**This post is sponsored by Coats & Clark. Thank you for supporting the brand partners that make A Little Craft In Your Day possible.**
Hey! How’s it going? Life around here has been on the crazy side but even when life gets busy I always do my best to still make time for sewing. Sewing makes my heart happy and days better! The other day I hung out in my little crafting and sewing room and made some DIY denim pouches. I know that sewing with such a thick fabric as denim can be intimidating, so I thought why not share a tutorial for them with you and give you some of my tips for sewing with denim. Read all the way to the end cause I also have a fun tip for you all to jazz up your zippers.
Here is what you will need to make your own two-toned DIY Denim Pouch:
- Light and dark wash denim fabric
- Cotton fabric for the lining
- 7″ Coats & Clark Brass Jean Zipper
- Coats & Clark Dual Duty Plus Denim Thread
- Coats & Clark Dual Duty Plus Denim Topstitch Thread
- Coats & Clark Zipper Pull
- Jean/Denim needle
- Rotary cutter (and cutting mat)
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Sewing Clips
- Iron
- Sewing Machine (with a zipper foot)
Check Out How To Make A DIY Bow Pillow!
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”2mxfJn41″ upload-date=”2018-06-06T14:30:24.000Z” name=”Bow Pillow” description=”Today I am sharing how to sew a DIY bow pillow and walking you through all the steps in the video. It is an easy sewing project for beginners”]
Step One: Wind a bobbin of Coats & Clark Dual Duty Plus Denim Thread and thread the Coats & Clark Dual Duty Plus Denim Topstitch Thread through the needle. I love the pop of the topstitch thread against the denim fabric. This is the true color of the thread that most blue jeans are made with. You will also want to prewash your fabric for best results!
Step 2: Cut two pieces of the lining fabric that are 8.5 inches by 6 inches, two pieces of the light wash denim fabric that are 8.5 inches by 2.5 inches, and two pieces of the dark wash denim fabric that are 8.5 by 3.5 inches. If you don’t want to make your pouch two-toned, you’ll just want to cut your denim fabric to the same size as the lining pieces.
Step Three: Place the dark wash pieces and light wash pieces right sides together lined up along one of the long edges. Clip them together and sew along the long edge. Do this to both.
Step Four: Press the seams along the back with an iron on the steam setting. This is a really important step to cut down on the bulkiness and have a very professional looking final result.
Step Five: Place one of the lining pieces right side up and place the zipper teeth side up flush with the top edges. Then place a denim piece on the wrong side up on top of the zipper aligning the long edge of the dark wash part along the top. Clip them together and sew along that edge. Be sure to use a zipper foot and get as close as you can to the teeth of the zipper.
**TIP** When sewing with denim or any think fabric. It helps to start sewing with fabric under your presser foot. This may mean you don’t start exactly edge but in a little bit and then backstitch to get the edge. Also- GO SLOW! I am not always a huge fan of sewing at a lower speed, but I always regret not with denim.
Step Six: Place your other lining piece right side up and the zipper (that now has the other fabric attached to it) teeth side up. The zipper with be facing in the opposite direction that it was before. Then place the other denim piece of denim on top facing down. Clip them together and sew along the long edge just like before.
Step Seven: At this point, you have sewn the zipper into place and it is time to press. Then topstitch along both sides of the zipper. This adds a fun added touch of that topstitch thread color and prevents the lining fabric from getting stuck in the zipper.
Step Eight: Open the zipper about half way. This is critical to you being able to flip the pouch right side out at the end. Then bring the lining pieces to one side and the denim pieces to the other side. Clip around the edges.
Step Nine: Sew around all of the edges, but leave about a three-inch gap in the bottom of the lining.
Step Ten: Using the small hole, Flip the pouch right side out.
Step Eleven: Stich up the hole in the lining section. You could change out your threads so that it matches the lining fabric, or even hand stitch it closed. But personally i won’t mind the denim thread there at the bottom of my pouch.
Step Twelve: For an added fun touch, switch out your zipper pull for one with a little bling! Remove the zipper pull from the zipper with wire cutters and use pliers to open and close the Coats zipper pull. Follow the directions on the packaging.
Aren’t they adorable? I promise that you CAN sew denim and create awesome things out of old jeans or denim fabric. In addition to the two-toned pouch, I made a plain DIY denim pouch and one with a pink jean zipper and some little patches on it!
As always, if you have any questions leave them in the comments and I will get back to you as soon as possible because I really want you all to be successful in your endeavors of sewing with denim and create beautiful things.
