Back to School - Pencil Pouch

Maybe you aren't going to back to school this fall, but I bet your kids are :)

I actually made this pencil pouch for myself. I have a full and possible life-threatening semester ahead of me, so what better to take your mind off the impending doom than a cute pencil pouch.

I wanted one to put in my binder that was a decent size, so here we go.

This is a lined pouch and I wanted it to be a little sturdy so I used some medium weight fusible interfacing.

Measurements for pieces are:

2 Outer pieces - 7.5 inches x 10 inches

2 lining pieces - same

Binder piece (small rectangles) - 2x10 inches

You will need some:

*Grommets too that will fit loosely on the rings of your binder

*A 12 inch zipper cut to 10 inches (unless you can find a 10 inch zipper)

*a zipper foot for your sewing machine

 Add the interfacing to either the outside fabric or the lining (I choose the lining) and the two small pieces.

Notice my smaller pieces magically change at the end...cutting error, haha!

 Place the smaller pieces right sides facing and sew on three sides leaving one long side open. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance on everything.

 Clip the corners (watch out for your stitches) turn right side out, press, and set aside.

 Don't get confused on this part.

Lay Outer piece right side up.

Place zipper right side down and zipper to the left on top

Place lining piece right side down.

Make sure all edges are even and pin in place

Sew in place

You are going to repeat the same thing with your other two pieces, except now your zipper has fabric attached to it.

Zipper goes face down and to the right this time. Make sure the outer fabric is face down and the lining face up.

 Place the other lining piece face down and pin together with edges nice and even. Nope, mine isn't nice and even in this photo.

 After you have sewn in place, take the lining pieces and put together right sides facing and the outer pieces together right sides facing so it looks like so.

 It's easier if you pin in place. While you are pinning, take the binder piece and put between the outer pieces with the open seam out. It's a little tricky sewing the sides without catching the binder piece, so tuck the corners of the short sides in (make sense?)

You are going to sew all the way around, except for leaving a 3-4 inch opening in the lining. 

Turn right side out so both the lining and outer part look like this

 Press the whole pouch, using a pointy object to press out the corners.

Press the little opening under as well and do a quick line of stitches to close. Tuck the lining inside.

 All you have to do now is attach your grommets and voila!

Don't you love? :) Plenty of room for a thousand pens, pencils, calculators and highlighters.

I am admittedly the dorkiest college student/mommy ever :) 

There are lots of fun ways to make going back to school more pretty :)

Lunch Bag Tutorials
Reusable Snack Bags
You can make a fabric covered binder like mine in the photos above, tons of tutes online for those :)