Tutorial: portable hard-drive pouch



These instructions are to make a pouch for a portable hard-drive like this one:
Mine is 3 1/4in x 4 1/4 in so the pouch is sized accordingly. Obviously you will need to adjust the measurements if your hard-drive is a different size.

First a disclaimer! This is my first ever tutorial, and I mainly did it to keep a record of how I made this one in case I want to make another. I am pretty new to this sewing malarky and make no claims to knowing what I am doing. However, if you do decide to make on of these, I would LOVE to see the results!

Right, first off you will need:
  • An accent fabric to cut your applique shapes from - I used the cream one with the film themed pictures on it
  • A fabric for the outside of your pouch - I used the black
  • A lining fabric - I used the popcorn fabric
  • A piece of bondaweb
  • Some scraps of wadding
  • A button
In terms of quantity, I had a fat quarter of the black but used less than a quarter, and the two other fabrics were 9in x 13in, which I used most of. I also used about 9in x 13in of bondaweb.

1. Start by ironing the bondaweb onto the back of the accent fabric, then cut out the shapes you want to use:

 2. Then use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut the pieces from your remaining two fabrics. From your lining fabric you will need:
  • 1 piece 3.5in x 5in to line the flap
  • 1 piece 10in x 5in for the pocket divider
  • 2 pieces 6in x 5in to line the main body
 From the main fabric you will need:
  • 1 piece 3.5in x 5in to line the flap
  • 2 pieces 6in x 5in to line the main body

 3. Iron the accent pictures onto the main fabric...
 ...and handstitch around them to secure:

4. Now you're going to make the flap. Put the two piece of flap fabric RS together and place them on top of a piece of wadding the same size:
Sew around with a 1/4inch seam allowance, then trim off the excess wadding from the seam allowance:
Turn RS out and iron. Sew a buttonhole in your flap, measuring to ensure it is central (because I didn't and had to start all over again!):
 5. Now to make the lining for the main body of your pouch. Fold the long piece of lining fabric in half, WS together and iron - this will become the dividing part that makes the inside of your pouch into two pockets. Place one of the 5in x 6in pieces of lining fabric RS up, then your dividing section, lining up at the bottom (which will leave a gap at the top, see below). then the other 5in x 6in piece of lining RS down. Sew along the long sides using a 1/4in seam allowance:

6. Cut two pieces of wadding, 5in x 6in. Place one piece of wadding, then one piece of main body fabric RS up, then the other piece of main body fabric RS down, then the other piece of wadding. Again sew along the long edges. Trim the excess wadding from the seam allowance:

7. Iron the seams open:

 8. Now this is the bit that I struggled with! You should now have these three components in front of you:
 Make sure that the lining tube if RS out, with the pocket/divider facing up. Now place the lining tube on top of the flap, which should be lining side up. Line up the raw edges:
Now slide the lining tube and flap inside the main tube, lining up the raw edges and the seams at the sides.
Continue to treat this as a tube - you are going to sew around (not across) the top. On one side of the 'tube' (upper in the picture below) you should have (from outside to inside) a layer of wadding, a layer of main fabric and a layer of lining: 
 On the other side of the 'tube' (lower in the picture below) it is a much more complicated story! You should have 3 layers of lining fabric; then the lining, wadding and main fabric of the flap; then the main fabric and finally the wadding:
 Sew around the top of your tube, with a generous 1/4in seam allowance. You will probably have to hand sew this, as the tube will be to narrow to fit onto the machine. Again trim off excess wadding from the seam allowance:

9. Fold right way out and press:

10. Now fold inside out so that the lining is facing out:
Sew across the bottom of your pouch, with a 1/4in seam allowance. Trim excess wadding, then sew the edge with a zig-zag stitch to neaten.

11. Finally the button. Use a pin to mark where the button needs to be:
...and sew the button on:

Et voila!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and remember - you are more than welcome to copy this, but please please PLEASE credit me and, more importantly, let me see your work!

This was my first tutorial, so genuinely, any suggestions for improvement or advice would be greatly appreciated. This seems very long-winded and complicated but I'm not sure how to simplify it.

Thanks for reading! :)
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