Getting those zippers right!

I've been making pouches again...not a bad way to spend time on the weekend.  Nothing fancy, but it was good zipper practice.  I was determined to get the corners right on these, and I made a lot of progress on that front.

So one thing I've learned is to cut your fabric one inch bigger than the zipper length and sew with a 3/8 inch seam.  This seems unnatural for us quilters, but this gives you 1/8 inch of room between the seam and the zipper ends. If you do it this way you don't need zipper tabs, your corners come out nicely and you shouldn't hit the zipper stop.

Love this lining fabric!

So the second thing to watch on these types of pouches is to make sure that the seam allowances and the zipper are folded towards the outside pouch fabrics, away from the lining fabrics.  Once you fold so that the outsides are facing and the lining fabrics are facing, the seam allowance and the zipper sections should all be down facing the outside fabrics.  Stitch in place with a few short stitches, then sew around (remember to leave the zipper open and the bottom of the lining open for turning.)

I'd like to thank Svetlana over at S.O.T.A.K Handmade for sending me these amazing 2.5" squares from her screen printing work.  I worked them into a new laptop case.  You can find two great posts on her sidebar, 33 free zipper pouch tutorials (you can perfect your zippers!) and 33 free tote bag tutorials.  Thank you Svetlana!  You can find her patterns and screen printed fabric here.

Anyone else out there have a great zipper tip to share?

Interested in more zip pouches, check these posts here and here.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and Finish it up Friday.  

2016 Finish-A-Long Quarter 3

Quarter 2 of the Finish-A-Long was a success with five out of seven projects finished.  You can read about the five projects here.  Now onto Quarter 3,  here's my current list of hopefuls!

First up is an (mostly) Anna Maria Horner scrappy trip around the world quilt.  I've got all the strips cut and seven out of twenty-four blocks completed.  It takes a good bit of time to make one of these blocks, so I work on it here and there.

Next is a new quilt that uses a fun pattern from Quilt Basket, a local quilt shop in NY.  They have a great concept with fabric bundles called Cutie Collections along with a selection of patterns to use them.  I'm making the Follow My Lead pattern with some Alison Glass fabrics and solid background fabrics.  I don't use a lot of solids so I'm excited to see how this combination works out.

I'm using a bunch of Ana Davis's Pippa collection to make a quilt using a pattern called Big and Tall by Sunnyside Designs.

I've got some new stash treasures from Anna Maria Horner, her Mod Corsage collection.  I got it as a kit with a pattern called Grandma's Garden, so I'll be working on that.  I LOVE these fabrics!

Last on the list are a few zipper pouches using these fun Cotton and Steel fabrics.  I've made a few totes with these fabrics here and here, so matching pouches it is!

This list is pretty ambitious, but it's great to have something to work towards, we'll see how it goes.  I hope you are participating in the 2016 FAL, looking forward to seeing what everyone makes!

And more pouches!

I may have a pouch problem...can't escape them lately.  Here was last week's round.   And here's this week...

I'm thinking this could be the reason for my problem. They're just begging to be in a pouch, and so I oblige.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Have a great week, happy sewing!