Snack Pouches with French Seams

So, after after a year of grossly neglecting my blog, I have recommitted. For my first tutorial, I would like to introduce you to the snack pouch. It is simple to make and so very useful! I use them for my son's dry snacks for preschool, cheez-its, goldfish... but they could also be used as a wipes or diaper pouch, for little travel toys, the possibilities are endless. They are made from cotton and can be tossed in the washing machine. We will also go over how to do a french seam. It requires an extra step but is definitely worth the effort, nobody wants strings of fabric in their snacks! Say goodbye to ziplocs and let's get sewing...

First, you need to cut your fabric. I cut 7 inch squares of my directional fabric and a 7x14 rectangle of the dinosaur fabric since it is not directional.

Now, with a french seam, you start with WRONG sides together and stitch three sides of your pouch, leaving the top open. I use a 1/4" seam allowance (or the edge of your presser foot.)

So you end up with this. trim your seams pretty close, about 1/8".

Next, turn your pouch inside out so that right sides are together, give it a good ironing and stitch again around the three sides with 1/4" seam allowance, sealing in your raw edges.

And, voila! You've done a french seam! Looks the same on the outside and super clean on the inside. If you have a serger, you could have serged you seams but I like the look of the french seams for these pouches.

Now we just need to finish the opening. Iron the raw edge to the wrong side 1/4". (Please excuse my ugly ironing board cover in these pictures!)

Fold again about 1" and give it a good ironing.

Stitch the hem fairly close to your fold. I use the left edge of my presser foot with my needle in left position.

Last step! Pin and stitch velcro to either side of the top of your pouch. I get 2" velcro in bulk so I cut mine down to 3/4" wide. You can use a package of 1" velcro from the craft store. I cut it to 3/4" because I don't want it to be too hard for little hands to open. The strips are 6" long, leaving about 1/2" on either side. Depending on what you will be using the pouch for, you could use a shorter strip of velcro. For snacks it needs to be pretty long so nothing can slip out.

And there you have it! Washable and super durable snack pouches!