One of the things I love the most about being a member of this industry is seeing and being involved in the encouragement of each other. If you know me or have participated in any of the Schnitzel & Boo swaps, you won't be surprised about that. It's also one of the reasons I love to teach.
 |
| {modified back of the Clara Top by Violette Field Threads} |
Just yesterday, in fact, I taught a room full of women who had either never installed a zipper or who had only done it once or twice. Do you know what they were making? The Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented.
{look at all those zippers!}
Every single one of those ladies left the classroom with a completed bag, that they sewed themselves, zippers and all.
What is so intimidating about zippers? I'm not sure, but I can tell you that anything is doable, if you can sew a 1/4" seam OR a straight line, you can put one in. There are tricks to make it easier. For example, start with the zipper head zipper all the way up, begin stitching in the middle of the zip, sew all the way to the end of it; back stitch. Remove the project from your machine, take out the pins where you've just sewn, unzip it, then finishing sewing from the top, to just past where you started in the middle. Most of the time, it's getting around the head of it that makes it so frustrating. Use your zipper foot with the needle on the left position.
{a zipper sewn with my 1923 Super Deluxe sewing machine}
There are several really nice tutorials for sewing various zipper pouches, the following are some of my favorites.
*Boxy Pouch Tutorial by Pink Stitches
*Open Wide Zippered Pouch by Noodlehead
*DIY Hungry Bunny Pouch Tutorial by Lil Blue Boo
*Triangle Pouch by A Spoonful of Sugar
I have a nice long list of tutorials to post on my own tutorial page, one of which is how to put in the zipper. Until I can get to it, though, here are a few links to some of my favorite zippers and their sources.
*Lace Zippers via A Vision To Remember on Etsy
*Standard Polyester Coil Zippers via Zip It on Etsy
*Metal Teeth Zips via Zipper Island on Etsy
For more inspiration, have a look at Sew Mama Sew's Pinterest Board "Sew it! ~ Zipper Pouches & Clutches" found here.
Happy Sewing!
-Kristi
PS I'll leave you with a photo of my seven year old and the zipper pouch she made yesterday. See? You CAN do it!
Great post and love the fact you have added where to find the zippers!! thank you and kudos to you for teaching your daughter to already be making something with her own hands that she wants! Fabulous!!
ReplyDelete