Zipped bag for all those chargers

It’s been a long while since my last Blogger post.  Life gave me some twists and turns and changes.  I hope that I can come up with some things to share with you – I enjoy doing that.

On a recent trip, I realized that a light-weight zippered pouch/bag would be just the thing to keep all those chargers together.  You know – one for the cellphone, iPad, Kindle, camera, etc.  I had used an old pouch that I found in a drawer & knew that I could make a better one.

Why do pouches always have a zipper at the top?  I thought a zipper in the middle of the pouch/bag would make the contents more accessible.  And here’s what I came up with --

 

When I make pouches/bags, I like to encase the ends of the zipper in fabric tubes so then I don’t have to deal with zipper teeth or the heavy zipper tape in the seamlines of the bag.

 

Fabric Tubes for ends of zipper:
Cut each rectangle for tube 2-1/2” wide (this allows for 1/4” seam & goes around the zipper)
Length to cut – 2-1/4” is enough to allow for clearing ends of zipper tape and will be enough for a seam allowance of 5/8” on the bag.
So, for the Fabric Tubes on my zipper –-
I cut two rectangles -- 2-1/2” wide x 2-1/4” long

Right sides together, stitch the ends of the fabric tube(s) in 1/4” seam, down the 2-1/4” length.  Do not turn right side out, yet.

 

Slip the zipper end into the “unturned” Fabric Tube - that would be right side of zipper to right side of Fabric Tube.

 

Above pic shows the Fabric Tubes pinned to each end of zipper.

The orange dotted line shows the stitching line of the Fabric Tube to the zipper.

 

After sewing Fabric Tubes in place, pull the Fabric Tube over the end of the zipper tape; the right side of Fabric Tube is now showing and the end of zipper tape is encased in the Fabric Tube – no raw edges showing. Press.
This would now be called a “Zipper Unit”.

Now you can take that Zipper Unit and sew it into the bag, treating it just like a zipper.

There are so many tutorials on the web for making pouches/bags, I’ll leave the rest of the construction up to you.  And most of them will show you how to insert a zipper and you would just follow those directions and insert a Zipper Unit, which is just a zipper with covered ends.  I just wanted to show you how I did my zippers.

Before the sides are sewn, the zipper can be located anywhere on the bag
Towards top/bottom.
At top/bottom
or, centered on bag front – which is what I did with mine.

I chose to use French Seams on the sides of the bag, with the final stitching of the French Seam on the outside of pouch/bag, so I could have something to hold on to when opening or closing the zipper. For the 1st stitching of the French Seam, I use 1/4” seam allowance and then for the 2nd stitching, I used a 3/8” seam allowance.  That way, I did not have to trim the 1st seam.

Uh-oh, looks like there’s room in that pouch/bag!

Zipper on small purse

Sherry had asked  -- how did I add that extra outer zipper?

My purse consists of 3 sections –-
1) The Front, which continues up and over the top to the back for an inch.  I created it that way so that I could take advantage of an uninterrupted design area for the front.
2) A 1-1/2” section between the upper and lower zippers.
3) A section which is below the lower zipper.

The section below the lower zipper (lined) is sewn to the bottom half of the lower zipper and it becomes the frontside of the outside pocket.

The backside (inside) of the lower zippered pocket is a piece of the lining which is sewn to the top half of the lower zipper.

The lining of the purse consists of 2 sections --
1) Back lining sewn to bottom half of top zipper (which also covers up the area of the lower zipper).
2) Front lining sewn to top half of top zipper.

After sections and lining of purse are sewn together and while it is still flat, the purse template is laid on top and cut around (See previous blog entry).  After purse is cut out, I then stitch around the purse’s lower pocket at sides and bottom (defining pocket) to give the pocket sides and a bottom.  If you don’t stitch around, defining the sides and bottom, stuff in pocket would move to parts of purse you don’t want stuff to move to.

When you look inside the finished purse, you do not see any sign of the lower zipper.

Hope this helps you Sherry (and others) to figure out how to make that lower zippered pocket.  I think I initially figured out how to do it by looking at something that had that kind of construction.  You can learn a lot about the construction of an item by looking inside or turning it wrong side out. 

More Fabric Bags

Cute Pooh bag, eh?  Angela from Country Scrap Quilts (blog) sent me this pic of Fabric Bag that she made from my directions.  She’s made quite a few of these bags & if you’d like to see more bags from her and others, go to my Fabric Bag Gallery on my website.  You can also find a link to the directions for the regular Fabric Bags and also a link to directions for a Christmas Shopping Bag on that webpage.  Never too early to start in on that Christmas sewing.

Angela asked for my permission to sell some Fabric Bags that she made from my directions.  She is now selling them in her Etsy shop and on her website – Country Scrap Quilts.  Hope you sell oodles, Angela! 

I like it when people send me pics of the bags they make.  I love it that people are using the Fabric Bags instead of the ugly plastic things.  Fabric Bags hold so much more and you feel so “green” using them!

I was chatting with a new checker at the grocery store the other day and she said - “I remember you, you’re the one with the pretty bags.”  Yah, that’s me all right, pretty bags & all!  LOL  ;-)

Christmas Bag Thank-you

I would like to thank Cheryl from http://polkadotsandrickrack.blogspot.com/ for mentioning my PaperPieced Christmas Bag. Love the name of your blog. Glad you liked the Confetti Hash Peppers. I know I will be making those stuffed peppers again.

Thumbdrive Jacket Tute

Today’s Christmas song of the day – “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives
http://heavens-gates.com/fifties/hollyjollychristmas.html

I do not like to put my thumbdrive in my purse unprotected. And it is so easy to misplace the thumbdrive cuz it is so small. It holds a lot of files and pics and I don’t want to lose it. I thought of making a covering for it – a jacket! Now, this I feel comfortable throwing in my purse. Use a Jacket to slip some folded money into when putting in your jean’s pocket – less likely for money to pop out of pocket.

For many Christmases, I have been making a keepsake item for my gkids. This year it’s the Thumbdrive / Money Holder jacket.

These sew up quickly, so if you need something like this for Christmas, you can do it up fast. I have created a PDF for the convenience of printing off the directions and taking them into the sewing room. You can even make a “Super Fast” version of the jacket that sews up, welllll --Super Fast – in about the time it takes to wrap a present!
http://anotherpat.com/ThumbdriveJacketByPatTribbey.pdf

Each Thumbdrive Jacket requires a piece of fabric 20” x 3-1/4”. (Super Fast version takes 10” x 3”)
Finished Jacket measures 2-5/8” x 4-1/2”.

If you make any Thumbdrive Jackets, please send me a pic and I will put it up in a Gallery.

Shopping Bag Gallery

It is always so nice to see other’s versions of one’s design. When another sew-er makes that item from the design, then it is assumed that the directions were accurate! ;-) Denise from Canada sent me a pic of the Christmas Shopping Bag that she completed.

Thank you, Denise! I see you used a different fabric for each tree. You must have started the bag shortly after I put up the tute. And I have put your bag in the #1 spot on the Gallery page for Fabric Bags. It shall remain at the top forever. Other pics will go in the next spots below.

Christmas Shopping Bag instructions

I hope to get lots of pics! It will be so neat to see other’s interpretations of the design – or what they can do with a plain bag.

I like blogging. It reminds me so much of the days in the old AOL Quilting Community. We got such nice feedback from the quilters for just about anything we did. And then there would be the quilting chat rooms where we could discuss all what was going on. Yah, I think AOL had a good idea and I think they made a big mistake when they got rid of all the Communities.

Christmas Shopping Bag Tute now edited

I fixed the huge pics on the webpage for Christmas Shopping Bag --
anotherpat.com/fabricbagXmas.htm

Tomorrow (Monday) I will be blogging a tip on printing webpages that might help you save some paper.

Christmas Shopping Bag Tute

I have great respect for all of you quilting and crafting bloggers out there who write tutorials in their blogs! It sure takes time taking all those pics and then uploading them and having to deal with the quirks of the blog's program.

I got so frustrated yesterday with trying to put up over 30 pics, 5 at a time, and dealing with the white space that grew between pics & text whenever I did another upload of pics. I said nuts to the whole deal & made my tutorial on a webpage. Please excuse some of the big pics on the webpage as they were created to go on a blog page with a link to bigger image. Ahhhh well. I will fix those big pics when I get the chance. FIXED -- Sunday Nov. 30.

Here's the Christmas Shopping Bag, complete with tutorial & Paper Piecing templates.

anotherpat.com/fabricbagXmas.htm

I figured out how to make a "French Seam Squared Bottom" Step 30 in the tute.

If you spot any errors in the tute, please let me know anotherpat@gmail.com and I will correct them.

And, if you make one of these bags, I'd sure like to see a pic!

Don't know if I'll be posting anymore before Thanksgiving, so I'd like to send wishes to y'all for a good Thanksgiving Day. And I hereby decree that all food eaten on Thanksgiving Day is calorie-free! Now, wouldn't that be something to be thankful for!

Something coming up!

Hi, I'm working on something that I will be sharing with y'all in a couple of days. I hope to do my first tutorial in my blog. But, first I have to see get all the pics and parts.