The recessed zipper closure challenge.

A few weeks ago I made myself this bag:

Fabrics: dark brown linen and a Kaffe Fassett print.
I use it to hold my clarinet case, musicnotes, reed case, pencils etc.
As you can see it has difficulties standing upright; I interfaced it with Vilene S 320.
When my sister saw this bag, she asked me to make a similar one for her." Of course, I can do that", I said. "And... I would like it to be closed at the top".
"Sure", I said, "no problem".
Only afterwards I realised, I had never installed a recessed zipper closure before!!
Online, I went, in search of a suitable tutorial.
For me ,the best one is this tutorial from Sarah of ´My spare time`.
Sarah explains all the different steps very clearly.
The only problem with all the tutorials is , that they are made for narrow bags.
My bag has a broad base and I also wanted the top to be wider.

 See what I mean?At the top, the bag is too `sharp`
I wanted it to look this way:

I achieved it by sewing, from the inside by hand, some 6 cm of the lining, which is hanging loose, to the outer bag. This way, the side of the bag is pulled to the middle.
Are there others ways to get this result?
Anyway, here is the bag!

Fabrics: brown linen, lovely eyecatching leafpattern cotton fabric from Philips Jacobs.
I used Vilene S 520 as interfacing; this bag is much sturdier and can stand on its own . It is just a little tricky to turn the bag inside-out, once you stitched outerbag and lining together.
The bag closes with the recessed zipper. I added pockets inside and a key hook. 
Ironing gives the finishing touch.
I learned a lot by making this bag; but I especially hope my sister likes him/her...
Kristien

Pencil Cases and more.

My youngest Musketeer needed a new pencil case.
All the shops I tried didn´t have one in his favorite colour blue.
So I said I would make one myself and he agreed!
He chose this lovely fabric from my stash:

It may look blue in the pictures, but it is a gorgeous, rich, dark purple fabric with sweet owls, called "Eerie alley" by Robert Kaufman. For the lining I tried a laminated fabric from the Nicey Jane range by Heather Bailey. It is very easy to sew with. Just take care with pins, because they leave permanent holes.
For the inside of a pencil case, oilcloth is stronger and easier to clean than cotton.
Here´s the result:

My boy loves it.

At once middle Musketeer decided he absolutely needed one too.

He chose this fabric:

This is a lovely, bright fabric, from the Opal Owl collection by Tina Givens.

I will show you the result in one of my next blogposts.

You can find a very good tutorial for this kind of pen cases here. Just change the length and width to the size you want.

My firstborn Musketeer wanted new curtains for his bedroom and , he said, "it must be dark in my room". So they have to be double layered. I am working on it....

Last but not least: a new themed clutch for my shop is on its way. I will give you a sneak preview when it´s finished.

So, you see there is a lot of work in progress going on here.

Have a nice weekend.

Kristien

Remnant Gems.

Do you also have a pile of fabric remnants?
Lovely little pieces of fabric you just can´t throw away?
Well, here is one example of a possible use.
Refresh your towels. They will brighten up your bathroom.
It is a very easy and quick little job.
Look at the result!!
I love them!
Kristien