Lazy Girl Designs City Bag #112 shown in Kiwi from Timeless Treasures.

City Bag #112
Next, our City Bag pattern. I saw this beautiful ‘Kiwi’ fabric collection by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures and had to have some. You know that feeling. Well, I simply went wild over the color and print and it screamed City Bag to me. Actually, it screamed several projects, but I started with City.

Here’s the cover for City and we’ve already started shipping. Give it a little time to make it to your favorite quilt shop.

Let’s Meet City
The City Bag is my briefcase or work bag.  She’s a zip-top girl, loaded with inside and outside pockets. I love the big functional all-purpose pocket on the back. It fits file folders or magazines and is just handy for stow and go. Oh, and it has my favorite comfy shoulder strap. Love that strap.

Finished Size: City measures 13″ across the bottom, 11″ high, and 4″ deep.

City is loaded with inside pockets to keep all your goodies safe and sound. Shown here with black pockets and a fabulous limey green covered Bag-E-Bottom size C (LGD502). ‘C’ for ‘City’. The zipper construction and bag design allow City to open nice and wide – love it.

The City Bag does not include directions to make a case for a laptop. This pattern came out before laptops became popular – can you remember back that far? So, I slip my laptop into a quilted sleeve (like a big quilted placemat folded in half then stitch the sides), and put that in the City Bag.

Zipper Time!
City uses our original ’No-Fear’ zipper technique that works with any standard zipper. We use this same technique on our Towne Purse, Chelsea Tote, My Favorite Duffle Bag, and Take Along Bags patterns. The technique adds fabric to the zipper, then sews the whole thing to the bag. I used the same fun and funky fabric from the back pocket to frame the zipper. See how the zipper goes together in our Chelsea Tote video demo here.

Here’s a close-up of the ends of the zipper, adorned with a few strands of ribbon for the pull and some handy, sharp-looking buttons. These black buttons serve two purposes, decoration and function. I grab the buttons between my thumb and finger to hold the bag as I zip and unzip. Zippers are great, but ya gotta hold the bag with one hand and zip with the other. Ugh, so much work! These buttons keep everything looking nice and clean and keep the area from getting soiled.

Button Love
You know I love a great button! I found this simple and cool black and white beauty for the flap of the front pocket. I used green floss wound through the holes to add some color. Then I stitched it in place with black thread.

City is very similar in construction to our all-time best seller the Towne Purse. The bag is constructed of a finished front half and finished back half, rather than an inside and an outside like Miranda or Claire. The seams get quite bulky during final construction, so use a size 90/14 needle and your walking foot.

Next Week
More details about Miss Maggie Maggie Moo, ahem, I mean Maggie Bags. (I’ve already given her a nickname – must be love.)

Enjoy!
Joan

Today – let’s talk zippers! Take a breath, you’ll be okay. It’s just a harmless, little contraption in the most prominent part of our project. No pressure! Take another breath…

Runaround Bag #LGD111. Click image to enlarge.

The Runaround Bag is a small purse with a simple design made from two fat quarters of fabric, a bit of batting, a zipper and some thread. We can do this, right?

With just two fabrics needed to carry this little cutie, we must choose wisely. Here, I’ve laid out three fabrics and some zippers. I love the feature fabric with the black background. Next, to set the mood of the feature, I need to choose a fabric partner. Both the red/orange and the tan paisley are strong enough to balance the feature. Since I liked them both, it was time to introduce our wild card – the zipper.

Left to Right: black, natural, ecru, dogwood, another brand in dogwood.

Think of the zipper as a third fabric. In quilt terms, it might be the sashing or inner border on a quilt top. Its color is a design element and adds to the overall project.

I grabbed a bunch of zippers from my stash and here is how I audition them in the photo above. Each one coordinates with these fabrics.

Next, I take the best contenders and arrange a mock-up of the finished placement and proportions to see who plays well together. Below, we are auditioning the ecru and black colored zippers. They both work and look nice.

Next, let’s check things with the orange/red fabric and the black and ecru zippers below. I don’t like the ecru here at all. The orange/red fabric is strong and needs the black zipper to anchor the project. But, I wanted to play up the warmth of the browns and earth tones in the feature, so this was too dramatic for my tastes. Thinking ahead, this might call for black thread and really strong embellishments. I could envision the bag becoming too rich and busy for its size and personality and for my vision.

In the end, as you can see from the first picture in this post, I chose the tan paisley with the ecru colored zipper to tie this bag together.

Read more about Yolanda and follow her creations at her blog Urban Amish here.

Next time, let’s explore thread as a design decision in this project.

Enjoy!
Joan

Chelsea Tote LGD116

Why Must We Suffer For Our Zippers
So I’ve never enjoyed installing zippers. It’s more like I’ve survived the process each time. Finally it occurred to me that I didn’t have to follow the hateful instructions that come with zippers. And I developed a new method of my own.

No-Fear Dreams
I have several methods to easily and successfully install a zipper. One of my favorites is my no-fear zipper technique. This was one of those 2 a.m. ideas that got me out of bed one night.

I was working on a project that needed an easy solution for installing a zipper. The problem literally kept me up at night. And when I finally went to bed, the problem worked itself out in my sleep. If I had known that’s how to solve problems, I would have gone to bed early and often!

Since that time, I have used this method for installing a zipper in a number of my designs – and I enjoy it. The no-fear method is a fabulous technique that you can use on so many projects, not just my designs.

 
Two more views of Chelsea and the no-fear zipper.

Free Online Video Demonstration
I’m happy to announce that you can see our no-fear zipper technique demonstrated online for free. Our Chelsea Tote episode of Kaye’s Quilting Friends has been renewed for another year of airing at www.KayeWoodTV.com.

In this episode, I walk through the construction of our Chelsea Tote, which features the no-fear zipper technique. In this design, the shoulder strap contains a zipper. Keep zipped for one shoulder strap, unzip and you have two shoulder straps.

How-To
Simply put, the no-fear technique is a fabric casing added to the side edges of the zipper, sort of like a quilt binding. Any of our designs which use this technique include the detailed instructions in that pattern. These designs include:
Take Along Bags LGD106
Towne Purse LGD107
City Bag LGD112
Chelsea Tote LGD116
My Favorite Duffle Bag LGD201

Which Zipper To Use
I usually work with Coats and Clark poly all-purpose closed-bottom zippers. They are affordable and come in a wide variety of colors.

If you’ve let zippers keep you from trying certain projects, go watch the video and then consider getting your gumption up and giving this a try.

Enjoy!
Joan

Tags: quilted tote, how to install zipper, quilt pattern

I have devised four different ways to install a zipper that won’t make you cry. I promise. These techniques are used throughout our designs. Which brings us to today’s ’Show Us Your Lazy’ project feature. Lazy Girl Michelle Meehan tells us how she feels about our ‘Sew Easy’ zipper technique used to make her Runaround Bag (shown below with a Wonder Wallet).

Here’s Michelle:
I just finished my first Runaround Bag, and I LOVE it. This is exactly what I need right now – a bag that’s big enough for a wallet, a set of keys, and some lip balm, and that’s about it.

I just have to say that after making a second Runaround Bag for my daughter, I am floored by how easy it is to install a zipper. My two Runaround Bags are, literally, the only zippers I’ve ever sewn (or even attempted), and it’s no different than any other seam.

I thought zippers would be all complicated and frustrating. They’re not an issue at all here. It was just as easy as the paperback book cover.

Here are two pictures of my little girl Kate and her new big girl bag. She’s so proud of it (like I am!).

We’re going out this afternoon because when I asked her what she was going to put in her new pocketbook, she said, “Makeup.” But she doesn’t have any makeup (I don’t even know how she knows what it is), so we’ll go to Target to get her a little bubblegum lip gloss.

Anyway, I’m glad this was my first experience with a zipper, since I have no fear of them now! Another huge thumbs up for Lazy Girl Designs patterns.
- Lazy Girl Michelle and Lazy Girl in training Kate

Thanks Michelle! Part of the secret to the ‘Sew Easy’ installation is that we only use the ‘good part’ of the zipper. We avoid the knot, or stopper, at the top and bottom of the zipper and concentrate on the grade-A prime real estate in between. Sneaky!  That also means that we sew over the teeth at the side seams. This technique is ideal for polyester zippers. Don’t try this with zippers that have metal teeth unless you are looking for a reason to break a few needles.

I want to share with you a post over at Kathleen Fasanella’s www.Fashion-Incubator.com. Earlier this week Kathleen posted a nice picture tutorial for shortening a separating zipper.  Her technique is the same method I have been told to use for shortening any metal zipper, but I haven’t had to do that yet.

When I shorten a poly zip, I keep the top portion in tact and stitch across the zip toward the bottom for the length needed.  Kathleen’s technique removed teeth at the top, keeping the bottom in tact.

Also, take a look at these other two zipper tutorial links at Kathleen’s blog:
Centered Zipper Template
Centered Zipper Tutorial

Kathleen, thanks for the great tutorials.

Joan

Image courtesy of Kathleen at www.Fashion-Incubator.com.

Dress-Up With Details
Here, we’ve dressed-up this small bag with three simple details. We made a funky shoulder strap, fussy cut our fabric to showcase the large floral and added a touch of ribbon to the zipper pull.

This simple shoulder strap technique might be just the answer for your next small bag project. I could have used some coordinating fabric to make the shoulder strap, but I wanted a little flair to go with the fun floral prints.

Use What You Have On Hand
So I reached for my stash of ribbon spools and pulled a few colors that matched the fabrics. Then I grabbed my size ‘I’ crochet hook and crocheted a length of simple chain stitches.

Click on the image of the bag to see the detail of the shoulder strap.

I chose three different widths of ribbon ranging from 1/8″ to 1/4″ wide. There’s no magic to my formula here. These were the sizes of the ribbons I had on hand. One of the ribbons has these cute little thread loops on the edges and that added a nice texture to the project.

Hold the three ribbons together and crochet as you normally would with one strand. Consider adding yarn or other fibers.

Chain stitch for the length you desire then knot the end. This shoulder strap is close to 40″ and it used a bit more than two yards of each of the three ribbons. Construct your bag project as you normally would and sew the ends of the strap to the bag. This is a great technique for short handles, too.

Add Color For Balance
I used a few leftover pieces of ribbon to embellish the zipper pull. Cut two or three 12″ pieces of ribbon. Trim one end to a point so they’re easy to feed through the zipper pull. Match all the ends and tie in a knot close to the pull.

Make Your Fabric Do The Work
I love the big flower on the front of the bag. Both of the prints you see are from Lakehouse Dry Goods. The big flower was just the right size for this project. The big yellow flower came from a panel of single flowers on a black background. Perfect – we’ll let the fabric is do all the work for us!

There was enough black fabric around the flower that I simply cut a piece of fabric big enough for this part of the project and I didn’t have to do anything else to it. The hardest part was choosing which of the fabulous flowers I liked the most.

I almost forgot to mention that the zipper is just a polyester all-purpose zipper from Coats & Clark.

Enjoy!

Joan

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