Whew! Now that we are all done with cutting an prepping we can get to the fun part, but first some exciting news: Janelle is the best and has generously offered (4) 10 dollar gift cards for the Emmaline Shop!! You can stock up on some hardware, bling, grab some patterns or snatch up some of those fun new bag lady coasters. To enter, tag your progress photos or completed bag with the hashtag #butterflyslingsewalong on Facebook or Instagram. Winners will be randomly drawn on November 4th, so you've got plenty of time to sew one up with us!
Today we are going to be starting our exterior and working on the ID pocket, slip pocket and the zip pocket. Grab your pattern, the pieces and lets get sewing!
First we are going to start with something nice and easy: the slip pocket. Grab your 7" x 8" slip pocket piece and fold it right sides together, with the 7" sides touching. Pin or clip in place and sew around the 3 raw edges, leaving a small 3" opening for turning the pocket, don't forget to back tack when starting because you don't want your stitches popping when we turn. Clip off those corners as close as you can to the stitching without cutting into them. Press your seam open on the top of the pocket to make it easier to get a crisp finish. Once you get your pocket turned right side out, grab your favorite pointy notion and poke out those corners. I love to use a knitting needle for this part, but use whatever suits your fancy. The bottom left corner of the pocket is courtesy of my handy knitting needle.
Once you have your corners turned out, press the mess out of that pocket! This is what it will look like after you are done pressing:
Now, we are going to do a line of top sticthing across the top of the pocket (the side with the opening) using a small seam allowance. Once that is done, we are going to attach our pocket to our main panel.
Make sure when attaching your pocket that you tack down at the start and stop of your stitching, it's so upsetting when your pocket starts to pull away from your bag because you didn't back stitch enough when you attached them! I like to go over them a couple times at the beginning and end to make sure it's nice and secure. Set that panel aside for now.
Now that part is done, we are on to making and attaching our ID window. For this piece, I was feeling a bit fancy and decided to make mine out of a piece of glitter vinyl. If you are interested in this hack, you will need to cut a piece of vinyl (or leather if you fancy) 4" x 2.75" (instead of the dimensions listed in the pattern). Once you have your rectangle, flip it to the wrong side and draw a line that is 3/8" in from each of the sides. Then cut out the rectangle you just created on the back side of the vinyl. Your will end up with a piece that looks like this:
Now, grab your clear vinyl and wax/ tissue paper (I found that the super annoying paper that comes with your interfacing works well for our purpose) and place your clear vinyl on top of that, then your ID rectangle on top of the clear vinyl. Now take your vinyl sandwich and stitch along the inside of your rectangle securing the clear vinyl to your rectangle. Make sure that the paper is on the bottom so it feeds easily through your machine. I use a walking foot, so I don't have any issues with the vinyl on top, but if you do, you can always add some paper here too to help with sticking.
Tear away your paper and clip your threads. Grab your panel with your slip pocket attached and referring to the pattern directions, put your ID window on this panel. We don't want to use pins for vinyl, so if you are using a vinyl frame like this, grab your double sided tape and use that to hold your window in place for stitching.
Stitch around the outside of the frame, making sure you leave the TOP of your window open. Per the insructions, check your ID for fit to make sure you don't need to adjust your seam allowance. Don't forget to backstitch!!
Ready for the next part??
Take a deep breath, it's not as hard as it seems! I've linked up to some tutorials, tips and videos below because they can help explain this part so much better than I can.
Grab your zipper pocket piece and the main panel you were just working with and refer to the pattern for your placement and marking. Stitch around the box you have drawn and then we are going to cut through the line you made in the center of your box, and then following along the triangle you created, clip as deep into those corners as you can without actually clipping into your stitches. I like to use my embroidery scissors for this, they are small and sharp so I can clip very closely with more precision. The closer you can get the better your box will look. Also, don't be afraid to press the snot out of it!! Press, then press some more!!
Once you have your box neatly pressed, add your double stick tape to your zipper tape, close to the edge and place in neatly inside your box. Once you have it where you like it, pop on your zipper foot and sew as close to the edge as you can around the box. My zippers are still a work in progress, I want to be able to sew zippers like Janelle when I grow up.
If you are having trouble, here's a couple of great tutorials:
Here's a great video tutorial:
My Bree of My Crafty Crap did a great round up of zipper tips and introduced me to the Clover Fabric Folding pen and how awesome it is for zip pockets. Check out her tips:
Woohoo! You did it. The scary part is over!
That's all for today! Tomorrow will be a breeze now that we have that zip pocket out of the way. Don't forget to post your progress using the hashtag #butterflyslingsewalong to get entered in the giveaway.
No comments:
Post a Comment