Essential Oil Roller Pouch | Free Sewing Pattern for 4 Rollers

Sharing is caring!

Looking to be able to take your rollers on the go? Here’s how to sew an essential oil roller pouch.

I’ve really taken to essential oil rollers lately and was wanting something cute to carry them around in and keep them together. I’m thinking of something that would work in my purse or for travel. This way I can keep my favourite roller blends with me at all times.

Elements of an Essential Oil Roller Pouch

For me, the ideal number of rollers to have on me is 4. This includes something for healing, immunity, calm and focus. Of course, there could be more but I try to limit what I carry around. So my pouch needs to have 4 pockets that I can access easily. Anything more than 4 would seem too big for me to carry, and anything less than 4 just didn’t seem adequate.

I opted for a fold-over style which makes it easy to open and close. It’s very clean-looking. I also chose a strap to tuck the fold over in so that it stayed closed. I saw many in my research online. Some used velcro (I don’t like the sound) and others used a snap (you need a special tool and they don’t always work. A simple strap to tuck the fabric under was all that I needed.

The essential oil rollers that I use are 10ml. I have a couple of different ones from different manufacturers and noticed that they all differ slightly in size. They are all really close though. So you may find some of the pockets snug or loose.

Types of Fabrics to Use

I tried a variety of woven fabrics that all worked quite nicely. They include:

• Quilting Cotton – you can always find such beautiful patterns in these.
• Flannel – this works especially nice for the lining as it almost acts as a nice cushion for the rollers.
• Canvas – this is thicker, sturdier cotton which is sometimes used in home decor. This makes a nice option due to the fact that it is a little thicker and stronger than quilting cotton. In fact, in one of my test pieces, I even used a canvas tarp from the dollar store that is intended to be a drop cloth for painting!
• Linen – I had some scraps lying around. This also makes a lovely pouch.

Other Supplies Needed

In addition to your fabric, you will need the following:

• sewing machine
• sewing notions: scissors, pins or clips, thread, point turner, fabric chalk/marker, clear quilting ruler
• interfacing – I use Pellon SF101
• optional: fusible fleece. This adds more cushioning but makes it a little puffier. Depending on the type of fabric you are using, you may not want the extra bulk. However, thinner, more lightweight fabrics like quilting cotton work nicely with a bit of fusible fleece.
• iron and ironing board

Cut Your Fabric

Here are the pieces you need to cut in order to sew an essential oil roller pouch. All measurements are in inches.

• Exterior: 9.5 x 5.5
• Lining: 9.5 x 5.5
• Roller Pocket: 8.5 x 7
• Strap: 6.5 x 2.5

The great thing about this project is that it doesn’t take a lot of fabric. I went through my stash and found lots of pretty fabrics to make these.

Actually, come to think of it, it’s not really much of a pattern – it’s just 4 rectangles! That said, while I was testing this pattern, I think I ended up making 3 prototypes as I kept trying to get the measurements just right.

Cut and Apply Your Interfacing

Each of the above fabric pieces needs interfacing. The Pellon SF101 instructions say to cut everything 1/8 of an inch smaller. I personally don’t know how crucial this is, but I do it, most of the time, that is. You’ll see that my pieces are smaller, but probably more than 1/8 of an inch as I tend to just eyeball it.

You will need to cut interfacing for each of the pieces as follows:

• Exterior – whole piece
• Interior – whole piece
• Roller Pocket – you only need to apply interfacing for half of it: 8.5 x 3.5
• Strap: whole piece

You could get away without interfacing depending on how structured your fabric is. I know that I don’t always have it on hand.

For the roller pocket, fold the fabric in half first and press. You will be folding the shorter side. When folded, it should measure 8.5 x 3.5. Apply interfacing to only half of the fabric.

For the strap, place the interfacing in the very centre as shown.

Follow the directions of the interfacing for application.

How to Sew an Essential Oil Roller Pouch

Now that our pieces are all ready, it’s time to start sewing! I use a 1/4 seam allowance.

Start with the roller pocket. It should be folded in half, with the wrong sides together.

Fold it in half, horizontally, and press so that you have a centre line. Mark this line with chalk or a marker if you have trouble seeing it.

From that centre line, measure 1.5 inches on both sides. These will be the sewing lines for the pockets. You will notice that the remaining fabric on the outside edges is more than 1.5 inches – this is because it also includes a 1/4 seam allowance. You should have 3 parallel lines.

Now you will do the same to the lining piece – only the measurements are a little different.

Fold it in half and press to find the centre line. Mark if it’ll make it easier for you to see.

From the centre line, measure 1.25 inches on both sides and mark these parallel lines. Just like the pocket piece, you should have 3 parallel lines.

Place the pocket piece on top of the lining piece and align the centre line of both pieces.. Sew along this line, being sure to backstitch at the top of the pocket piece so that it is secure.

Align one of the other lines from the pocket piece to that of the lining. As the pocket piece is a larger measurement, it will bubble up and not lay flat. This is to create the pocket. Just be sure that when you sew this line all excess fabric is out of the way. Repeat for the other line so that you have all 3 parallel lines sewn.

Next, align the cut edges of both the pocket piece and the lining and edge stitch together. This is simply to tack it down. Make sure you sew close to the edge. Later on, it will be hidden as we will be sewing with a 1/4 inch seam allowance – so make sure your edge stitching is less than 1/4 of an inch.

The outside pockets will be slightly bigger. That is because we still have to sew it to the exterior with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Once we attach everything together, those outside pockets will be a little bit smaller..

I did notice, that if I was off a bit on marking my measurements, the pocket ended up too big – but then a subsequent pocket ended up too small, or vice-versa. This happened when I didn’t have my chalk wheel right up against my quilting ruler. I needed to hold my chalk wheel almost at a 45-degree angle in order to mark the edge.

Once you are sure that the pockets are good, we need to secure the bottom. Since the pocket piece is bigger and it puffs out, we will create little pleats on the bottom to neaten it up. The middle 2 pockets will have quite a tiny pleat while the outer 2 will have a larger pleat.

You can pleat any way you want – either all in one direction or all facing inward or outward. It doesn’t really matter. Secure your pleats with pins or clips.

Edgestitch along the bottom to hold those pleats in place.

Test that your roller bottles fit. Even though in testing I made this part 3 times and so it should be right, I still checked. Now is the time to make any changes if it doesn’t seem to fit

Next, we are going to prepare the strap. Fold the piece of fabric in half, horizontally with right sides together and press.

Sew along the long edge.

Turn so that it is right side out. Position the seam in the centre and press.

In testing, I had originally started with a thinner strap but it was a real pain to turn right side out. If you are more agile than me and want a thinner strap, by all means, go for it. If you still find this fiddly, feel free to make the strap wider for ease of turning.

Position the strap with the seam side down on top of the roller pocket. There is no perfect place to put this. Just make sure you are not covering up the tops of the roller pockets as it will get in the way.

Secure by sewing the edges of the strap to the edges of the lining. Again, edge stitch as this is just to hold it there until we sew everything together.

Test again with the rollers in it. Fold over the lining and make sure the strap is not too tight. I purposely made the strap a little long so that it wouldn’t be too snug. If you are using a thicker fabric, you may find that you need a longer strap. You need to be able to easily tuck in the top when it is folded over. Any modifications to the strap should be done now.

Lay the exterior piece on top of the lining piece with the roller pocket attached. The right sides should be together. Clip or pin all the way around.

Sew all the way around, leaving a 2 inch opening on one side for turning.

Clip the 4 corners to reduce bulk.

Turn right side out. Use a point turned to get those corners out. Sometimes I can also very gently pull it out using my seam ripper. Press. As you press, be sure to fold the fabric at the opening under so that it matches the rest.

Topstitch all the way around. This not only adds a nice finished look to it but will also close up that opening.

You are done! Now all you have to do is put your rollers in.

This was pretty easy, wasn’t it? Okay, so maybe it got a bit bulky when sewing all the way around – especially when you got to the part where it was the pocket and the strap. But other than that, it wasn’t too bad.

Looking for some roller recipes? Be sure to check out my post, Essential Oil Roller Recipes to Get You Started.

Looking for the same idea, but for 3 rollers? Check out my post here.

Want to remember how to sew this essential oil roller pouch? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.