, I actually placed my exterior fabrics on top of the interior fabrics and trimmed down the interior fabric.

Next up, the grommet straps. I folded both sides toward the center, folded one side one more time to cover up the unfinished seems and stitched down the center and then the sides.

After I stitched the center, I folded this in half and cut, so now I have 2 strips for 2 grommets.

I folded each of these strips in half again, stitched the sides together to add thickness, which you will need to get a nice tight grip with the grommets.

Just make sure whatever grommet size you use will fit perfectly on the strip.

I added the grommet strips about 3" up from the bottom of one side of the exterior fabric.

Miss V said she wanted ruffles, but if you don't want ruffles skip this next part.  Basically, to make ruffles work, you have to cut 2x's the width of the fabric. So this is 15 1/2" across, I cut strips at least 30" long with varying heights.   I stitched the sides on all the ruffles so hopefully prevent fraying of the fabric.  I then added a strip of pink fabric at the very top of the ruffles to conceal the ruffle trim at the top.  ***Any decorations that you want to add to the bag, make sure you add them to the exterior fabric that is NOT attached to the grommet strips. I did not do this and I had to cut the ruffles to expose my grommet strips (I was not happy with this mishap!)****

With right sides facing each other, it's time to attach the exterior fabrics together. You will stitch along 3 sides. To begin, fold down the top of the bag to as much as your rope or whatever sort of handle you will be using, requires. I folded my tops down about 3 inches. I lined up the front and the back because I wanted the tops to match.  I stitched part of the fold as well.

I like the "boxy" bottom look, so I lined up the bottom and side seems and basically sewed off the corners to make them flat.

Follow those steps again for the interior fabric.

snip this triangle off

Turn the exterior of the bag with wrong side facing out, turn the interior of the bag with the right side facing out and fold in the top just enough to cover the unfinished folded top of the exterior fabric. I like to do it this way because I am able to make sure there is an equal amount of fabric and the stitch line is straight. After you finish attach the interior to the exterior it's time to work on the grommets and drawstring.

For the Grommets, you'll need your hammer and a way to make a hole for the grommet to fit through.

Line up the grommet and press slightly so you can see where the circle cut needs to be.

My grommet set came with a nifty tool that cuts circles but you might have to just do this the old fashion way.

Stick the large grommet through the hole.

Attach the washer to the grommet....

Then use the nifty tool to hammer the grommet in place. Basically, what happens is the part of the bottom grommet that comes up through the hole will be bent over the washer to hold it all in place.

And there you have a grommet installation!

Now the handles. I initially had a rope picked out for the drawstring but I changed my mind and decided to go for the pink fabric.  Measure your bag and down to your grommets to make sure your bag will be long enough. For Miss V's bag, I made about a 60" long handle.

The handles need to go in opposite directions for this to work.  So I looped one at a time.

Next picture you'll see one handle is looped through the entire bag, meets on one side. You'll attach that through the grommet and make a knot and repeat to the other side.

Make sure your knot is large enough so it wont slip through the grommet opening.

And there you have it, a cute and chic drawstring bag!

Until next time, have a wonderfully creative day!

 ♡ ąlexąnʠяą