Zippers...The Necessary Evil

    I have returned to conquer the zipper. The problem lies in the fact that the zipper wants to be the winner. Needless to say I will be victorious in the end. I was hoping on working on this yesterday and have a posting on Sunday, the day I like to post to my blog. Shopping and yard work had other things to say about that. In a couple of weeks we will be having our yard reseeded. That means we need sufficient watering equipment to ensure that the seeds have the best chances at life. We were pricing out hoses (even purchased a couple lengths of hose) and calculated what we will be needing for sprinklers. Also, since we are so busy we want to buy a timer that goes on the outside faucets to run the sprinklers. I also figured that while we were out I needed a new pair of sandals to replace the ones that are falling apart.

   The zipper pull on today's bag is fairly good but not great. The ends still do not lay flat and are slightly misaligned. The other end of the zipper on today's bag appears to be nearly perfect. It slightly dips into the corner but for the most part it is nicely sewn.     So, here I am today. Tackling the zipper issue. I have made some improvements in the sewing of the zipper. Though I am finding that I need to learn just a little more about these difficult items. The bag on the bottom, is the bag that I had

previously made. As you can see the alignment of the zippers are quite off. The top bag is the one that I made today.

     I looked closely at the flaws with the first bag and determined that I needed to stitch closer to the zipper stops. Taking that into account I reduced the size of today's bag. It seems to have helped even thought the bag is smaller from side to side. I believe that works well for the bags. There is one other technique that I will be trying but I need to learn a little more about it first, back to YouTube.

     Next week I need to continue on with my sewing education. I will not be giving up on my bags though. I think that I can master this and have some very successful items. I do have future plans on making other bags that are larger and that do not have zippers. These bags will be more along the lines of larger totes that can be used for the beach or even reusable bags for shopping.

     I know that I will be heading into the clothing world soon. In fact next week would be a great week to start. If all goes well I will create a circle skirt. This will be a easy beginners level project that will help guide me into the next phase of my sewing life. I have some ideas already on the fabric that I want to use and this would be an excellent time to work on something for the holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are just around the corner. Let's see what creations I can come up with. 

Until next time, have a wonderful week and keep stitching.