Objective: Combine your intermediate techniques into one small, repeatable, saleable product—a lined zippered pouch—so you understand how projects move from cut pieces to finished goods.
A home business depends on products you can make reliably, quickly, and consistently. The lined zippered pouch is the classic first saleable item because it exercises almost every intermediate skill at once: accurate cutting, a 3/8" or 1/2" seam allowance, zipper insertion with the E or zipper foot, clean topstitching, boxed corners for a 3D shape, and a bagging-out technique that hides raw edges inside the lining. Work methodically: cut your outer fabric, lining, and any interfacing to identical rectangles. Fuse interfacing to the outer pieces to give the pouch body. Install the zipper by sandwiching it between an outer piece (right side up) and a lining piece (right side down), stitch along the zipper tape, then flip and topstitch close to the fold—this both secures and gives a professional look. Repeat for the second side. Open the zipper halfway (critical—this lets you turn it right-side out later), then align outer-to-outer and lining-to-lining and stitch all around, leaving a 3" gap in the lining bottom. For boxed corners, flatten each bottom corner so the seams line up, measure in 1" from the point, stitch across, and trim. Turn right-side out through the lining gap, close the gap with an edgestitch or ladder stitch, press, and push the lining inside. On the MC6650 use the needle-down function and the automatic thread cutter to speed repetitive seams, and set a slightly longer stitch length (2.8–3.0) for crisp topstitching.
Example: Cut two outer and two lining rectangles at 9" x 7" and fuse lightweight interfacing to the outer pieces. Insert a 9" zipper: lay outer right-side-up, zipper face-down along the top edge, lining right-side-down on top; stitch with the zipper foot at ~1/4". Flip both fabrics away from the zipper and topstitch at 1/8". Repeat on the other side. Open the zipper to the middle, match outer-to-outer and lining-to-lining, and sew around at 1/2" leaving a 3" gap in the lining bottom. Box all four corners at 1" for a flat-bottomed pouch, trim, turn through the gap, edgestitch the gap closed, and press. Result: a 7"-wide boxed cosmetic bag that costs about $3 in materials and can sell for $15–20.
Try it: Make one lined zippered pouch following the steps above. Before you turn it right-side out, inspect: did you remember to open the zipper halfway? Are your topstitching lines straight and even? After turning, check that the zipper ends are tucked inside and the boxed corners are symmetrical. Photograph the finished pouch and note how long it took you start to finish—this is your baseline production time for pricing.