I took a zipper class at Hello Stitch and it was amazing! Our instructor – Michelle of Hummingbird Textiles – made it super easy to follow along to make a zipper pouch.

Class was BYO fabric and zippers. I brought a few choices for fabric and zipper combinations, but I decided on using my kitten fabric from Japan (thank you, Joy!) for the outer fabric and fabric leftover from wedding crafting for the liner.

We got to use these amazing machines – they were so quiet and so smooth. And they have an automatic bottom thread cutter!

We measured and cut our fabric. Then we ironed and sewed, and got expert help along the way. I decided on adding “tabs” to finish the zipper ends and a strap.

The process/steps are relatively simple, but what I need to work on is the actual sewing and getting used to guiding fabric through the machine.

For the class, it did help to know sewing basics, but Michelle is super helpful if you have any questions.

I had taken a zipper class previously at another sewing school and was greatly disappointed. It felt more like zipper theory / zippers for fashion designers 101, and we didn’t actually make anything. At Hello Stitch we left with a complete, functional, and super cute pouch!

My neighbor didn’t get the BYO materials memo, but lucky for her I have too many craft supplies so she made a pouch with sushi fabric that I scored from a craft swap and more of the leftover wedding fabric that I also hand dyed in indigo. Yaaas!

A studio day pass was included with our class so I’ll be using that real soon to practice and make more pouches. Sew much? Share your latest project below!