Sewing Tutorial: Art, Craft, or Makeup Supply Pouch

My four-year-old’s preschool teacher asked me to come talk to the class about sewing. I told them (briefly) about finding patterns, picking fabric, cutting pieces (with warnings about asking an adult first and to only use them cutting tools for fabric), sewing them together…and ripping seams. I’ve been wanting to use up my leftover pieces, so I made each kid a little marker/pencil/paintbrush/etc holder. I had a lot of markers that one of my mom's friends gave me, enough to put two in each of the eighteen holders. 

SUPPLIES

Less than a fat quarter’s worth of fabric scraps

Batting

Ribbon

DIRECTIONS

Once the fabric is prewashed and ironed, cut four 7x9inche pieces. Cut a 7x9 inch piece of batting, and two 20 inch long pieces of ribbon. Decide which pieces of fabric are for which part. You’ll need an outer fabric, an inner fabric, a flap, and a pocket. The inner fabric will show the least.

Here, my outer fabric is dinosaurs,, my inner fabric is green stripes, my flap is red, and my pocket is orange polka dots

Fold the flap fabric right sides together lengthwise (making a 4.5x9 inch piece). Sew the short (4.5 inch) edges closed, using a large seam allowance—I used half an inch. Turn right side out and press to make a crease along the folded edge. Fold the pocket piece wrong sides together in half lengthwise and iron to crease the folded edge.

Layer the pieces as follows: inner fabric right side up, flap on top, pocket on bottom. Sew the fllap in place along the top and all along the raw (non-folded) edges of the pocket, using a narrow seam—about a quarter inch.

Mark the middle of the pocket lengthwise, and mark about every inch and a quarter from the middle to both edges. Using your ruler and disappearing ink, draw lines to guide the sewing of the eight pocket compartments. Sew along guide lines.

Sew the ribbon on the outer fabric, about two inches from the top and two inches from the bottom. Only sew about four inches of the ribbon, starting half an inch from on edge.

Sandwich the pieces together as follows: batting, outer fabric right side up (be careful to tuck the ribbon in), inner fabric (with flap and pocket pieces sewn on) right side down. Sewn all along the perimeter, using the stitches you’ve already sewn as a guide. Leave an opening for turning.

Turn, iron, and top-stitch. This step and the step for putting on the ribbon are good for decorative stitches. Since I was making 18 of these, I just used a simple zig-zag.