Quick Zipper Pocket

How to sew a zipper pocket in a few minutes.

Today I’m going to show you in just a few minutes how to sew a zipper pocket.

You will need the piece you’re going to sew your pocket onto, in this case it’s the lining of a bag, as well as your zipper and two pocket pieces. You’ll want these to be big enough to comfortably sew your zipper into.

Now measure the length of your zipper around these metal parts and the width of the teeth with some room to spare, to determine how much room you want to leave yourself to sew it in. Ideally, that’s a few millimetres on each side.

Armed with these measurements, take one of your pocket pieces and mark a rectangle of this size near the top on the wrong side of the fabric. This is where your zipper will go. Also mark a line down the middle of this rectangle and two little triangles near the ends: this is where you’ll be cutting later. Once you’ve marked all of this, position your pocket piece onto your main fabric where you want it, with right sides together. Pin it in place.

Take the piece over to your sewing machine and stitch all the way along the outside rectangle, ignoring the other marks for now. Once you’ve done that, you can use the other marks to cut a slit down the rectangle. The small diagonal cuts at each end will help you achieve neat corners.

Turn the whole thing inside out by pushing the pocket lining through the gap you’ve just cut and press.

Position the zipper in the opening and pin or baste it in place. Using a zipper foot, topstitch all the way around the rectangle to secure the zipper.

You’re nearly there! Now all there is left to do is to place the second pocket piece on top of the first, pin or clip it in place and sew around the edges.

And there you have it! One finished zipper pocket, explained in just a few minutes.