Featured Fabric: FreeSpirit Fabrics Spooky Cute Halloween by Mary Engelbreit

Pattern design by: Lindsay Conner

Sewn by: Lindsay Conner

Sew up a whole set of spooky keychain pouches for your besties! These tiny pouches can hold a credit card, lip balm, and a bit of cash, as well as clipping onto your keys. With these sweet Halloween prints, I think these would be adorable holiday gifts for teachers, neighbors, or special friends. Fill them with a few treats, and let your creativity do the talking!

Skills Learned: Machine sewing, zippers

Skill Level: Beginner

Finished Size: 4.5” x 3” (11.43cm x 7.62cm)

Fabric Requirements:

1/8 yard (.11m) main fabric
1/8 yard (.11m) lining fabric
2 pieces 5.5” x 4” (13.97cm x 10.16cm) ShapeFlex SF101 interfacing

Materials:

Sewing machine
Zipper foot
Rotary cutter, ruler, and mat
Sewing clips
6” or longer zipper
Mini lobster claw keychain

Directions

1. From the main fabric, lining fabric, and interfacing:

* Cut 2 pieces 5.5” x 4”.

From the main fabric only, cut 1 piece 2” x 3”.

2. Use an iron to fuse the interfacing pieces to the wrong side of the main fabric pieces.

3. Take the 2” x 3” fabric piece and fold it in half widthwise. Finger press to make a center crease. Unfold the edges again. Fold in the long edges toward the center fold line and finger press to crease. You’ve made a tiny 4-fold strap! Stitch along both long edges 1/8” from the edge, and set aside.

4. Fold the top 5.5” edge of each main and lining fabric piece down by 1/4” toward the wrong side. Press the folds in place.

5. Unzip the zipper so the pull is out of the way and facing away from you. Use binding clips to secure a lining fabric panel against the wrong side of the zipper tape. Clip the other fabric panel to the other side of the zipper tape, making sure the two panels would line up when the zipper is closed. The lining should be about 1/8” away from the plastic teeth so it doesn’t interfere with closure.

6. Using your sewing machine’s zipper foot to get close to the zipper teeth, sew one lining piece to the zipper tape about 1/8” from the edge. Backstitch at both ends.

7. Repeat with the second lining piece. This is what it will look like!

8. Flip the zipper so the right side is facing up (pull is on top). Place a main fabric panel directly on top of the zipper tape, aligning it with the lining fabric. Use binding clips to keep it in place. Repeat with the second main fabric panel.

9. Using your sewing machine’s zipper foot to get close to the zipper teeth, sew one main fabric piece to the zipper tape about 1/8” from the edge. Repeat with the second main fabric piece.

10. Take the 4-fold strap you sewed earlier and fold in half. Important! If adding a lobster claw (as shown above), make sure you loop it through the strap before folding the strap in half. (If using a key ring, this can be added later.) Place the raw edges on top of the main panel, about 1” down from the zipper, on the side of your choice. Stitch in place 1/8” from the raw edges.

11. Bring both main fabric panels together, and clip so the right sides are facing. Repeat with the lining pieces. You’ll need to choose which was the zipper faces, and I like to point it more toward the main fabric during this step. (In this photo, the loop is under the pink clip.)

Important! Unclip the top of the main fabric panels and make sure the zipper is at least halfway open. You’ll thank me later. Reclip the top of the main fabric panels.

12. Stitch 1/2” around the perimeter of the clipped edges, but leave a 2”-wide opening in the bottom of the lining for turning. Make sure to backstitch at both ends. Note: When sewing over the zipper on both ends, go carefully and use the hand crank so you do not accidentally break a needle.

13. Use scissors or a rotary cutter to remove the extra zipper extending from both ends of the pouch step. Carefully trim each corners, making sure not to cut too close to the stitch lines. This will make your corners look more crisp in the final pouch.

14. From the 2” opening you left earlier, turn the keychain pouch right side out. You may close the lining with a sewing machine or needle and thread at this time. Place the lining back inside and use your fingers to carefully poke out the corners. Press everything crisp.

15. You did it! This pouch is the perfect size for storing an ID card, credit card, a little bit of cash, some hand sanitizer, and lip balm.

We love the idea of filling zipper pouches with sweet treats and passing them out as special Halloween gifts! Now that you have some newfound confidence in sewing zippers and adding simple bag hardware, you can tackle your next big project!

Fabric Details:

To view the complete FreeSpirit Fabrics Spooky Cute Halloween by Mary Engelbreit, click here.

Learn more about Lindsay here.