Thursday, June 13, 2013

Sew-A-Long... Finally Finished!


My byAnnie Sew-a-long bag is finally finished and I love it!  but...

The last step was the hardest! I would make this bag again now that I have the process under control.. but the first bag finish was totally a learning step! 

The bag is on my hip as we speak, because it is a great place for my cell phone, not to mention my credit cards and GUM! fit in it nicely too!
I have been carrying it with me all the time since we decided our house phone was redundant!

The Final Steps... TIPS!

PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE!!!

1. byAnnie suggests you pin the centre top and bottom of both the zipper strip and the center of the case front.    

 I notched the centre top AND sides on both pieces because I found it very difficult to pin through the many, layers of the front and the vinyl on the back; notching was still a little tough, but I no pins were injured in the process!  Although this is a very small purse. It was much easier to get the pieces to fit with 4 reference points, vs just the two that Annie suggested. 





2. Match the centers and pin all around.   

Well... That didn't work out so well for me!! Matching was good, but the pinning was way to difficult in the thick areas ( There was 12 layers of material including the interfacing for the front. Next time, I will not interface the outside pocket or the card pockets... it just made everything two thick!) I choose to use the binder clips at the notches, and matched as I sewed where I couldn't pin. It wasn't perfect, but it looked fine in the end.



3. Sew Together easing around the edges.   When I was following the directions for the front, I did exactly as commanded. But I honestly believe that every quilter should READ those directions and do what they are most comfortable with. I was very comfortable, BASTING first. so that's what I did. I actually hand basted but you could easily do it by machine. PINNING was impossible for me. Quilting pins are too bendy. So basting was a good solution. 

4. Enclose the raw edges with Bias binding!!!    OK... I hate binding my quilts so binding these little edges was tough work.  I choose to use a wider binding but afterwards decided I could have gotten away with something smaller (2" as per byAnnies' instructions!)


Ok, so my binding isn't pretty... Well, it's inside!
Just ask me if I care!


5. Turn right side out   (through zipper which I opened slightly  before sewing the front and back to the zipper strip) this was so exciting, because I really didn't know how it was going to look until that moment...  but I was excited to see that it was much better than I thought it would be!

6. Attach zipper pulls.  My zipper was just a regular YKK zipper that I had gotten out of my zipper box, so the little pull I made was way to big!  I had just ordered 25 Assorted 14" YKK Zippers from Zipit Zippers  (have you been to their site... you should go!, right now, I will wait!) last week and they had included a zipper pull  so I used it and it matched my little bag perfectly...


See how well the zipper pull matches. It was perfect for this bag.
Got it from Zipit Zippers!



7. Add Straps. Well off you go to visit byAnnie.... she has three great videos on attaching the straps. (Please note... these videos are not about this project, but the method is the same. )

Attach the hardware to the strap!

Attach the strap to the bag!

Adjust strap

And Voila... you have a finished bag!  




Have you been sewing along?... I hope so. If you have, please send me a picture so I can see your finished bag.  You can also add it to my Notion Nanny Flicker Group!

If not! Run over to byAnnies and get the pattern and the finishing kit and get started today. This was a fun little project and I love my bag!

Well That's All Folks.... 



3 comments:

Paula@TheSassyQuilter said...

Wow, that looks great. When I hear the word zipper...I run screaming! Maybe one day:)

Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation said...

what a cute bag! I agree with you! sometimes instructions are made to be "interpreted."

Thanks for linking to Needle and Thread Thursday!

:) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

AimeeDP said...

Gail, that thing is spectacular! The patience and skill look beyond me...but someday, and of course, now that you used THAT fabric, that's what I'll have to use for mine as well!