Gerbera Designs


Cut-Out Vinyl Pouch Pouches are always fun to sew. They have all the personality of a purse with half the effort! If you don't already, you're going to love working with vinyl. It's thick and durable...and no animals were harmed for the sake of fashion! You'll notice that I used a different pouch for the tutorial. It was easier to see the details on the pink fabric. Just follow the same instructions for your vinyl pouch and don't forget to use .5" seams.
Materials Needed: · (2) 9.5"x6.5" vinyl · (2) 9.5"x6.5" fabric (lining) - (1) 9"x6" white fabric · zipper · X-acto knife · Sewing Materials · Stencil Preparation: Vinyl Cut-Out: 1. Print out stencil (if you'd like to make your own stencil, there are some great tutorials at Stencil Revolution). 2. Using an x-acto knife, carefully cut out all the black parts of the stencil. Don't forget to save the cut out bar from the shoe's sole and your heart. 3. Trace and cut your stencil onto the vinyl. 4. Using tape to secure, position your white fabric to the back of the vinyl. Make sure fabric is somewhat tight. You don't want the fabric to pull and crease when you begin sewing. 5. Front side up, begin sewing around all the openings. Try to get as close to the edge as possible. This is quite tedious (especially around the shoe laces!) but you'll like the end result. Trim away excess white fabric. 5. Position and sew black stripe on sole and heart in circle.
Basic Pouch Tutorial: 1. Place front of pouch on table. Layer zipper and lining on top of front, right sides facing each other. You want the teeth of the zipper pointing downwards.
2. Sew along the edge. If you're lazy (like me!), you hate switching to your zipper foot so I just move my needle alignment to the far left and use the zipper teeth to guide my foot. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for other side of pouch.
3. Flip layers so that the wrong sides of the fabrics are facing. Press the zipper seam with an iron.
4. Using the teeth once again as a guide, secure seam with your sewing machine.
5. Unless your zipper is exactly the right size, you're going to have to shorten it. Luckily for you, it's very easy to do! Just cut off the excess amount and sew (using a zigzag stitch) the barrier. This will prevent the zipper from falling off.
6. Flip your fabric again, so that the right sides of each of the fabrics are facing.
7. Making sure your edges are aligned, measure and cut 1" squares in each of the corners.
8. Beginning bottom middle of your lining, begin to sew around the entire outside of pouch. Give yourself about a 3" gap at the base of the lining so that you can flip your pouch right side out. Don't forget to open the zipper before you begin sewing!
9. Pinch edges together and sew across. Make sure that your seams are flat against each other in opposite directions.
10. Reach inside the lining gap to pull the outside fabric through and out. Take your time, you don't want to rip your lining this close to being done! Sew lining closed and push inside the pouch.
11. Tada! You now have your own handy dandy, oh-so-cute pouch!