make an envelope pouch (without a pattern)

projects

Mar 30

When it comes to small quilted pouches, I am a big fan of just rolling up my sleeves and making it up as I go along. In case you’re curious about my pattern-free process or if it’s simply helpful to have the steps all laid out, here is my approach to making an envelope pouch without a pattern. My bet is that if you give yourself permission to fudge it, you’ll end up having a ton of fun and the project will turn out great!

Step 1: Determine the (Rough) Finished Size

The easiest way to start is to grab a rectangular/square household object that is roughly the size of what you want your clutch to look like. Books are great for this (or a laptop or an iPad will also work). Something to keep in mind as you’re picking out a book/object: because this is a flat pouch, you don’t want something with a ton of depth. Ideally, go for something with a half an inch to three quarters of an inch.

Step 2: Do a Little (Very Minimal) Math

Now, before cutting into any fabric, you’ve got to do just a little bit of math to figure out the size needed for your outer fabric, aka your quilt top. For the width of the quilt top fabric, add 3”-4” and round up for safety. This will account for the seam allowance you’ll need, and any trimming to square that needs to happen. For the length, multiply the height by three add another 3”-4” and round up if needed. Why three times? In addition to having enough material to trim to square, you also want to have enough extra material to play with to create the flap and shape of the envelope after you quilt it.

Step 3: Patchwork or Wholecloth?

Before cutting into any fabric, it’s time to decide whether we’re going to just go the whole cloth route (which is totally cool) or add some patchwork. I especially love the idea of racing stripes: I love the look of two on the horizontal or three on the vertical.

When you’re working on a small scale, you want your patchwork to match. For a piece of paper or laptop sized clutch, I think a 1” accent stripe almost always looks good interspersed with a half inch background fabric stripe. In order to do this, you need to cut 1.5” inches wide for your accent fabric and 1” for your background fabric (for the length of the strips, just cut to match your width of your quilt top if you’re doing horizontal strips or length if you’re doing vertical stripes)

Side note: when making an envelope clutch, you’ll want to be aware of the placement of the stripes and decide whether they are going to wrap around or just show up on one side. Either way, it’ll look awesome, you just want to have an honest conversation with yourself before diving in about how much time you want to spend getting things to line up perfectly!

If you’re going to add any stripes or use a mini quilt pattern, just revisit the back-of-the-envelope math we did earlier to know what size your quilt top should be.

Step 4: Cut your batting and backing

Because it isn’t a terribly large quilt sandwich, you don’t need a ton of overhang, but you still need a bit! For the batting, add two inches to the quilt top size, both to the length and width. Then add two inches to the batting size (both length and width) to get the backing size. This gives you 1 inch of overhang for the batting and an extra inch for the backing.

Side note: for my batting, I like to use something a little stiffer than the low loft batting I use when hand quilting, so I went with wool batting by Quilters Dream. I’ve also used mid and heavy weight batting before for this kind of project, and both work well. I just like a heavier and stiffer batting for pouches and clutches. But it really depends on what kind of batting scraps I’ve got lying around!

Step 5: Baste and Quilt it!

Once you’ve got your quilt sandwich cut and basted (however you prefer: I like pins for this kind of project), this is where the real fun starts. What I love about these envelope style pouches is that it is the perfect size to practice your quilting on. It’s the right sized canvas where it’s big enough to try out some different patterns, but not so big that if you mess up it becomes a nightmare to unpick your stitches.

Side note: one book I think ever quilter should have in their library (second only to a book of classic quilt blocks) is “WALK Master Machine Quilting With Your Walking Foot” by Jacquie Gering. It is just chock full of amazing quilting patterns that you can do with your walking foot. And she breaks everything down into simple step-by-steps. Make sure to check it out!

Back to the quilting: if you’re not up for anything too crazy, a good crosshatched quilt pattern or simple parallel lines always looks sharp!

Step 6: Trim to size

Once you’ve got the quilt top all quilted, trim it down to size. Turn it wrong side up, then put the household object in the center and fold one side up. Use a scrap of painter’s tape handy or a straight me to mark off where the inner edge would end on either side. Pin the sides together so you can have both hands free to figure out what you want your envelope flap to look like.

Next fold the top down, and take a moment to play with different lengths of the envelope flap by rolling the edge under itself. Once you’re happy with it, use painter’s tape or straight pins to mark the length.

Next, decide what angle you want the edge to taper at and how wide you want the end of the flap to be (or whether you want a rounded point or if you want it to come to a harsh point).

Once you’ve got a shape you like, make a ½” cut at the sides where the two sides of the envelope would be sewn: this is where your flap will start as this will account for the seam allowance. When completed, the edge of the pouch will start ½” in and that’s where you want the flap to start! Trim your flap to the size and shape you like.

Step 7: Bind your edges

Before sewing up the sides, add a little binding tape to the top of the inner envelope’s edge and all around the edge of the flap (basically all the edges BUT the side seams). If you’re going for a rounded envelope flap edge, use bias tape. Otherwise, WOF binding tape will work well for most angles!

Step 8: Sew up the sides

Once you’ve finished binding the edges, pin the sides right sides together and sew them together with a ½” seam. Snip the bottom corners to get rid of seam bulk before turning it inside out. Add binding tape to the inside seams to finish them or leave them as is: your preference!

Side note: you can also use French seams so the raw edges are hidden when finished!

Step 9: Add your closure

To finish, use buttons, Velcro, snaps or whatever makes you happy! I love metal snaps. They’re a ton of fun and super easy to attach (the punch comes with detailed instructions for how to do so!)