DIY Faux Leather Belt Pouches

This is the first belt pouch that I made to fit my phone. It's made from these faux leather fabric samples that were in my fabric stash. The sizes are pretty small which meant piecing them together to make the patterns work. This smaller bag is made from 3 separate swatches. 

The main part is just a rectangle folded in half and an added strip on one side to make it the correct width. The loop is made very simply by trimming around the raised pattern, folding in half, and sewing firmly to the back half of the main piece. The pockets were done by cutting a swatch in 3 pieces and sewing them one on top of the other in a staggered fashion to the front half on the main piece. Then it was finished by sewing a seam along the side and bottom and turned right side out. The swatches had a soft knit backing so I kept that unlined. The Hydra pin was a gift from my brother :)

The second pouch was a design as you go scenario. It's mostly a box with a flap that fits the dimensions of my phone. It was lined with some of my steampunk fabrics and sewn partly by hand. The dragon pin on the front was purchased at Hobby Lobby by a friend of mine. The three buttons were an obnoxious red plastic before getting a few coats of metallic fingernail polish.

There are a few accent pieces of leather on the top with cream stitching for contrast. Between the flap and the back of the bag are the two loops. I tried to secure them really well. They are rectangles with a colored detail sewn underneath that I hoped would add to the strength of the project.

And on the back you can see where the holes from the staples that ran through my swatches were. I think that's the only place where that peeked through.

On one side I barely had enough matching scraps to make a small pocket for holding my earphones.

On the inside of the flap I used my Colorful Steam Punk Top Hats fabric. After hand stitching it into place I went over it with the cream machine stitching to keep it laying flat. You can also see another trim piece that is hidden when the pouch is closed

The dragon pin was added after the bag was completed. It did need some sturdy black thread to secure it in place. And you can also see the button hole here and below that was made by braiding linen thread and securing it to the knit underside of the leather before lining.

I added three buttons along the bottom even though the loop only goes around the one in the center.

The pockets and lining were horrible on my fingers because the layers and my lack of planning meant sewing by hand. The pockets were made from rectangles of leather with their linings made from taco folded rectangles of Steampunk Top Hats Plain and Steampunk Gears Brass & Copper that I hemmed beforehand. Those were wedged neatly between the pocket and the outside wall of the pouch and whip stitched and ladder stitched in place The sides were lined with the remnants of the cream swatch, and the bottom of the bag was a rectangle of Steampunk Gears Brass & Copper that was also hand stitched. When it was finally done everything was fashionably secured with cream stitching all the way around the lip of the bag.

Bottom inside the bag.

Back pocket with the hats above, and the front pocket with the gears below.

If I had this project to do over again, I probably wouldn't have lined each facet of the bag separately. But in the end I really love this thing. It pretty much goes with me everywhere because I can fit all my essentials in it: phone, wallet, keys, chapstick, coin purse, pen, earbuds, and any other tiny stuff I need. It does get a bit heavy, and I have to keep it on my left hip so it doesn't fall off when I have to use the restroom. But if the only drawback is that it's heavy because it can hold so much stuff, I'm more than happy to deal with that!