Zippered Car Pouch Tutorial

Hi all!  I feel like I have such awesome content this week to share.  It's so fun!  Here on the blog today I'm showing how to make this zippered car pouch, and  I'm also over at Make It Love It showing how to make this zippered pouch rocket ship!!!  Two great "zippered pouch" tutorials that are great for both boys AND girls!

And while both of these tutorials are for complicated shape structures that include zippers, the way that they come together is TOTALLY different.  So make sure you check out both tutorials!

Alright, let's talk a little bit about this lovely little car pouch.  Ellie may love baby dolls, fairies, and dressing up, but she also really loves vehicles.  I however, don't particularly like finding them at the bottom of my purse, or (worse) underneath my feet!  I thought that having a little pouch to keep them all in might be great for all of us...and the best part is...it's cute too!

I toyed with making this little car pouch a pattern--with a few different variations--but in the end I decided I'd give it away for free here on the blog.  If there's a demand for more--think school bus, fire engine, police car--let me know as I'll consider making a more detailed pattern.  If you do like this tutorial though I'd love it if you'd leave a comment, or better yet, follow me! (You can find me on pinterest, instagram, and facebook ).  And if you make your own pouch I'd love to see!  Post it on instagram and tag me so that I don't miss it!

Ok, let's talk about this little beauty:

It's a simple car, that's completely lined, with a zippered closure and simple felt wheels. (Although buttons would be great to substitute too!

Want to make your own car?  Let's get started.

Supplies:

• Template (You can use the templates at the bottom of this post)
• Small fabric scraps for the pouch
• Felt for windows
• Felt for wheels, or use buttons
• 4 inch all purpose zipper

***For my pouch I just used lightweight quilting fabric.  If you'd like a sturdier pouch, use fusible interfacing to strengthen your pieces, or use heavier weight fabrics.
 
Cut out all pieces from BOTH an outer and an inner fabric.
 
Start by attaching any windows that you'd like to your pieces.  You'll notice that my pieces have additional windows on the front and the back, which I didn't include in my template.  The reason for that was that I thought that my pouch looked better without them.

Begin by attaching the car front to the zipper.  You'll be making a sandwich with the lining and outer fabric facing each other, with the zipper right between.  You'll notice that your zipper tab extends beyond the pieces.  You'll want to sew only over the zipper, leaving the edges open.

Next, attach the back of the car in the same fashion. It should look like this.

Now we're going to add on the top of the car pieces.   Again, you'll be making a sandwich of the lining and the outer fabric, with the zipper in the middle.  Sew along the zipper, than turn your pieces, so that you can attach the lining and the outer fabric to the lining and outer front pieces respectively.

Repeat with the other side.

When you add the next top piece and sew to the front and back, your piece should look like this:

Now we're going to attach the car front and the car back pieces to the outer fabric.  Pin the pieces in place.

Sew all around. 

Repeat with the other side piece.

Make sure that the zipper is in the open position, and then attach the car base by sewing around the edges of the base. 

 Turn your car right side out and attach the wheels.

Turn your car wrong side out again, and now sew up your lining the same way that you did your car earlier.

Here you can see that the lining sides are attached.

Now, for the base.  This time you are going to leave one part of the base open so that you are able to turn your car right side out.  Turn right side out.

Close up the opening by hand. 

With that your pouch is all finished!  Cute right?

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!  I'd love to see your cars!  Don't forget to tag me on instagram if you make one!