New Moon Protection Pouch: Free Pattern

I recently had the pleasure of taking a beginner tarot course from Rory Lula McMahan at a great local shop, Ritualcravt. At the first class we learned that we should keep our cards protected in a cloth or bag. Of course I knew I needed to craft my own bags for my tarot decks. I had so much fun making these, I decided to release this simple sewing project as a free pattern so all my fellow tarot-diviners can craft some magic protection: welcome the New Moon Protection Pouch pattern!

New Moon Protection Pouch is a simple, lined bag with boxed corners and features a drawstring closure that is handmade from the lining fabric. There is enough fabric leftover from this project to use as an altar cloth for your readings. Craft your bag with intention on the new moon to enhance the power and infuse even more magic into it by leaving it out under the light of the full moon.

We have tons of fabrics in right now that are perfect for this project - check them out here. I was so excited about all these fabrics, I made a lot of bags. I color coordinated my bags to the deck. I really loved using the Manchester Metallics and Essex Metallics which I used both as a lining fabric or as my main fabric in every bag. These fabrics are natural cotton and linen blend base fabrics with just a bit of silver or gold lurex for a magic sparkle.

This project doesn't use a lot of fabric - just a 1/2 yard or fat quarter of your main fabric and 1/4 yard of your lining fabric is perfect. I've included instructions in the pattern to make this bag custom to your deck. You will start by taking measurements of your deck to determine what size to cut out your fabric pieces. This means you can make a bag for any sized tarot or oracle deck. If you want to make the bag big enough to include your guidebook as well, be sure to measure that along with your deck.

My main deck is my Wild Unknown deck so I made this using an old Liberty of London constellation print that is sadly no longer available (but oh-so-perfect!). I used the navy blue Manchester Metallic for the lining fabric on this one.

My Animal Spirit deck is an oracle deck that compliments the Wild Unknown deck wonderfully - for this I choose a moon phases print for the outside and a Essex Metallic for the lining fabric.

My traditional Smith-Waite deck deserved a gold bag to compliment the color and mystique of the deck. I used my favorite eye print to line this to enhance the all-knowing-ness of this deck. I fussy-cut my eye-cord (see what I did there?) to show off the open and closed eyes perfectly.

One of my favorite decks is my Major Arcana Combed Thunder deck which features photos of weavings that Natalie Novak did for each of the major arcana. For this deck I reversed my original Wild Unknown bag and used the Metallic fabric on the outside and my constellation Liberty of London on the inside. So much magic in these little pouches!

My Spirit Speak tarot deck got an Essex Metallic bag with witchy Sprinkle in black for the lining.

New Moon Protection Pouch will work best with quilting cottons, canvas, and woven cottons or linens. More experienced sewists might want to use a silk or satin fabric for the lining. I choose to use a leftover piece of my main fabric as an altar cloth to put down for my readings. I didn't finish this fabric at all, but will let it fray and I keep it wrapped around my deck while its in storage.

I'm so excited to release this little pattern into the world. I can't wait to see what everyone creates with it and it makes my heart sing to think of all the beautiful cards being carried around in magical hand-sewn pouches. Download the New Moon Protection Pouch pattern here and be sure to share with the hashtag #newmoonprotectionpouch. Happy New Moon!