Hi there makers! I am back with a great tutorial to use all those leftover selvedges you might have kept from old projects. If you don't know what a selvedge is, it is the "self-finished" edge of a piece of fabric which keeps it from unraveling and fraying.
Many quilting cotton fabrics come with a lovely selvedge showcasing a cute or fun message, the name of the collection, the designer or a key card with the main colours used on the fabric. Check this laptop cover I made a while ago using also selvedges.
For this project, I will show you how I make a small wash-up / pouch quilted bag that I use to carry my essentials when I am out and about on a normal day. Are you ready? :)
Step-by-step selvedge quilted pouch tutorial
Materials needed
These are the materials I used to make my pouch. The dimensions are totally up to you.
- Selvedges I have been collecting from older projects and that I always cut and keep for future ideas like this one.
- Two pieces of wadding / batting around 3'' bigger than what your pouch will be.
- Two pieces of quilting cotton for the lining of the bag. These two will have the same dimensions as the outer layers of your pouch.
- Two small quilting cotton pieces for the tab ends of the zipper.
- A regular zipper (the dimensions will depend on your pouch).
- Thread for piecing and quilting.
- Walking foot, normal zipper foot and optional 1/4'' presser foot.
- Quilting ruler.
- Rotary cutter and cutting mat.
- Sewing machine and usual sewing tools like pins, iron and ironing board, fabric marker, unpicker...
The steps
1. Take a look at all your selvedges and find the ones you would like to use for your pouch. Straighten all edges (something I didn't do so some of my selvedges look a bit wonky).
Decide on the dimensions of your pouch.
2. Start by pining and sewing selvedge by selvedge, with right sides together and sewing using a 1/4'' seam allowance. Press the seams towards the darker colour.
3. You will end up with an outside layer for your pouch looking like this. Then, cut the leftover selvedges using your rotary cutter and quilt ruler, following your desired dimensions for your pouch.
Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 for the other outer layer of your pouch.
4. The next step would be to place one of your outer layers with the right side up on top of one of the pieces of wadding. Then, you can mark the quilt design that you would like to follow with a fabric pen or a piece of chalk.
In my case, I opted for vertical lines separated by 1'' and then horizontal lines going across the coloured parts of the selvedges.
5. Place your walking foot on your machine and quilt along the lines you have marked. Go slowly and used a 3mm stitch length.
When finished, repeat with your other outer layer and the other piece of wadding.
6. Trim the excess wadding around your outer layers, making sure all corners are at a 90 degree angle. Then, cut the lining pieces following the same dimensions as your pieced outer layers.
7. If your zipper is longer than necessary, place it on top of one of the outer layers and put a pin at either end where the zipper tabs will be sewn in place.
Then create the zipper tabs, cut the extra zipper at both sides and sew the tabs in place. Trim the extra fabric.
8. Now, place the outer layer with the right side up, then the zipper on top with the right side down (centred, leaving 1cm at either side) and the lining on top, with the right side down. Pin all the layers in place.
9. Place the zipper foot on your machine and sew across all the layers (outer, one of the zipper sides and lining). I used a 1/4'' allowance again, following the mark on the metallic plate of my machine.
Press the two layers from the right side.
10. Repeat the same steps with the other outer layer, the lining and the other side of the zipper.
11. Press again and topstitch on the outer layer close to the zipper at either side.
12. Place the outer layers one of top of the other with right sides together and do the same with the lining layers as shown below. Remember to leave the zipper open halfway.
Pin and sew all around with a 1/4'' seam allowance, leaving a 2'' gap on the lining part to turn the pouch to the right side.
13. Turn the pouch to the right side through the lining gap and then through the zipper.
14. Sew the gap left on the lining and give the whole pouch a nice press. Your super cute quilted wash-bag pouch is finished!
I hope you liked this post and that you will try and give it a go :)
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
Ana
xxx