Sewing: Tutorial Part 2: Fancy Zippered Pouch

This is Part 2. Part 1 is here, and (again) the original tutorial that I started with is here.

You're still game, huh? This half of the construction looks messy and disorganized, but it all works. In some ways, it's therapeutic to fold/crumple material out of the way and it's also strange and unnerving. Take the zipper foot off your machine, and get the normal one on. It's time to sew the lining together.

Step 6: Sew up the lining
This part looks weird. Basically, you're sewing two bags (one lining, one fabric) next to each other, and then folding the lining bag into the fabric bag.

Place your back lining (with the fancy pockets!) face-up, and place the zipper construction on top of it. Pin ONLY the lining parts together; keep the fabric and zipper tape out of the way.

I marked a section to leave open for turning.

Change back to the lining thread in your machine. Sew around the lining, leaving a 2-3" hole for turning. When you get to the zipper stops, sew as close to them as possible, but DO NOT sew over the zipper tape! Yes, there will be a bit of a gap where the lining's folded over: this is okay.

Keep the zipper and fabric outta the way!

You might want to reinforce the ends near your turning-hole. (Note: because of keeping stuff out of the way, I think it's easier to sew with the fabric on top, to keep an eye on it.) When you're done, it should look like this:

See how the lining bag is NOT attached to the fabric? Good!

Step 7: Pin the fabric bag together
Yeah, it's kinda its own step. Place your fabric "back" on the table, and lay the zipper construction on top, right sides together. MAKE SURE to open the zipper halfway first! Now, pin the fabric pieces together, keeping the lining out of the way. Pin the zipper onto the fabric too -- you will be tacking it down this time. If you're using piping, layer it in there now. Your 1/2" seam allowance should come super close to the ends of the zipper stops, so aim for those.

Tons of layers!

Make the corners of the piping as tight as you can (they'll be crunched together now, but will be punched out when you turn the bag).  Overlap the ends of the piping and let them kinda droop out of the bag (trim them later).

So, so many pins...

Step 8: Sew the fabric!
Change your sewing machine thread back to fabric color. If you're using piping, I thought it was helpful to use my zipper foot to get really close to the tubes. Sew the fabric parts together! DO sew over the zipper tape, as close to (but not over) the zipper stops as possible. I reinforced the fabric by the zipper by going back and forth a couple of times. Do NOT leave a hole for turning (you opened the zipper like I told you, right?)

Ta-da! Sewn shiny shedding fabric bag on top of lining bag!

You might want to zigzag the fabric if it sheds like mine. Hmm..

Step 9: Turn the bags!
Okay, my turning picture didn't work either (a blurry mass of a wacky step just isn't helpful). Through the turning hole in the lining, grab the zipper and/or fabric and just start pulling stuff through. It will look messy. It will feel wrong. Once the zipper's through, it gets better very quickly, so just keep pulling. You'll see the right parts of the piping and know it's good. Pop out the corners, stuff the lining into all of the corners of the bag, and you'll get something like this:

Oh yes... SO GOOD!

Step 10: Sew up the turning hole
The turning hole has served its purpose, and I'm a good enough friend with Murphy (and his Laws) that I'd lose an earring between the bag and lining if I didn't do this next step. Slide the lining back out and slip-stitch the lining hole closed.

You'll just feel better once it's done.

Step 11: Add the button hole
Make sure the lining in the pointy part is well-aligned. Position the buttonhole where it looks good. My machine decided to eat the buttonhole when I asked it to go over the stitches again to make it look cooler. Awesome.

Fold the flap over and attach the button where it needs to go.

Ta-da!

Step 12: Admire your work!

Plenty of room, and no tangles!

Sewing: Tutorial Part 1: Fancy Zippered Bag

As bragged about mentioned in the previous post, this tutorial will make this zippered pouch, except for the shape, materials, and some extra pockets. But it's totally the same thing. But not. Because it's picture-heavy, I'll split this tutorial into two parts.

Materials:

• Fabric (I used a teal polyester silk-looking stuff)
• Lining (simple white muslin for me)
• Thread to match BOTH materials
• 7" zipper
• Button
• Piping, about 34" (because it looks neat and I like green)

Here's what you need!

Step 1: Sketch
I started with a drawing to clear my head of the original and what I wanted:

Basically the same, but not

Instead of square, I want a pointed top that folds over the front and buttons closed. And inside, I want the one main pocket plus two smaller ones, made from a folded section of lining. The outer dimensions, once the top's folded over, will be the same. Because of the 7" zipper, the approximate final dimensions are 7" wide by 6" tall.

Step 2: Cut fabric
The easiest way for me to cut the triangular parts of the fabric was to cut rectangular bits, then shape the pertinent ones into points. All pieces are 8.5" wide. For the "top," cut 5.5" tall pieces of lining and fabric. For the "bottom," cut 6" tall pieces of lining and fabric. For the "back," cut 10" tall piece of fabric only; the lining piece must be 22" (NOT a typo -- check out that first picture in this post).

Take all of the fabric and lining pieces that are not 6" tall. They need the points shaped. Measure 2" down each side and cut to the middle like so:

This is the "top" lining. There are three more pieces to trim this way

Step 3: Sew the extra pockets
Geez, it's hard to photograph white-on-white. Basically, take the super long lining piece, and fold a 6" accordion at the bottom (the piece should now be the same size as the "fabric back" piece). This way, there's some added stability to the pocket and you don't have to hide any additional fabric ends.

Fold the back lining accordion-style like this

With lining-colored thread, sew straight up the middle of the new fold (in this picture, it would be from the right-hand side to toward the left) to anchor and divide the pocket into two. Actually, I sewed from the straight edge to the top of the fold and back down for more reinforcement (and hiding thread ends). I suppose you don't have to sew at all and can make a giant second pocket, or could offset it to make a small and large one. You could even go crazy and use even longer lengths of lining for multiple pockets. The sewn-pocket picture didn't turn out at all. Put this lovely thing aside for now.

Step 4: Sew bottom to zipper
Take your still-rectangular "bottom" pieces and zipper. On your table, make a sandwich as follows: fabric face up, zipper face down, and lining face down.

See the right order?

Pin together, matching the top edges. Use the fabric-colored thread (and a zipper-foot on your machine, if you have one), and sew, but ONLY between the zipper stops. Don't go past the stops! Yes, there's weird unsecured stuff at each end. Trust me, it works.

Turn the material pieces out (wrong sides should now be together), press, and top-stitch along the zipper (again, only between the stops).

Nice topstitching!

Step 5: Sew top to zipper
Layer your "top" sandwich as follows: lining face-up, zipper face-up (use the unsewn edge), fabric face-down.

Different order! Watch out!

Stitch along the zipper, but only between the zipper stops. Flip the fabric pieces out, press, and top-stitch along the zipper.

Hooray! Finished pouch front!

More to come in Part 2...

Sewing: Fancy Zippered Bag

I have a dainty red pouch, about3" by 3.5", that I use when I travel for my jewelry. Since it's small, it fits nicely in my purse, so that when the airline loses my luggage, I won't freak out about a few things. Also, it zips closed and keeps my things inside instead of scattering earrings everywhere. Very handy.

Hooray for red and yellow!

The problem lies in today's fashion for larger, chunky necklaces and stuff. They don't fit in the pouch very well, and get very tangled in themselves, and my earrings may as well be part of the necklaces they've impaled during the flight.

I need a larger pouch!

There are a ton of sewing tutorials on making bags, with or without linings, zippers on the top or top or face, drawstrings, even tetrahedrals. However, this tutorial has a lovely way of making a zippered pouch with a detached inner lining. I just like the idea that no pesky seams will show inside or out, plus my stuff won't get tangled or lost in the fraying bits. But merely following those instructions would just be too easy.

The general construction of my new pouch is basically the same as that tutorial. However, I changed the shape of the bag to look like my old one, added some piping and a button closure, and two extra pockets on the inside. That's right, I have a three-pocket bag to keep my earrings from the necklaces! AND, it's shiny!

Red and yellow, meet teal and green!

Tutorial in a separate post...

Sewing: red fleece, part 2

Here's what happens when I get an idea in my head:

I'd seen a picture of a lobster-ifide infant in a kettle, and thought it was hilarious. Go on, judge me. There's a surprising number of lobster costumes online (go on, search for it.. you'll be surprised!), and decided that I couldn't justify the price, and I wanted a project anyway. I realized that the costume was basically a bag with sleeves and a hood. McCall's 5963 served as a great basic pattern. I changed the shape of the bunting to add the lobster tail, and made tubes of fabric for the little legs and antennae, and attached claws on the folded hand-parts, and attached the chest piece with velcro. A little topstitching for ridges on the exoskeleton.

Hmm, that sounds like a lot. Actually, it wasn't as hard as I thought. Fleece is pretty forgiving, doesn't need edge-finishing, and the whole costume was not form-fitting, so measurements didn't have to be that particular.

The biggest problem is that the lovely lined (i.e. double-layered) fleece is really, really warm. If we lived in the upper-Midwest where I grew up, I'd be okay taking him around the neighborhood in the big soup kettle. But we don't. So I have to unzip my little crustacean for the evening. He's okay with that.

Sewing: red fleece

Hmmm... what's this?

Has she lost her mind? Piles of red fleece and orange thread?? By the way, did you know that fleece sheds like crazy? Yes, I should have guessed that my fleece jacket, which shed like crazy for a while would not shed as much as actually cutting pieces of fleece. Well, more incentive to vacuum later.

It's not for me. Okay, it's sorta for me, in that I think I will get a kick out of the results. I know this goes against the advice from the Selfish Seamstress, but I'm still a novice in both the sewing and selfish sewing.

Sewing (sorta): domesticity

Yes, it's been far too long for the two people who actually read this. I know you've been dying for updates. Ha ha.

Since January (the last entry here), there's been a lot going on in TheRealLife. Here's part of what I managed to sew since then:

Now, you might say, "Gee, those look like lovely curtains from Pier 1. Did you get a new job??" And I'll say, "Noooooo, look closely!" And you'll squint and say, "But I don't see a difference!" I'll pay you the money later.

And the reality is, they werer purchased from said retailer... but I hemmed them! I also lined them with blackout fabric for this east-facing window. This had the unintended effect of giving the curtains a nice heft that the original polyester didn't possess.

I also blacked-out a few other windows and sewed some squares to cover other windows, but they're not as exciting-looking. There's one set of windows that's being covered by fabric and bulldog binder clips. Hey, don't knock the working jerry-rigged solution!

Sewing: B&W&P dress finished!

Here it is!

Okay, it's actually been done for a couple of months. And then it got cold, and I'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to voluntarily being chilled merely for pictures. So, you'll have to be satisfied with a non-human-modeling of the dress.

It turned out pretty cute. Perhaps it's a little high-school-dance-ish, but maybe I can get away with that look for a few more years (or not, and I'll look like the crazy middle-aged lady who thinks she's way younger than she looks). Other than the now-realized-somewhat-obnoxious-print, it's a good experience in doing weird little seams, as well as the seam bindings. I probably should have done a more invisible hem, but I wanted it done and didn't see an easy way to hem it securely.

Maybe at some point, I'll get brave enough to try a grown-up pattern, like Simplicity or Vogue...

Sewing: B&W&P dress inching along

It's so nice to come home from a long day at work, followed by the gym and tasty dinner, and totally crash for the evening. Which is why I've only done a little more on the dress:

Hey, check that out... forgot the purple sash. Go, me.

Obviously, I haven't shortened the hem of the lining yet. I figured it'd be easier to do once the outer skirt was done. It also looks a little shorter on the sides than the front. I think this is just a picture-image problem rather than a real-life problem. I think.

I ended up using that hem tape stuff after all. If you look reeeeeally closely, you can still see the dark/light layers through the seam, the hem tape, and the folded over (i.e. backside of the!) fabric. Doubling over the tape makes for a pretty hefty seam, but also gives the skirt some body and not-as-clingy look. We'll see if it stays that way once the lining's shortened.

New problem: If you know me, you know that I have very pasty-pale skin; the pictures make me look like I have a decent tan. I just realized that I already know that I look pretty bad in off-white. Huh. Why the heck did I choose a color that looks terrible on me?

Well, one more (major) seam to go...

Sewing: B&W&P dress problems

Pesky dress.

The biggest hurdle in finishing the dress is that work has ramped up. And I just want to sleep when I get home.

Okay, another part of why I haven't had any progress on hemming the pesky B&W&P dress is the problem of see-through-ness. I've pinned up the dress (taking out about 7.5 inches, and it looks pretty good. Except when I tried to mock-up the normal rolled hem. The pattern was very evident. Too see-through. The twill tape I've been using on the seams is only half an inch wide, which would be difficult to manipulate into a hem. So, I got some 2" wide hem tape, which I assumed would be suitable for hemming. But I can still see the fabric pattern through it. Thinking about using a strip of the lining or something, but that would require more hemming of the strip. Or something.

Still working on it, but mostly in my head.

Any suggestions out there?

Sewing: More Progress on B&W&P Dress

My goal was to sew a dress before summer finished. If I hadn't sewn the zipper in backwards last night, I'd have had something to show yesterday.

B&W&P Dress, mostly finished!

All of the internal seams are bound (yay me!)

Seams so neat!

The hem isn't done, and won't be done before summer's over, since my summer finishes, uh, yesterday. And I need a hook-and-eye thingy. Maybe I'll actually finish it next week. Next week-ish. -Ish. Here's my questions:

1. I think it's a bit long (or I'm a bit short... yeah, probably more likely), and I intend on shortening the hem (or growing me, yeah right) a little. How much should I take it up? AND...
2. I have seam tape for the inside, which will hopefully be inconspicuous. OR I could bind the bottom of the dress with purple satin, like the straps and belt. Which will look better?

Sewing(?): Handsome and Valuable

Here's a thing that was in my box of pins:

It's not actually bent, it's kinda 3-D, about an inch long. I've no idea what it is, nor how it got into the pins. There is a stamp on each side, one says "handsome" and the other says "valuable." What the heck is this?

Sewing, Tutorial: onestringbags

On my introductory blog entries, I mentioned onestringbags, which I found via instructables. These are the best things for avoiding the plastic produce bags at the grocery store and farmer's markets, and super easy to make. I love them. However, here are a few things I've learned by using these things:

Pros: No more plastic bags! Run under faucet to clean Lightweight (doesn't add much to fruit-per-pound totals) Inexpensive People ask where you got them and you get to brag

Cons: Does not work well for berries or very soft fruits Still have to remember them, along with the canvas bags

Eh. Not much you can do about that last one. Anyway.

I realize now that I do them a little differently from the instructable, so here's a tutorial on making my version of onestringbags. The biggest difference is that I fold all of the edges over, just so that there's more layers of tulle and the seams have more to hold onto. I apologize in advance for the poor pictures, but it's hard to photograph pesky delicate light green tulle.

Materials:

• length of tulle (get the stuff that's in the sale bin, probably in some wacky color, but your vegetables won't mind)
• length of string or cording
• thread (time to use the weird scraps!)
• sewing machine

Step 1: Cut the tulle into the size you want. (To keep it slightly more simple, I have a fold on one side edge. This piece is about 20"x36", so the final bag will be about 19"x18"-ish.) Lay the tulle flat. Find the top edge (where the drawstring will be... see mine?), and fold the sides in, about 1/2". Pin a little.

Step 2: Fold the top edge down, over the drawstring. I think the drawstring works better if you give it some space, so I make this fold about 1" to 1.5". Pin the drawstring to the fold, just so it's outta the way when you start sewing.

Step 3: Sew the drawstring in, giving it some space (I give it about an inch). Make sure to tie knots in the ends of the threads. Good knots.

Step 4: Put the side edges together. Pin the sides together, keeping that 1/2" fold on each outside face (it's sooo much easier to sew through four layers of tulle than just two). The edges might be a little messy and it may not lie quite flat, but it won't matter when you stuff the bag full of apples.

Step 5: See the layers? Good.

Step 6: Fold up the bottom. No need to keep the sides separate anymore, and it doesn't hurt to have something more than just twisted threads holding your plums inside. Pin it all!

Step 7: Sew the edges. Tie knots in the threads!

Step 8: Overhand knot to tie the drawstring. Now, go to the farmer's market and get stuff (ooh, I think peaches are in season...)

Sewing: Progress B&W&P dress

A large part of why this blog is called "Jerryrigging" is that I often just figure out ways of making things work the way I want them to. My grandfather said that jigsaw puzzles are pretty easy if using a hammer. My ways might be the "proper" ways of doing things, or I've found a cool way of doing things and am pretty proud of myself until I discover that I've inadvertently re-invented some really old technique.

For example, when I was little, I got a bag of super swirly, shiny marbles, with a shooter and everything. I pulled out maroon craft felt and, with looping stitches, crafted my own drawstring bag. Then, in order to protect my marbles from my brother's (obviously inferior) marbles, I took some more grey drawstring-string and sewed it onto the bag... my name in cursive! My mom was pretty impressed. To me it just made sense: after all, I wanted my name on the bag, and printing wouldn't work because it would be too many little pieces of string. Then Mom told me that couching was pretty advanced, so I should show it to my needlepoint-master grandma.

Now, take this dress I'm currently working on (hereon dubbed the Black and White and Purple Dress, because I'm feeling uncreative, and it's sorta like the punchline to a bad 3rd grade joke). It's the first time I've worked with slippery fabric of any kind, fairly translucent fabric, and slightly stretchy fabric. And I don't like the ribbon straps that they suggest, so I'm using strips of satin. And the translucent fabric means the whole thing has to be lined as well as the seams bound so that they don't show through. AND I wanted the fabric pattern to go against the grain because I like it more vertical-ish than horizontal-ish. So. What kinds of precautions have I taken? Basically none. Probably a dumb thing (or several dumb things) to do, but it'll be a learning experience. And learning experiences are always good, right?

The one smart thing I did do was ask a coworker how to manage the seams so that they wouldn't show through the fabric and lining. I have packages and packages of twill tape that have (so far!) worked wonders on the arm hole seams. This middle bodice seam, however, is a little trying:

Oooh, that's fairly unattractive!

In the center there, where the two sides overlap, there's six to ten layers of fabric at a time, mostly because of the satin ribbon bits. However, it is holding, and is certainly better than trying to merely zigzag that mess!

The parts I'm currently more proud of include the straps. The pattern (New Look #6557, view A) requests lengths of ribbon for the halter top ties. I'm not much of a ribbon girl, so I just cut lengths of purple satin and sewed them up. Not the most even of stitching jobs, but I think it's within my tolerance levels (ask me again later, and it might be the bane of my existence). Anyway, here's the front of the bodice, basically done:

Strings without strings!

So now it's on to the back pieces, then the skirt. I'm not the fastest sewer in the world (and it's mostly as a treat for cleaning part of the house), so this may take a little while. Unless I procrastinate from cleaning the house...

Sewing: The rehearsal dress

Last summer, I got married. For the rehearsal dinner, I tried to find a nice red sundress, or a dress with red in it, partly because I like red and look good in red, but mostly because my fiance was Chinese, and it would be good to have a good-luck-red dress. There were no red dresses to be found, because last summer was the Year of Salmon Pinkness. I have a strong dislike (hate is such a powerful word) for pink, so this would not do. The obvious solution: despite not having a successful dress in the past, make my own dress! Of course!

The first challenge, find a fabric. Like I said, last year was the Year of Salmon, and there were no red fabrics to be found (other than silk, obnoxiously bright brocades, or sparkly prom-dress sateens). I found this nice red-and-white-flower-on-black print. Okay, yes, it's cotton quilting stuff, and I know you're not supposed to use it for clothing, but it was the first sorta-red thing I found and didn't hate.

This could work. I hoped it was red enough. There was certainly more red in it than any other pattern I'd seen. Maybe I could add a trim? No, it'd never match. I'll just do that fabric, and hope it's red enough. And not too black.

After taking far too long to make the fool thing (New Look #6885, view A), it turned out pretty cute!

Hooray!

Just before the rehearsal dinner, this was approximately my stream of thought: Is it red enough?! too black? my future mother-in-law will think I'm bringing death to the family with the white flowers and/or the black! My own mom will think I'm depressing! Am I channelling my inner-high-school-girl? It's too short! It's too tight, but not fitted enough! The stitches are far too wimpy and will break while I'm sucking in my tummy riiiiiip! and I'll be embarrassed and have to cancel the wedding and never see my lovely fiance again and and and...

So I wore a store-bought dress.

I did wear this little thing a few weeks later, and was actually complimented on it. Score!

Things that get me going

Cleverness and tradition. For the most part, these terms are probably considered unrelated and/or exclusive.

A friend posted an article containing furoshiki links to her Facebook page (which I will re-post here).

So, waaay back when, just what did they use instead of kerbillions of plastic bags? Why, cloth! Such a novel concept! And sooo eco-friendly! And when you've unwrapped your present, you can stuff your new handkerchief in your pocket and use it to wipe your nose.

I'm not sure why this simple square of fabric has its own name (furoshiki), but it probably means it won't be your next snot-wiping hankie. They also seem to be pretty large, thereby making a useful bag once tied. There's a tutorial for sewing the edges of furoshiki (I might keep this in mind for sewing a set of napkins). The Japanese environmental ministry has a pdf of how to fold furoshiki for various-shaped contents. And there's YouTube videos demonstrating tying the bags (this one shows three ways).

Am I the only one who thinks that a length of black satin could turn into an evening bag?

Sewing: the early works

I'm not a total noob: as much as I wanted to, I wasn't about to start the whole sewing thing with a massive Victorian costume gown. Pillows. Yes, pillows were more my speed. But, not just two pieces of cloth and a zipper (that'd be boring and too easy!) Olive-green brocade pieces arranged in a houndstooth pattern:

Um. Yes.

Did I know what I was doing? No. I'd vaguely remembered something about fraying and zig zags and edges, so I did that. I think. They'll probably fall apart in a couple of years.

Skirts are a good place to start for clothing:



Yup. They work. The red one is just... well, nifty cotton print. The tan one is actually very fine corduroy and I added ivy leaves. Not having a serger, I made the skinniest zigzag on my machine and took a very long time. And I figured out that the advisory of "sits two inches below natural waist" is a total lie, more like 4 or 5 and in danger of sliding off altogether. So the corduroy actually was taken in about two inches before its debut. The striped one was made in a smaller size.

And then because skirts were going pretty well... a dress! Okay, so this cool green fabric with lots of circles... yeah, I totally didn't think of what it would look like from a distance.



When I saw a picture of me at my friend's wedding (which is why I'd made the stupid dress in the first place), all I could think was "bullseyes! lots and lots of bullseyes!" Awesome. Now, this is not good. I know. It's just not very attractive. It serves as a reference, reminder, and warning to myself. But hey, I managed to line the bodice and get it all attached. Progress!

Probably my most successful venture came by accident. If you don't know (and are therefore not yet addicted by) instructables.com, you will be! Oh yes. It's pretty much crack for my ferret-brain. Aaaanywho, I found the instructable for onestringbags, and have made lots. If you're already bringing canvas bags for groceries, stuff a coupla these guys in for your produce. Get cheapo-discount tulle (there's always some awful color in the discount bin) and a string, and use up those last bits of weird-colored thread.

Rainier cherries, how I love thee

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll hold off on the successful dress (yes, there's 1!) until next time...