A Week Of Learning

Made another Boxy bag using the same tutorial as before from kelbysews.

It's gorgeous...made with a FQ of Riley Blake fabric. This time I used nylon for the lining to make it a bit water resistant. Now this was interesting as I had never sewn nylon before. Very flimsy and very thin. For the interfacing I used Vilene H640...good choice normally, but together with the thin nylon this came out a bit floppy for my liking.
Afterwards I explored the net about interfacings, and came across this very useful post at You Sew Girl comparing Vilene to Pellon interfacings. This would have been useful before I actually started...also saw that she combines interfacings for making bags which I probably should have done for this one to give it more stability.
Guess I will have to make another one to get the structure right.

Also, when I took my sewing machine in the other day to have the tech look at my backwards stitching, I got talking to the owner about zippers. Incidentally there was nothing wrong with my machine...seems I am going through a period of being at war with my machine. This does happen from time to time.
Anyway, the owner introduced me to invisible zippers and send me on my way with a folder of instructions to try out at home. Good thing the folder had actual step-by-step samples which was brilliant as the written instructions were hard to follow (I am not a sewer so sometimes do not understand the words that are used).

So invisible, you can't even see it

Looking good from the back

Invisible Zipper foot

Impressed with my efforts...took a while to get the hang of it. I think I ripped this zipper out about three times as it kept sliding away from me. The invisible zipper foot has these little grooves on the underside where the teeth of the zipper neatly fit in (that is, if you align everything properly). Very cool actually and works a treat. So my next pillow will have an invisible zipper (here is hoping).
Again, after I had done all this I came across a free Craftsy class 'Mastering Zipper techniques'. Will have to watch this and hopefully pick up a few tips in areas where I struggle, i.e. sewing a straight line next to the zipper teeth.

Karin

Boxy Bag

I am on a month leave...yah! You would think that I walk into my sewing room, roaring to complete one of the many WIPs lying around. Have to say when I walked in there the other day, I felt completely overwhelmed...there is stuff everywhere. I think I have got about 3 - 4 WIPs in production at varying stages. So I started with cleaning out my fabric stash...yep, got right to the bottom of the bin, looking through the fabric, re-folding it and wondering more than once why I had purchased particular fabric.

Yes, and you guessed it...started (and completed!) another "on the to-do-list" project. Made one of those boxy bags that I had been collecting instructions for for some time. I went with a tutorial from kelbysews. This boxy bag has exposed seams on the inside and was a bit easier to construct for a newbie.
The instructions were easy to follow with lots of great pictures, so there I was with my Ipad next to me laying out the panels and fabric pieces exactly how she had done it to get a handle on how all of this fitted together. I am particularly spatially challenged and cannot think through how things fit together unless I hold things in my hand and can touch and look at it. At times this was a challenge.

Boxy bag...approx. 4 1/2" x 4" x 8"

As you can see the birds ended up on the side...well, they were supposed to be somewhere in the middle!
Again, struggled with the zipper and actually bought the wrong zipper I think. Mine was an open end zipper...not sure what you use them for, but obviously not for this, as it left a bit of a hole on one side even though I went to some pains to center it appropriately. I think I am doing something wrong with the zipper...one side is always sewn in beautifully, but the second side has a lot to be desired...spacing is again off, even though I thought I was sewing it down exactly the same way as the first side. However, managed to pull the zipper pull away from under where I was sewing to make things easier...so I reckon I am getting there.

Kelby did provide some additional information about interfacing which I skimmed over...I used fusible fleece, however did not do any additional quilting on the bag, which left the whole thing fairly spongy. When I tried to attach the zipper with the lining and the exterior panel with the fusible fleece, my lining started to slip away into the sunset...in the end I placed some lightweight fusible interfacing on the lining as well which did the trick at keeping it in place.

Lining with exposed seams

The exposed seams worked very well...I used one of my overlock stitches to tidy them up and I must say having them inside the bag is really hardly noticeable, except for the fact that I forgot to change the thread and had sewn my initial seam with dark blue thread (oops!).

Love those little tags on the side

Overall, most rewarding little project...took me just a couple of hours yesterday evening. I have another few tutorials saved with various Boxy Bags tutorials with the inside seams not exposed...not sure whether I will try this as this looks just as good with the exposed seams, I think. The only other thing that I would do different next time is that I would quilt the outside of the bag to make the exterior a bit firmer.

Linking up to the #CreativeGoodness Linky Party over at Darlene's Quiltshopgal to show off my little bag and check out what other quilters are up to.

Karin