Back to School Homemade Pencil Pouch

Use the 8" Amplify Fabric Shears to accurately and cleanly trim both the canvas and cotton print fabric to 9 ½" squares. The Amplify Shears cut through multiple layers of fabric, making this task quick and easy. You will need one square of canvas and one square of cotton print.

Trim two pieces of contrasting scrap canvas fabric to 5"x 5" squares. Round off the corners with the Amplify Shears. Using a blanket stitch on your machine, sew the two small squares to the right side of the 9 ½" canvas square.

Trim a piece of lightweight two-sided fusible web to a 9 1/2" square and apply to the back of the canvas fabric. Follow manufacturer's directions to apply the cotton print fabric square to the other side of the fusible web.

You should now have one piece of fabric – with canvas on one side and cotton print on the other side.

Lay the fabric on your work surface with the canvas side facing up. Lay the 9" all-purpose zipper along the top edge of the canvas. The zipper should be facing down. Align the edge of the zipper tape with the raw edge of the canvas and pin in place. Pin through both layers of the fabric.

Put the zipper foot on your sewing machine and stitch the zipper to the fabric along the zipper tape.

Turn the fabric over and finger press the zipper to the right side, creating a fold in the top of the fabric. To topstitch this seam, sew along the fabric, approximately 1/4" away from the fold.

To sew the zipper to the other side of the fabric, pin the zipper face down onto the canvas and stitch in place.

Topstitch this seam by folding the canvas away from the zipper and stitching about 1/4" away from the fold, as far as you can.

Open up the zipper halfway.

Fold the fabric so that the zipper runs horizontally through the center of the pouch. Align the short ends and pin the ends of the zipper tape in place. Alternatively, you can use clips to hold the ends in place.

Remove the zipper foot and place the regular sewing foot on your machine. Sew both short ends of the fabric, avoiding sewing over the metal top and bottom stops of the zipper as this will likely damage your needle.

Use the Amplify Shears to trim the seam at the short ends of the fabric. Do not trim the extra length of zipper tape as it will weaken the zipper seam.

Reach inside the pouch and pull open the zipper the remainder of the way. Turn the pencil pouch to the right side and give it a final pressing with an iron.