I've been looking for a jewelry pouch to carry necklaces, large brooches and earrings when travelling.

I found lots of instructions for simple single zippered pouches on the internet, but wanted something that had two zipper pouches, space to pin brooches, and soft padding to protect my jewelry. I also wanted it to be compact and attractive. I couldn't find anything like this on the internet, so decided to design something myself.

I love the way my design worked out, and am delighted to be sharing it with you. This instructable takes a simple zippered pouch to the next level. I've designed it so that each of the 3 fabric pieces have finished edges before you put them together, making zipper insertion easy, and the finished jewelry pouch is both practical and beautiful. I made the yellow one first, then tweaked the measurements slightly for this instructable and made the purple one. Pure joy!

Step 1: Gather Materials

You will need at least three (could be as many as six) different coordinating fabrics, preferably cotton:

Outside pouch fabric - one 8" X 10" piece (you could get away with less depending on the size of your trim pieces)
Trim fabrics - one 8" X 2 1/2" piece, and one 8" X 4" piece (you can adjust width based on your preference, and both trim pieces could be the same width)
Lining fabric - one 8" X 10" piece
Pockets - two 8" X 9 3/4" pieces (finished pocket size is 4 5/8")

You will also need:

two 1" strips of velcro (hook and loop tape)
two 7" zippersBatting - one 8" X 10" piece
Batting - two 8" X 4 1/2" pieces

The finished pouch, when folded closed, measures 5" X 7".

Step 2: Tools

You will need:

sewing machine
rotary cutter, ruler and mat
thread, scissors to trim thread
pins or clips

Other helpful tools:

zipper foot for sewing machine
walking foot or free motion foot for sewing machine to do the quilting
Wash Away Wonder Tape to baste zipper and velcro in place

Step 3: Cut Batting, Outside Fabric, Lining, Pockets and Trim

For best results (i.e. clean straight edges) use a rotary cutter, ruler and mat to cut the pieces set out in step one, copied below for convenience:

Outside pouch fabric - one 8" X 10" piece (you could get away with less depending on the size of your trim pieces)
Trim fabrics - one 8" X 2 1/2" piece, and one 8" X 4" piece (you can adjust width based on your preference)
Lining fabric - one 8" X 10" piece
Pockets - two 8" X 9 3/4" pieces (these will be folded in half - finished pocket size is 4 5/8")
Batting - one 8" X 10" piece and two 8" X 4 1/2" pieces

Note - if you don't have a rotary cutter and mat, you can use scissors to cut out these pieces.

Step 4: Sew Outer Fabric, Trim Fabrics and Lining to Batting

Note - this is the hardest step in the whole process; it gets easier after this!
Also note that you can use purchased binding, or use a thin binding (e.g. a 2" wide strip), using the same binding on both sides to simplify this step.

Sandwich the 8" X 10" batting piece between the lining fabric and the outer fabric, keeping the good side (referred to as the "right side") of both fabrics facing out
Place the 8" X 4" trim piece (purple fabric in photo) right side down on top of the outer fabric, with the raw edge of the trim piece 1 1/4" away from the raw edge of the quilt sandwich
Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew the trim piece to the quilt sandwich
Fold the trim piece over towards the lining
Iron 1/4" under on the raw edge of the trim, and iron this trim piece so that it neatly encloses the raw edge of the quilt sandwich
Stitch this folded edge down close to the edge. You can do this from the wrong side, which is easiest because you can see the edge clearly, or you can flip the sandwich over, and "stitch in the ditch" of the trim from the right side, for the neatest finish, as I have with the dark purple trim.
Repeat for the second trim piece on the other end of your quilt sandwich, placing the trim piece closer to the edge of your fabric depending on the trim width. For a 2 1/2" piece of trim, place the raw edge of the trim piece 3/4" away from the edge.
By mistake, I sewed my last trim piece too far from the edge, so when I folded it towards the lining and turned under 1/4", there was less fabric on the wrong side than the right side, so stitching in the ditch would not have held the fabric in place. On this piece, (last photo, light purple fabric), I just stitched the trim piece down from the wrong side. You may notice in later photos that this left a visible stitching line on the trim piece, which I ripped out after inserting the zipper, since the zipper stitching was sufficient to hold down this narrow piece of trim facing and I didn't like the appearance of the stitching line.

Step 5: Sew Each Pocket Fabric Piece Into a Large Tube

Fold each pocket piece, right sides together, along the 8" side, and sew a narrow 1/4" seam
Iron this seam open
You now have a large tube
Turn tube right side out

Step 6: Insert Batting Pieces and Quilt

Insert the batting pieces into the two pocket tubes, flatten and iron with the tube seam in the middle.
Quilt these 2 pieces (i.e. sew through all 3 layers to hold them together). You can use straight lines, free motion, or whatever works for you. The goal is to secure the batting to the fabric pieces, in a decorative way. These pockets are just on the inside, and are not visible when the pouch is folded closed. It's good to practice your quilting on these pockets before you quilt the outside of the pouch. It's not necessary to quilt too closely - if the quilting lines are too close together, it's hard to pin the brooches to the quilted fabric.
Quilt the large pouch piece as desired. For the purple pansy fabric, I quilted around the pansies, to avoid having stitching lines cut through the flowers. For the yellow pouch, I quilted squiggles and hearts.

Step 7: Trim Edges of All 3 Pieces

Trim the main pouch piece and the 2 pockets, ideally using a ruler and rotary cutter, so the edges are straight, and all 3 pieces are the same width.
Stitch close, about 1/8" away, from the raw edges to hold the layers neatly in place on all 3 pieces.

Step 8: Insert the Zippers

Zipper insertion is easy if you use Wash Away Wonder Tape to baste the zipper in place, and a zipper foot.

The tape securely holds the zipper in place as you sew it.

Place the tape on the top side of the zipper, one strip on either side.
Remove the top layer of paper from the tape, exposing the glue.
Lay the main pouch piece face up, with a zipper right side up on either side, and a pocket piece next to each zipper piece as in the second photo. This is where the zippers will go.
Position the 2 pieces of fabric on either side of each zipper, with the fabric edge close to, but not covering, the zipper teeth. Press down to securely hold the fabric in the correct position.
Sew zipper in place, using a zipper foot, and sewing close (about 1/8") to the tape. You are just stitching one straight line, on either side of the zipper. Easy!
Trim any excess zipper tape hanging beyond the edge of the fabric.
Repeat for the second zipper.

Note - I positioned the zippers so that they open in opposite directions. You may prefer having them open in the same direction.

Step 9: Finish Side Edges of Pouch

Using a zigzag stitch, sew along the 2 raw edges to neatly enclose the raw edges with zigzag stitching. You are sewing along the entire length of the pouch on both sides, including the zippers, as shown in the photo.

Step 10: Add Velcro Pieces

I use short pieces of Wash Away Wonder Tape to baste the velcro strips in position. This is a great tip, because it's very hard to pin velcro.

Position the 2 hook pieces of your velcro strips on one of the pockets, with the outer edge of the velcro piece 5/8" away from the edge of the pouch, and the top edge very close to the zipper tape - I lined up the edge of the velcro with the zipper stitching line. Make sure your pouch is laid out with the outside fabric up and the pocket pieces opened out before you attach the velcro. See the 3rd photo of the yellow pouch for correct positioning - the right side of the zipper should be visible.

Stitch close to the edge of the velcro, starting in the middle of one long edge. Use 3 short stitches to start to secure the stitching, then continue sewing around the velcro strip until you have overlapped your initial stitches. Finish with 3 short stitches to secure thread. Cut thread close to stitching.

Open the zipper a bit if the zipper pull is in the way.

Attach the 2 loop pieces of the velcro strips to the top edge of the other pocket in the same way, with the outer edge of the velcro piece 5/8" away from the edge of the pouch, and the top edge very close to the zipper tape. The velcro pieces should contact each other once the pouch is folded in half in the middle.

Step 11: Sew Sides of Pouch to Pockets

This step turns the side pieces (which are attached to the main pouch via the zippers) into actual pockets.

Fold the pockets towards the centre (they will do this easily as the zipper acts as a hinge) so that the OUTER pouch fabric (the pansy fabric in the above photo) is facing the pockets, then sew the pockets to the outer fabric along the side edges, using a 1/4" seam allowance. This can be one continuous seam along each side of the pouch, in other words, continuing through the middle section where there is no pocket material.

To ensure a neat finish, start and stop your stitching about an inch or so from the end (where the zipper is) and backstitch to the end. Trim threads close to stitching. This ensure you won't have any thread ends sticking out near the zipper.

Turn the pockets right sides out so that the outer pouch fabric (the pansy fabric) is on the outside and lining fabric is on the inside (see second photo) and the stitched side seams are on the inside.

Step 12: Stitch Down Bottom Edges of Pockets

Topstitch close to the bottom edges (about 1/8" away from edge) of the pockets, to secure the pockets in place.

You will be sewing one continuous rectangle: Sew first the pocket piece to the side edge of pouch, pivot, then sew down the short exposed (but neatly zigzagged) raw edge of the side seam between the two pockets, then sew the second pocket bottom edge, then the final raw edge of the side seam, overlapping your first stitches and finishing with 3 short stitches.

Trim thread ends close to stitching and you are done! Fold your pouch in half so that the velcro strips connect with each other to close the pouch.