This small accessory pouch is perfect for carrying a few phone accessories and keeping those loose wires out of your bag!
I recently changed jobs and that meant getting a new work phone. To my dismay, they only use iPhones at the new place (I have never really had one). But it got worse! The model is an older version which means that it does not use a USB-C cord as a charger, it has that apple special charger. Yea, I’m not feeling it.
But you do what you gotta do. And, as a result, I ended up with two new cords in my backpack one for the charger and the other for the headphones. Because phones are getting rid of aux jacks, the headphones I got interfaced with the charging port as well… We live in weird times. I know I’m just being picky and should just switch over to Bluetooth but I liked having an aux cord…
After a few weeks, I found that having loose cords in my back was driving me crazy. I can’t say I’m surprised considering what happened last time I had loose cords. After thinking about what I wanted, I decided to make a small pouch with two pockets – one for the charger and the other for the headphones. Given that the cords weren’t abnormally big or anything, I decided making a small accessory pouch would be the best approach
Check out the Craft section of MCG for more fun patterns in strings and things or more unlimited ideas.
Supplies
I am getting obsessive with batting and that’s fine. Some uses are a little silly but I like them! I ended up using three different fabrics: one patterned, one solid, and the cotton batting. I also wanted to use two zippers to make the two different pouches. But I did not have any short black zippers in my supplies, so I decided to make the zippers an accent color while keeping the fabrics in the black and gray range.
One item that I debated for a long time was the strap. I knew that I wanted to have some sort of strap because I liked the idea of putting the small accessory pouch on a key chain. And it helps stabilize the pouch when pulling on the zipper. I was still debating between using a webbing strap of the patterned fabric when I started the project.
Process
Cutting the Fabric
What I wanted effectively was a layer of three stacked on top of each other with one pocket accessible from the side and the other accessible from the top. A base of 4-inch squares seemed like the perfect starting point.
I cut out three 4-inch by 4-inch squares of the patterned fabric, three of the solid fabric, and three of the cotton batting. I probably should have only done two for the cotton batting but I was feeling the fluff when I made this.
At this point, six of the nine pieces are exactly what I want to be but the remaining 3 were not quite ready. I cut the remaining three pieces into twos (from three to six). One side was 1 ½ inches wide leaving the other side to be 2 ¼ inches. A zipper is going to connect these pieces later so the fabric will elongate past the 4-inch mark.
The Third Square
I did decide to put together the side with the zipper as I thought having all three sections of fabric being the same size was a better place to get to. But! Before I touched the zipper, I decided to attach the patterned fabric to the cotton batting (all three squares).
Here is where I made an… interesting choice. I sewed the cotton batting to the wrong side of one square and then the other. But why did I do two? I went with a cross pattern since I thought that it might be the easiest. Although I rushed and underestimated some of the spacing for sure.
With the cotton batting attached, I cut one square into halves (2 ½ inches for one and 1 ½ for the other and then it was time to add the zipper. The square I had was a bit bigger than 4 inches but it will work out and the excess can be cut. I started with the larger section, placing the solid fabric on the right side up, the zipper so the outside line was in line with the top of the solid fabric with the right side up, and the patterned fabric with the wrong side up. It’s a little zipper sandwich!
Sewing along this edge got the zipper in a good position when the fabric was flipped out from the zipper. I repeated this process on the smaller pieces with the other side of the zipper. And with that, I had my third 4 by 4 “square”. The sizing is not exact but that’s okay.
Connecting the Zipper
Then it was finally time to put the whole pouch together. Once again, I stared with one square of the solid fabric facing right side up. Then the zipper where the edge matches the edge of the solid square. The zipper should also be right-side up. This is where placement is really important, I placed the third square (i.e., the square with the zipper) aligned with the top of the zipper wrong side up.
The reason I say this step is important is because there are multiple pieces of fabric to keep in mind on the zipper square. The pattern should be flat, face down against the zipper, while the solid fabric attached to the fabric should be face up and flat. Nothing is currently holding them in this position.
Finally, I placed a patterned square on top with the wrong side down. With all three four parts in place (1 solid square, 1 zipper, 1 zipper square, and 1 patterned square), I sewed along the top edge to connect everything to the zipper. Then I flip the edges away from the zipper and prepped the other side.
The other side was a lot easier because it only took into consideration three layers: a solid square, the zipper, and a patterned square. Once I had everything together, I had all the pieces in place.
The Pouch
I started by pulling apart the patterned squares from the solid ones and aligning them together with each other. So, the three loose edges of the solid squares are aligned with each other and the same is true of the patterned fabric. This is the point where I trimmed a bit of the zipper square to get it more in line with the other 2 patterned squares.
This is where I added in the webbing strap, so the loop was sandwiched between the two outside patterned fabrics. I chose the webbing strap over a fabric loop because I like the durability of the strap. The only issue was the ones I have are a little… big. It looks a bit disproportionate to how small the pouch is but I still think it’s better to have than not.
Then I sewed together all three sides of the pattern fabric and 2 ½ of the of the solid fabric. I left a little section on the bottom of the solid fabric open so I could turn the whole piece inside out. Which honestly was a bit more of a struggle than I anticipated.
I forgot to open the zipper before sewing it in between two pouches…. So flipping the patterned pouch inside out required opening the zipper from the inside. Doable but not the easiest route. Then, once everything was facing the right way, I used an invisible stitch to close the hole in the solid fabric pouch.
Reflections
While the result looks a little goofy due to the webbing strap, I absolutely adore how it turned out. The zipper color really pops against the cooler tones of the fabric, and I think brings this small accessory pouch up a level. What type of level? Don’t get into the details.
Anyway, this pouch worked well for holding both the charging cord and the headphone cord. However, it was too small to hold the charger base. The cord I have is a standard USB base, so it is compatible with a lot of other bases. Because of this, I didn’t really have an issue separating the charger and the base.
Lessons
Take Time and Think
Having one 4 by 4 square with batting makes sense because it would be the outside piece. And the other outside piece is the one with the zipper and it already has betting as well. The third 4 by 4 square is for the middle. It didn’t need batting.
I thought it looked nicer but I didn’t think about how it would make the small accessory pouch tighter on the whole. All in all, I wouldn’t call this a mistake because it works completely fine this way, I just think I could have made a better decision.
Pattern
Small Accessory Pouch
Ingredients
- 2 Zippers 5 to 6 inches
- 3 Patterned Squares 4 inch by 4 inch
- 3 Solid Color Squares 4 inch by 4 inch
- 3 Cotton Batting Squares 4 inch by 4 inch
- Webbing Strap 3 inches
- Thread color doesn’t matter as it should not be seen
Instructions
- Attach cotton batting to respective patterned square using desired stitching style.
- Take 1 patterned / batting square and 1 color square. Cut along the 2 ½ mark (this should result in 2 rectangles. One will be 2 ½ inches by 4 inches and the other will be 1 ½ inches by 4 inches)
- Starting with the 2 ½ inches rectangles, Place the solid piece RS up, the zipper RS up, and the pattern fabric WS up (so the cotton batting is on top). Align all piece along 1 4-inch edge. Sew along the edge. Repeat for the 1 ½ rectangle using the other zipper edge. This piece will be called the zipper square moving forward.
- Layer 1 solid square RS up, 1 zipper RS up, the zipper square WS up (the inside of the zipper and the solid pattern of this square will be on top, and a patterned / batting square WS up. Align all edges along the one side, keeping the zipper on the zipper square parallel to the other zipper with the smaller (1 ½ inch) section 4-inch edge aligned with the new zipper. Sew along the edge.
- Layer 1 solid square RD up, the other side of the zipper RS up, and the remaining patterned / batting fabric WS up. Align and sew along the edge.
- Align the two solid squares (NOT including the zipper square) independently of any other fabric. Their RS should be facing each other. Sew along the square edge leaving a gap long the edge parallel to the zipper.
- Align the patterned square. Fold the webbing strap in half and place between the zipper square and the square directly touching it. The edge of the webbing strap will be sticking out, but the rest will be encapsulated by the fabric. Sew along all four edges.
- Trim any remaining fabric or excess zipper.
- Flip the pouch inside out through the hole left in the solid fabric stitch. Use a handsewn hidden stitch to close the pocket.
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