Survival Tin/Playing Card EDC Paracord Pouch...

I wanted to make a paracord pouch for a deck of playing cards and it just worked out to also fit an Altoids type survival tin.

I started with a long Solomon bar/cobra stitch/Portuguese sinnet, with some olive drab paracord, 16 feet I think, that fit around the outside dimensions of a standard deck of playing cards inside their box, which was about 15+ inches with the loop end to be used with a BDU button closure.

I tried weaving the sides at that point with another length of paracord, but found the Solomon bar wasn't wide enough, so I started over, making another wider bar, but that wasn't quite right either, and I finally decided on a doubled Solomon bar/king cobra stitch, done just loose enough to allow weaving around the bights/edges.

I retied the olive drab Solomon bar then added the second layer with a 40 foot length of black paracord.  This turned out to be long enough for doubling the bar and the remaining strands on each side were long enough to do the weaving on each side of the pouch.  The doubled bar and weaving is all one single length of paracord, and I just had a little bit of paracord left to trim off each side at the finish.

The weaving process was done with running the working strands back and forth through the edges of the bar, while I held it around the deck of cards, giving the pouch it's shape.  I went from the top, going side-to-side to the bottom edge of the pouch, then wove the strand over/under from the bottom to the top horizontal strand at the open end, then back down, six times on each side of the pouch.  Note that there needs to be a bit of slack in the cords to be woven around as they'll tighten up as you work.  You can go back afterwards and work the slack out and straighten out the overs/unders to neaten it all up.

After weaving there was enough room for one more horizontal weave along the bottom edge on each side, then I used  needle and thread to secure the ends, trim and tucking those, and then sewing on the BDU button.

The top of the woven sides doesn't quite run straight across the sides, so if I make another, I'll try to get that worked out, but other than that leaving a bit of a gap with the top flap, I'm satisfied with the pouch.  Another piece of cord could be added to one side of the pouch for a belt loop, but I'm leaving this one as is.

Various different knotted/woven paracord bracelet patterns could be used instead of a king cobra/doubled Solomon bar, as long as they're wide enough and have suitable edges to weave the cord around.

Also shown used as a front pocket pouch for carrying my Leatherman Wave, Titanium Widgy Pry Bar, and JETBeam AA LED Flashlight.  I may try cutting up a plastic/nylon notebook cover to rig up a divider for individual slot compartments.

Maybe a smaller version for a Zippo lighter pouch, or even just top and bottom sleeve sections to make a lighter cover...

Not a full tutorial, but I added a collage of process photos for making the pouch.  Clicking on the photo will enlarge it, and sometimes right clicking and choosing 'view image' will offer the largest available image to see more detail.

I didn't have a BDU button handy, so with this navy blue and red paracord version, I added a single strand star knot for the knot/loop closure, and I did not use any needle/thread on this one, ends were all tucked inside to finish.  A cross concho might also work...

The starting cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet tied in red paracord was 15.5 inches long to fit around the deck of cards, using just a tad over 15 feet of cord, and after working the slack out and straightening the woven sections, a little over 38 feet of navy blue paracord was used of the 40 foot length I started with.  The star knot was tied with another strand of cord and the strand from it worked over and around the knot below it to secure it, with the excess tucked inside the pouch.

I've added a few more pics/collage of the start, with the 15" long Solomon bar/cobra stitch section with 2" loop at the end, which fit around my standard deck of playing cards in their box.  Shown loosely fitted around the box to gauge fit, the ends of that knotted length of cord can be trimmed then sewn, melted, or glued in place, or tucked/pulled under with hemostats then trimmed.  Next is starting the double Solomon bar/king cobra stitch from the loop end with the center of the 40' length of paracord.

You could do the entire project with one longer continuous length of paracord instead of two, and if I'd done that, I would probably use a 60 foot length to start for a pouch that fit the playing cards.  More paracord would certainly be needed for a larger pouch, it really will vary depending on the object you're tying it around.

A work-in-progress photo of a small open top pouch, using 1.4mm cord, to hold a slim Ronson torch lighter.  A little bit larger and I think it would make a nice business card holder...