Monday, October 6, 2014

Lined Zipper Bags

Lined Zipper Bags

I love having quick projects to do in between making large quilts. These little lined zipper bags are a great way to explore color combinations and have something useful afterwards too! Great for holiday gift planning!

Side 1
Side 2











I started with fabric strips 1 1/2" - 3" wide in colors I wanted to use. Start with any two pieces to stitch together for example a 2 x 2" square. Keep adding strips and trim until the bag is the size you want.

Place batting on the back and start machine quilting. On this bag I quilted in rows on the bottom portion and in cross-hatch on the top portion. This is showing I started with a strip of masking tape to get the angle right. I quilted both front and back at the same time.
 

Lay the outside of the zipper on the outside piece (right sides together) and the lining on top of that. Stitch with a zipper foot. You can stitch one layer at a time until comfortable doing all the layers at once.

 Press and top stitch through all layers. I like to use the zipper foot still for this step.

  Repeat on both sides. Now you are ready to sew the front and back together.


Mark a curve at the bottom corners with any round object such as a roll of tape.
 

Pin the front and back pieces together and the lining pieces together. Make sure the zipper edges are facing the outside of the bag an lined up.

 

Switch to regular sewing foot and sew all around the bag except leaving the bottom of the lining open! Inspect your stitching and then sew the bottom of the lining and stuff inside:
 

 Here are a couple other zipper bags I just finished.

 
  
 And patient little Olive is ready to play fetch now!