let the drooling begin.

my life is ruled by two lists. the first one is my to-do list. yuck. the second one is my project list. FUN!! occasionally the two overlap, although this is rare. it has become increasingly obvious that the longer my to-do list, the more likely i am to work on my project list. in fact, today i actually added something to my project list AND completed it, prior to finishing my to-do list. oops.

today's fiasco started a little over a week ago when mrs. nipper knapp declared that she was about to sew her first zipper. she is not to blame, it's just that i simply had to tell her the secret trick to sewing zippers, which turned into a zipper tutorial. then i found out that she was in fact making zippered pillows and the next thing i know, i am gazing at our sad and grungy couch pillows, which have seen a little too much life (and drool...ugh). naturally, because i do not have anything else to do, i figured i might as well kill some time making new pillow covers. this is my first foray into making pillows (i used the super-easy tutorial from design*sponge) and i have to say, i am supremely pleased. so mrs. nipper knapp, the mister and i would like to thank you for being the inspiration that provided us with splendid new couch pillows.

our happily mismatched new pillows.

zipper frenzy.

yesterday, a fellow crafty blogger mentioned that she was "tackling her first zipper," which made me realize that i absolutely have to share a zipper trick. this comes from my peace corps mom, lady D, who taught it to me when i was whining about sewing a zipper into a basic seam. this trick will not work for all zipper applications, but is perfect for those of you who just want the basics.

step 1. gather your materials. my plan is to make a little zippered pouch, like the one i found on the three bears blog, so i am starting with two rectangles and a zipper. if you have a serger i recommend serging the edges where you will place the zipper (i opted to serge all of my edges, because i will have exposed seams inside my pouch).

 

step 2. put right sides together and baste a 1/2" seam. baste=set your machine to make long stitches.

step 3. press the seam open. place the zipper face down on the pressed seam.

step 4. match the center of the zipper to the center of the seam and pin the zipper in place. make sure your pins are on the other side of the fabric, because when you sew the zipper will be on the bottom.

step 5. make sure you reset your stitch length so that you are no longer basting and attach your zipper foot. carefully top-stitch on both sides of the seam. i always start from the closed end. when i get to the end with the pull tab i put the needle down, life the presser foot, and carefully slide the pull tab behind the presser foot. then i put the presser foot back down and continue sewing to the end of the zipper. i change the position of the zipper foot and needle to sew on the other side and repeat the process.

sewing with the zipper on the right or the left.

when you get close to the zipper pull, you can carefully slide it behind the foot, and continue sewing straight to the end.

 step 6. use a seam ripper to take out the basting stitches.

step 7. i like to sew another line of top-stitching on each side of the zipper. voila! a zipper. easy peasy, lemon squeezee.

top-stitching a second line.

a finished zipper!