Our Lady Zipper Pouch Tutorial

Dec 8

You all know I am always looking for gift ideas for my teens and young adult kids, and who doesn’t love and need a zipper pouch in their life? I took the classic zipper pouch and bumped it up a notch with this fun foundation paper pieced version.

For my zipper pouches, I used this gorgeous fabric from the Eleanor collection designed by Crafty Chica for Riley Blake Designs. The focal point at the center of the pouch is the beautiful Our Lady of Guadalupe print.

Here is a look at the entire Eleanor collection. Don’t you just love the super saturated color palette? I am loving the bold colors and floral and geometric motifs in this fabric line.

To help each fabric pop, I accented my zipper pouches with a deep purple print from the Sparkler collection designed by Melissa Mortenson for Riley Blake Designs. The little bit of gold sparkle is perfect!

Once you make one of these, you won’t be able to stop! They come together quickly and have tons of “wow factor.” Whip up a stack — one for yourself and a handful to give away.

Here is a look at the white floral version. I used the Cobalt Our Lady of Guadalupe for the center fabric, paired with the Fuschia stripe and White Floral.

And here is a look at the second version featuring the Black Our Lady of Guadalupe print paired with the Yellow Floral and Black Stripe. They are all my favorite!

I used the Purple Sparkler fabric for the lining, which adds a fun contrast.

Doesn’t this look cool? A fun bonus feature is that the large Our Lady Template is the perfect size for my Quilted Hydro Flask Holder! The only change I made when assembling this version is that instead of regular quilt batting, I used fusible fleece. I didn’t want to quilt over my paper piecing, and the fusible fleece was able to add the structure and stability I was looking for. In addition, I added fusible interfacing (Pellon SF101) to my lining pieces for additional structure.

Get the Quilted Hydro Flask Holder Tutorial HERE

To make the SMALL Our Lady Zipper Pouch you will need:

5” x 7 1/2” Our Lady Template
5” x 7 1/2” fabric for Zipper Pouch Back
2 pieces 5” x 7 1/2” fabric for Zipper Pouch Lining
2 pieces 5” x 7 1/2” Fusible Interfacing (I use Pellon SF101)
2 - 1 1/2” x 4” strips for Fabric Tabs
8” or longer polyester zipper
Our Lady Foundation Paper Piecing Templates (if you want to skip the paper piecing, cut another 5” x 7 1/2” piece for outer fabric)
Fabric scraps for paper piecing the zipper pouch front

For MEDIUM Zipper Pouch:

7” x 9 1/2” Our Lady Template

7” x 9 1/2” fabric for Zipper Pouch Back
2 pieces 7” x 9 1/2” fabric for Zipper Pouch Lining
2 pieces 7” x 9 1/2” Fusible Interfacing (I use Pellon SF101)
2 - 1 1/2” x 4” strips for Fabric Tabs
10” or longer polyester zipper
Our Lady Foundation Paper Piecing Templates (if you want to skip the paper piecing, cut another 7” x 9 1/2” piece for outer fabric)
Fabric scraps for paper piecing the zipper pouch frontFor Large Zipper Pouch:

For LARGE Zipper Pouch:

8 1/2” x 12 1/2” Our Lady Template

8 1/2” x 12 1/2” fabric for Zipper Pouch Back
2 pieces 8 1/2” x 12 1/2” fabric for Zipper Pouch Lining
2 pieces 8 1/2” x 12 1/2” Fusible Interfacing (I use Pellon SF101)
2 - 1 1/2” x 4” strips for Fabric Tabs
13” or longer polyester zipper
Fabric scraps for paper piecing the zipper pouch front

Our Get Our Lady Foundation Paper Piecing Templates Here

**NOTE before we begin — The foundation paper piecing templates for the small, medium and large zipper pouch covers are available for sale in my shop. If you want to make the zipper pouch without the templates, you can still follow the tutorial below, substituting a piece of fabric (see measurements above) the same size as your zipper pouch back and lining pieces.

If you are a visual learner, watch this video where I walk you through the steps of paper piecing and zipper pouch construction from start to finish.