Pencil Case

Here's how I made the pencil case . . .

Two pieces of denim cut to size:

Zig-zag the edge where the zipper will go; baste a seam using long straight stitch:

Press this seam open:

This zipper goes under this seam. Here it is pinned in place:

(sorry this photo's a bit too dark)

The zipper foot allows you to stitch closer to the teeth of the zip than the regular presser foot:

Pull out the big stitches which were holding the seam closed over the top of the zipper:
Notice that I haven't quite stitched close enough to the zip, so I had another go:

The rest of this project is pretty straightforward. I just stitched and zig-zagged the other three sides. Then turned it all through using the zip as my opening. Press seams and the job is done:

Things I learned:

• it's a long time since I've sewed in a zip--it showed! I could do with some more practice.


• the zip I used was a bit too long for the piece of fabric. A couple of cm shorter would have been easier. That way I could have avoided including the ends of the zip in the side seams of the pencil case.
  
• Getting the stitching close enough to the teeth of the zipper to catch the seam allowance on the fabric, yet not so close as to interfere with the action of the zip is tricky. It would have been easier if I'd given myself a slightly wider seam allowance to work with.


• . . . and this one I knew, but learned again . . . "There is no such thing as a shortcut when sewing in a zip!"