Pouch making 101

Pouch making 101…….

In my honest opinion one of the greatest modern conveniences is pockets.   Jeans, dress pants, jackets and whatever else generally have pockets somewhere to carry your belongings.  The Renaissances pocket is a belt pouch.  Pouches are and can be made out of any material one desires.  I’m partial to leather. (Shocking I know) A few months back I offered to make a leather item of choice to our Winter Scarlett for her birthday present.  She took time to think on it and decided on a pouch. Now I haven’t made a pouch in a while as I was given a good half dozen by a former festie and haven’t had the need to make any.  So this was a fun refresher. 

Items needed:

Material (I use leather)

Pattern (I based mine off one I have done in the past, Google pouch patterns to find one you like)

Sewing machine (industrial for the leather will save you needles and many choice curse words)

Hole punch

Suede lace



material



The first step was making a pattern; I had a general idea of what pieces I needed so I set out to collect the fabric and leather to complete the project and did a paper mock up pattern to make sure the thought process and what I remembered were on the same page.  Now I used a upholstery leather (think jacket or chair) for the body and tooling leather for the flap and securing base (I’m making these words up, I’m sure there’s a real technical term for it, mine are simple and I know what I’m talking about in my head, if you proceed to a leather shop and use these terms I’m not responsible for the confused look you get from them.)  The reason I use tooling leather is because it’s heavier and sturdier and will be more likely to withstand the constant pulling and tugging from the drawstring portion of the bag and be less likely to rip out in the long run.  You can use any material really for either pieces, this is just my preference.



Pattern



Once the paper mockup was completed I set out to transferring the pattern to the leather and cutting it out.  The pouch body is an oblong oval cut in half (front and back) and a wide strip (I use 2.5 inches) that runs the length of the outside (circumference) of the oval.  

I’ve added a picture  below as it’s just easier to show a closer detail of what I cut out of the tooling leather than explain.  Essentially the front is a smaller scale of the body of the pouch and the back is a circle joined with a rectangle.  The dots are punch marks for holes and the dotted line is where to cut for the belt to pass through.



detailed tooling leather section pattern

Once all the pieces are cut out it was a simply a matter of sewing everything together. First step was sewing the tooling leather to the respective front and back pieces of the pouch body and then sewing the whole pouch together.  Take a minute to line up the flap and base piece to their respective front and back pieces.  The back of the tooling pieces should be against the respective outside portion of the pouch.  Once the securing flap and base has been sewn on sew the pouch together ensuring the finished pieces (outside of the bag) are touching (the pouch is going to be constructed inside out.)  Once the pouch is sewn together turn it right side out and punch out your holes in the bag for the drawstring.  I punch two holes per tooling section, two holes on each side of the tooled piece, and one hole on each of the side of the strip piece. For those keeping score at home that is a total of 14 holes along the top of the bag about a ¼ inch from the top.  Thread your lace through the holes starting from the back and ending in the front.

There are four more holes to punch out on the securing base.  Once those four are punched out take another section of lace and starting from the top two holes go in from the front and come out from the back through the bottom two holes, this will give you a loop to secure around your clasp on the top flap.

Finally punch a hole in the top flap and secure the button/clasp you wish to decorate the bag with.  At this point you should have a completed pouch.  Take a few minutes to pull the drawstrings a few dozen times to close and then pull open the bag to get the pouch broken in a bit.

One thing to note, I had to go back and re-sew was the front of the pouch to the side strip piece because they didn't line up.  Keep the front and back pieces pulled taunt against the strip side piece.  If you don't do this you’ll find the front and back pieces have a tendency to not line up and you’ll have to go back and rip the seam out and re-sew as I did.  Also if you’re using tooling leather make sure you decorate (tool) punch the holes and dye the leather prior to sewing it to the pouch.  It makes it much easier in the long run as you won’t have to fight the pouch body to complete the tooling.  If you’re following this step by step for some reason instead of reading it all first then you’re kind of hosed at this point.

Ta Daaaaaa