Bags with zipper

Lately everybody want to have bags closed by a zipper! (I should never have shown that I can do those too). So beside my new enthusiasm for cloth' sewing I had to make 4 customer bags.

One is a boring copy of this one, only with a zipper instead of press buttons.

The second I made in the same size with a fabric that has a very large pattern (everybody shopping at the swedish furniture house knows it) and I used different parts of it on each side.

It is closed by zipper and inside it has one pocket and a fixed key-ring.

 

The next two are a little trickier as they are smaller, but having short handles to carry in the hand as well as an additional long string to carry over the shoulder (customers wish!)

I have noticed that with the zipper the top of the bag is getting heavier and the bags starts to sag, even with fabrics that are normally stable enough for my simple bags. For those I piece the body, what means that the synthetic leather ends where the cotton fabric starts. As the mushroom fabric had been very thin I took the synthetic leather behind the cotton fabric up to the top. This gives so much stability that the little bag feels a bit like a suitcase. Sewing the finishing seam on the top brought my machine nearly to its limit.

For the next one I decided for a slightly lighter version and doubled the piece of cotton print with a thicker cotton fabric. This worked quite well, added the stability I wanted and had been easier to sew.

 

I think I will stay with method for future zip bags.

 

Conclusion: Even if with the 100th bag and not really motivated to sew them, you can find out new ways and this will improve your future work.

A bientôt,

Jane