My eyes are rather sensitive to light, so rain or shine, I pretty much always carry a pair of sunglasses in my purse. For a long time I just tossed them into my bag along with my keys, bobby pins, pens, and whatever else I was carrying around. After badly scratching a few pairs, though, I learned my lesson and now put them in a case. These cases are pretty easy to sew up and would make a great gift. And tomorrow I’ll share a way that you can gussy your case up a little bit more.

Edited to add: I also realized that this pouch makes a perfect pencil case. You could really stash all kinds of stuff in here instead of glasses: emery boards, makeup, pens, etc.


Materials:
Fabric (I used two cotton fabrics, each less than 1/8 of a yard)
Scissors
Zipper (I used a 8″ metal zipper)
Fusible batting (optional)
Sewing machine
Needle
Thread
Iron

Methods:
1. Cut two pieces of your lining fabric and two of your outer fabric to 8 by 4 inches.

2. Shorten your zipper by hand sewing across the teeth several times, then trimming the excess (not with your nice sewing shears, please!)

3. Place one of your outer pieces right-side up, and place the zipper face down along the long edge. Place the lining piece on top of the zipper, right-side down. Pin in place. With a zipper foot, sew all three layers together along the top edge.

4. Fold the sewn pieces out of the way, and sandwich the other half of the zipper between the other two pieces of fabric. Outer fabric right-side up, zipper right-side down, lining fabric right-side down. Pin in place, then sew this edge.


5. Pull the fabric layers away from the zipper, and press with an iron. Topstitch around the zipper opening.

6. Pin the lining fabrics together and the outer fabrics together, folding the seam allowance and zipper toward the lining. Make sure to leave your zipper halfway open.

7. Sew around the edges of the lining and outer fabrics, leaving an opening of about 2 inches on the bottom of the lining.

8. If you want your case to be padded, cut two pieces of fusible batting 7.75 inches by 3.25 inches. Sandwich the lining layers between the two pieces of batting, and pin so that the edges of the batting are just within the seam allowances of the lining. Sew the batting to the lining on three of the edges, remembering to leave the gap for turning open.

9. Snip the corners and excess zipper tape, and turn the bag right-side-out by pulling the outer fabric through the gap in the lining. After you do this, you may need to fiddle with the batting to line it up if it’s gotten bunched. Slip-stitch the hole in the lining closed, then use the iron to press your case on the exterior, fusing the batting to the outer layer. Stick your iron into the bag as much as you can to fuse these layers, too.

Things I actually carry in my purse: a ridiculous sparkly wallet (old, from Target), a mini measuring tape, and one of my washi-tape-covered mini Molskine notebooks.
Here’s a preview of the other case I made. Tutorial coming soon!

P.S. If this fabric looks familiar, it’s because I used it for my waxed canvas tote tutorial, and used some other scraps for my travel bag. The purple lining is leftover from sewing napkins. This is why I hoard fabric scraps!