Sewfrench

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you this panel of fabric I had completed using 2 1/2″ candy charms I received in some swaps.

What I didn’t show was what I did with it. I added the zipper in a different, from the usual, way. After finishing quilting the front, batting and lining together, I serged across the short ends where I planned on placing my zipper.

I added a tab to both ends of the zipper. The bottom, a neatly finished one, to finish it off and give you something to hold on to when you zip it closed and to the top end, a folded over one, to be able to more easily insert it into the side seam. Doing it this way, you only need one side finished, the other three sides are hidden in seams.

I then laid the zipper on top of the serged stitching and topstitched it there, just covering up the stitching. You may remember this was one of the cool zippers I picked out at Salvation Army, and it was bound in a matching satin fabric. I didn’t want to lose that effect. You could use this method with any zipper, binding or not. It really saves a lot of time!

I stitched the back-end to within 1/2″ of where the side seam will be and backstitched. Flipped it around and did the same on the other side.

Then I pulled the zipper out-of-the-way and stitched the side seam, from top to bottom and serged the seam to keep it from raveling. And to give it a neater appearance, since this bag is unlined. You could zigzag it if you don’t have a serger.

On the other end, I topstitched the zipper right off the end of the bag, over the tabs, turned it inside out and stitched that side seam closed and then serged it.

I did not intend this to be a tutorial but if you have some general bag making experience I think you might get a feel for how I placed the zipper on the outside.

When you add a wraparound tab to the ends of a zipper, adjusting length as needed, but having at least 1/2″ + 1/4″ (or whatever your side seam measurement is) visible on each end,  then treat it as one and insert as usual, you won’t have all the bulk, in the corner when you turn it out. I prefer a nice square corner and this is the easiest way to get one, in my opinion.

Do keep in mind, when using tabs on the top of a bag, that you are narrowing the opening. If you are hoping for an exact width you need to consider that.

This pink patchwork bag is to protect an iPad that lives far, far away. I visited in at Christmas. I don’t own an iPad, and my husband’s has a different case than this one. The best I could do was wrap a tape measure around it, (when I was near it) in both directions and came up with 18 1/2″ x 22 1/2″ measurement. Then when I was ready to make it, I ran around the house with my tape measure looking for anything with about this dimension. I didn’t have to go far before I found the Official Beanie Baby Encyclopedia. I knew we must have still had that on a bookshelf for a reason.

I also put a tiny, little seam across the bottom corners to give the bag a little depth, hopefully matching the depth of the iPad.

I sure hope it fit! If not, a girl can never have too many zip top bags, right?!!

With the zipper photos, you can obviously see I have two different projects going. I hope it doesn’t confuse you. You can also see my ADHD disorder live and in person, too, can’t you?!

For a book finish this week, it was Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. It’s a relatively quick book that sucks you in right away.

So many things to learn in this book, I really like how the authors make it such a human interest story giving us details of  Jackie, the mothering, the White House redecorating project side by side of all the hard facts. The way they are not content to say that Jan. 20, 1961, is a cold day. They must point out that “a brutal wind strafes the crowd.” They really pull you into the story and make you “live” it, not just read about it. And they are not content to remain in Washington; the book quickly switches to a “meanwhile” mention of the future gunman. “Approximately 4,500 miles away, in the Soviet city of Minsk, an American who did not vote for John F. Kennedy is fed up,” they write, massaging the fact that Oswald was at that point fed up with the Soviet government, not with America’s new president.

Give it a go, I think you’ll learn something. And that’s always a good thing, don’t you think?

Last night I saw where Amazon had a poll asking how many books you have read since the first of the year. I felt like I had finished quite a few but had to check my list to see how many exactly. And it was 10 and half way through 2 more. I was really surprised it was that many! I think taking the time to study and pick good books really pays off.

Next up? The Barefoot Sisters Southbound by Lucy and Susan Letcher. It was a free Kindle book, when I picked it up, so we will have to wait and see.

And with that, I found a new linky to join in on, with what looks to be lots of good book recommendations, at Patchwork Times. Head over to see what others are reading!

Also linking up with AmandaJean at crazymomquilts