This took me about an hour and a half. It shouldn't have. But I was distracted, the bag needed to be pieced together perfectly, and the zipper was metal and had to be hacked at with wire cutters and safety scissors. So yeah.
I didn't use a zipper foot because I'm lazy and I don't have one, but considering this is my first zipper project I think I did a pretty good job, eh? However, if you don't use a zipper foot, get a longer zipper because it helps sewing it on easier.
Anyways, this is what you need:
striped fabric, scissors, tape measure, sewing machine, thread, an iron (not necessary, but it REALLY helps. I almost never use an iron, but I did this time), 9" or longer zipper (I'd use plastic if you have it, and if you don't and are going to use a metal one, as I said before get it longer)
You have to cut out two 5" by 12" diagonally striped pieces. To do this, have your fabric in front of you with the stripes going up and down (vertically). Fold the two bottom corners up (use the stripes to make them match up). Now you can cut off the corners, and when you cut out a rectangle from them and line them up, they will make chevron stripes! You can look up a 'chevron fabric tutorial' on google if you're confused.
Now line up the stripes and sew down the center with 1/2" sa (seam allowance). Open it up, press the sa to one side, and press the rest flat. You should have a 9" x 12" rectangle.
Cut the rectangle in half so you have two 6" x 9" rectangles.
Take your zipper and put it face down on the top of your fabric. Sew it on, open, press, and topstitch. Repeat on the other side of the zipper with your other rectangle. To make sewing it down easier, pull the zipper pull all the way down, past the place you're sewing the zipper to, if that makes sense. You can pull the zipper back up later, and the pull doesn't get in the way of your sewing machine foot.
Now, with right sides together, sew around the 3 sides of the bag. To sew over the zipper, go slowly, and if you can't get past a certain spot, raise the foot and go over it. Make sure the zipper is unzipped at least half way so that you can turn it right side out.
Trim the zipper with wire cutters or heavy duty scissors.
Turn right side out, poking out the corners with a pencil, pen, chopstick, etc.
Voila! Done. If you want a lining, you can either make a separate bag and slipstitch it in, onto the zipper (that's what I did) or you can make the bag like this, with the lining pre-sewn to the zipper.
For more info on metal zippers and zipped bags, you can read this post here because as you can see this wasn't the clearest tutorial. :p
You can also change dimensions, too. Have fun with crazy fabrics and colorful zippers! It's a pretty fun and easy project. :)
Thanks for reading!
(o^__^)o
