A small leather pouch is super useful for storage and organisation. You can use them for absolutely anything - coins, sewing supplies, or stuff that you'd easily lose. They also make a wonderful handmade gift.

Check out the video above for a quick overview of how to make one.

I have found that a home sewing machine can comfortably sew leather 1-1.5mm thick. Make sure to use a leather needle though, these have a specially shaped point to easily pierce the leather. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can also sew by hand as it is only a small piece.

These pouches are quick, easy and fun to make! They are also a good use of leather scraps that would otherwise get thrown away.

Supplies

Leather (1-1.5mm thick)
continuous zipper
zipper pull
thread - use a contrasting colour for a bit of zazz

Step 1: Cut Out Leather

You'll need a right angled triangle of leather. To make this, draw two lines of equal length that are perpendicular to each other and the third line joins the two ends.

A triangle with side lengths of 20cm results in a pouch that is around 9cm square, which is a decent size.

Feel free to experiment with smaller or larger triangles to get what you want.

If you have a square(ish) leather piece, you can cut two triangles from it to make two pouches.

Step 2: Sew on Zip

Place the continuous zipper face down on the long side of the right side of the triangle, as in the photo. The teeth should be facing towards the right angle of the triangle.

You'll want to leave a bit of excess on one end - this helps with getting the zipper pull on.

Go ahead and sew the two together. The stitch should be about 3-4mm from the edge of the leather. A narrow or zipper foot on your machine can help you to achieve this.

Step 3: Zip Topstitch

Topstitching the zip gives a nice look, especially when you use a thread in a contrasting colour. It also helps the zip run a bit smoother.

Fold the zip back over itself lengthways so that the teeth face outwards - this is shown in the first photo above.

You need to sew a line of stitches through both the zipper and the leather. Sew close to the zipper's edge and be careful to make a straight stitch.

The result is shown in the last photo.

Step 4: Attach Zip Pull

Attaching the zip pull can be a little tricky, but don't fret. You can do it!

First, fold the two corners with the zipper towards the third corner, with the right side facing up. Align the leather so that the top and bottom pieces are square with each other and the zip is centred in the diagonal of the pouch (see first photo). Use clips to hold together.

Then feed the zipper pull onto the longer side of zipper, like in the second photo.

Now comes the difficult bit. Whilst holding everything together, push the zip pull down until it engages the other size of the zip and then you can zip up the pouch.

Step 5: Hanging Loop (optional)

A little loop of leather in the corner of the pouch can help to open and close it as well as allow the pouch to be hung on a hook. This step is optional.

Cut a strip of leather around 8 x 1cm and sew it onto the back corner of the pouch, as shown in the second photo. For everything to be nice and symmetrical, take care to align the centre of the loop with the square diagonal across the pouch.

Step 6: Sew Up the Sides

Turn the pouch inside out while making sure to align the zip and loop with the centre diagonal, as in the first photo.

Sew along the two open edges, around 1cm from the leather edge. Sew a straight line until you are close to the zip, then turn the pouch and sew perpendicular across the zip, stop when you're near the pouch edge and turn again to sew straight along the final side. This stitch path is shown in the second photo.