Transcription
Let's make a pouch with a fake lining. I'm Chelsea with She So Seams. So today's tutorial is for a few different types of people. The first is when you're shopping at, like, a fabric store and you find the little remnant section, which I personally love. And you see one of these cute, like, pieces of fabric, but it's very tiny. But you know you need to have it because it has hedgehogs on it. You don't need a lot of fabric for this project. This is like 11 inches wide, so the tiniest remnants work for this.
This project is perfect if you are beginning sewing and you're kind of like getting into zippers and linings, but you're still a little nervous about it. And the magical item that we're going to use to create that fake lining is Heat and Bond Lite sewable iron-on adhesive. You can get this in my Amazon store. You can get it at any craft store. I buy it by the roll because I use it all the time. I love this stuff. Now, you can sew through this. It should not gum up your needle or cause any issues. It's the Ultra Bond Heat and Bond that sometimes causes trouble with your sewing machines, but this one should be fine.
The other thing about this pouch is, like, sometimes you see a really cute quilting cotton that you want to make a bag out of, but it's so thin. And what this process is going to do is thicken that whole thing up so it has a little bit more stability. There's a million ways you can add stability. This is only one, and I think it's going to be really fun. Let's hop into it.
As always, you're going to want to press your fabrics first, and then you need to square them up. So this side is a little wonky. All right, I'm going to line that up on this marker on my cutting mat and just get rid of this little area. What I've got left is 10 inches wide, and that's great for a bag. You can make this any size you want. That's the fun part of it. So now we need to decide. We have our width. I'm going to get rid of these selvages here. Do that by lining it up on your cutting mat, making a nice straight cut. And I've got this fabric doubled up, so I'm cutting two of whatever I'm making. And let's see, I think today I'm at 31. I don't know, let's be a little crazy. Let's make it 10 inches tall. So what's that? 10 by 10? Sure, that's easy.
Now, this looks like it's going to be a really tall bag, but we're going to do something later on to make this a little more squat and cause it to stand up on its own. So I got two pieces of that one. And now I'm going to cut two of the same size of my hedgehog fabric. Now, if you don't want to waste some of your fabric, I'm going to make a couple of these out of this same fabric, so I'm not worried about it being doubled up the way it was. But you can always fold it this way so that you're not using this whole section, and that gives you a longer cut. Let's see, I didn't even think to check if we have 10. Oh, yeah, we do. 10 inches. Um, I might just cheat and lay this on top, keep it easy. Look, that works out great. I'm going to still use my ruler. That'll give me a nice straight cut, but then I don't have to mess with trying to do measurements. And remember, if you're using a fabric that has some like little icons on it that you want visible, you might lose a little bit of that fabric as you try and place it where you want it. Like if you want it closer to the center. This one has a pretty small repeating design. So let's see. They're so cute.
All right, and then the last thing we're going to cut is a 10 by 10 inch piece of the Heat and Bond. Now, this is in the roll, and it can tend to be a little crunchy. So just lay something on the corner here to hold it down. Heat and Bond is fantastic. It's got a bumpy side, which is like the sticky glue side that you activate with heat, obviously. And I'm going to cut. I don't need all of these to do this. I'm just going to use one. I'm going to cut two of these at a 10 by 10 inch measurement, and I'll show you how to apply this here shortly.
This project is going to utilize pinking shears to finish the seams. You could, if you're feeling a little bit daring, you could do French seams on this project to really hide those, um, seam allowances at the end. But I'm treating this as though you are like pretty brand new to sewing and you need just like a success story for your sewing. Like you need to be able to walk away after an hour or two and say, like, look at this cool thing I made. And to do that, we're going to keep it real simple.
Now, using, um, pinking shears to finish your seams, admittedly, is not the best way to finish your seams. But for a beginner, it's perfectly fine. Pinking shears have hills and valleys to them, and by using that cutting tool on the edge of your fabric, it's going to keep it from fraying. If you just left it with a straight edge, it very, very possibly would fray everywhere.
Okay, so to recap, we've got two pieces of Heat and Bond. We've got our adorable hedgehog fabric. This is Tula Pink fabric that I got at Fabric Mart in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. If you can ever visit their storefront, holy moly, they have the best deals. They get like stuff from, it's never like consistent what they have, but that's what makes it so fun when you go. It's like a treasure hunt. And I spotted this one design in one of the corners on one of their shelves, and then I, as I walked through the store, I found like a bunch of Tula Pink for like, I don't know, it's like $4 a yard, which is is absolutely psycho.
Let's go to the ironing board, and I'm going to show you how to connect all this together. To stick your Heat and Bond to your lining, let's start with a lining piece. You're going to take that bumpy side, that's the gluey side. You want that to not touch your iron if at all possible. So what I'm going to do is lay this down and fit my lining piece on top. Now, this is a pretty good fit, but I still don't want to take the chance of getting that glue on my iron. So I'm going to take a pressing cloth and lay that over top of the whole shebang. Then you're going to press this on. Now, it takes a few seconds. It's not just like an immediate glue stick situation. So you're going to run this over a few times. I've got my high heat on, and with that pressing cloth there, I know that I'm not getting any glue on my iron, which is a really good thing because it's kind of obnoxious to have to clean your iron.
Okay, so I've been swiping over this for about 30 seconds now. Let's pull this off. You can feel that it's thicker now. The next thing you want to do is let this cool. So put this aside and let's do our second piece. So Heat and Bond gluey side up, lining piece pretty side up, so that your lining back is touching the glue side of your Heat and Bond, and then lay your pressing cloth on top and press it.
I have had the crud for the last like week and a half, and I finally got my voice back. And you know what? The first thing I decided I wanted to do is film a tutorial for y'all. I love this pouch. I posted about this the other day. I think it's a really good option. The Heat and Bond solution for if you have those like cute quilting fabrics that you're wanting to use, but they're like so thin, and you're like, what am I going to do with this? You could use fusible fleece, you could use batting, you could use foam stabilizer. There's so many options, but this is one where it just sticks right to it, and your lining and your main are all connected, which is kind of great for a beginner. It also comes together a lot faster.
Now, put that one up, and you're going to pull this off the back of your lining. It should look real glossy. It's going to transfer over. Okay, so pull this off. See how that's really glossy now? It's all stuck to this side. Isn't that cool? So the next step is lay your beautiful front fabric. Make sure everything is facing the right direction, and lay it right on top. Do your pressing cloth again because we don't want to get that glue all over our iron. And you're basically making just a little sandwich with the Heat and Bond on the inside, and your pretty fabrics facing out, and it's going to connect it all together, which creates a nice sturdy piece of fabric. See, it's sticking to that pressing cloth. That's a good thing I put it there because we don't want that on our iron. And look at that. Now it's a little, like, wiggly right now, but I'm going to let this cool and just set it over here, maybe on a flat surface, and let that chill. And once it cools off, it's going to be a little bit firm and a little sturdier for sewing.
So let's repeat that with the other piece. Pull it off. Main fabric pretty side down, and then put that sticky side on top. Line it up as best you can. Replace the pressing cloth and press. Here's our cooled off piece. You can see that it's nice and thick now. Remember I mentioned the pinking shears? This is when we're going to use those. Before we start sewing, I want you to go around the whole perimeter and just cut them with those pinking shears and give everything that zigzag finish because that will make it so much easier when you're assembling the bag. I love my pinking shears, and these are a beginner seist most blessed tool. I love this fabric. I am obsessed. Had chunks also the bright colors. They're just fun. Tula Pink is such a great fabric designer. She's awesome.
So on both sides now, we've got that beautiful zigzagged edge. I'm going to repeat that on this other piece and I'll meet you back here. We're going to take some of our leftover fabric, and I want you to cut two one and a half by two inch pieces of fabric, and these are going to be for the ends of our zipper. Okay, we're going to use this for our zipper.
Now, let's talk about zippers. First of all, everybody take a breath. If you have never sewn a zipper, today is your day. It's your day. It's time. It's time to sew a zipper, and this is the easiest way to do one as a first go at a zipper, trust me. I like to buy zipper by the yard on Amazon. This was all pretty much from one order. Now, there's different types of zipper by the yard, and it comes with all these pulls as well. So you can get the zipper by the yard where the teeth are the same color as the zipper tape, and you'll get like a million and one pulls that come with it. The other type of zipper by the yard that I enjoy is the fake metallic zipper by the yard, which looks like it's metal, but it's actually nylon, and you can cut right through it. This is a little bit more expensive, but so worth it. And honestly, in my opinion, it's a little bit easier to sew. I don't know, it's just like got a little bit more sturdiness to it. But today, because I'm feeling just a little fancy, I have this rainbow zipper by the yard, and I can link all of these in the description or in my stories or wherever you're watching this. I'll make sure to link it somewhere so you can check it out. But this is so fun. And a few years ago, I was at a sewing convention and I bought a bunch of these little zipper pulls that look like scissors, and I'm going to use that today.
So let me show you how to cut the zipper, and then we're going to sew it. And I need you to do something for me before we do this. I need you to believe in yourself. Zippers scare so many new seists. It's, I see it in the comments all the time. It's like 99% of my comments are, zippers are terrifying. This is just a great way to get started with them. Here's the thing, if it sucks and you don't like it and it looks terrible, you can just rip it out and try again. It's like, it's like, what do you have to lose? It's not the end of the world. Okay, so just do it with me. Okay, let's try the zipper.
I want you to lay it along the one of the like top or bottom edges, doesn't matter for measuring. Okay, it should be like around, for this pouch I'm doing around 10 inches. I want you to cut the zipper 1 inch shorter than what you've got. Take your zipper pull, and you're going to open up the end of that zipper just a little bit. Slide one side in. Then hold on to it. I like to put my finger right at the bottom so it doesn't slip out, and slide your other side in. Now, it's going to look a little mismatched. Lay it down real gently and sort of ooch it around until you get those two edges even. Then hold the zipper tape with your finger, and it should pull right up. If you get this bubble, that's okay. Just push it out on the end, or you can always just start over again. I like to cut my zipper a little bit longer than I actually need it, like maybe a quarter of an inch for this purpose. And for this second one, it's a little trickier. You got to kind of even out those edges, find where you need to trim it, and then cut it. You've got your zipper pull loaded now, and it's time to put our zipper tabs on the end.
So we're finally getting to the sewing part of this project. Now, you can do this on your ironing board. I usually just do it with my fingers. I fold this edge towards the middle, and then this edge up to meet it, and then I'm going to fold it straight down, essentially putting those raw edges inside so they don't show anymore. It's okay if it's a little bit longer, you can trim it down. Too short is never good. And I'm going to sew about an eighth of an inch away. Okay, let's do it. For this project, I have a 94 needle loaded, and I'm using regular polyester, just everyday all-purpose thread. My stitch length is set to 2.5, and I am going to make sure my edges are even here. Start with a backstitch, and then just start slowly sewing.
Now, I have that 914 loaded because, did you hear that click? It kind of hit the zipper a little funny, but it didn't break because I'm using a heavier duty needle. If I had something like a 7010 loaded, I might not have been so lucky. Just trimmed my edges, and this is what we have. Okay, let's repeat that with our other end. This side's a little bit trickier because the pieces aren't touching and like stuck together. See, you'll definitely want to double check your measurement that things are lining up exactly and use a clip. Just remember, y'all, it does not have to be perfect, especially if you're brand new and you're just trying to figure this out. Complete is better than perfect, so just get it done, keep moving. Trim it up. Great.
Now it's time to attach this to our bag. Find the top of your bag. For me, it's right here. See how this little, like, pointy part is pointing to the left? That's how I like to do my zippers because I know then that it's going to pull from left to right. Now, it doesn't matter if both of your sides are the same. It's really fine either way. But when you center it, you should have about like a half an inch on either side, and clip it across the top. You can move this all the way to the right for now. We will move it as we sew it. But the fun part about this is your edge is already basically finished because you did that zigzag, so you don't have to mess with this later. So once you get this lined up this way, I want you to go back to your machine, and we are going to put a zipper foot on. This is a zipper foot. You're going to push the little lever on the back of your presser foot to release your zigzag foot or whatever your regular foot is. And I like to put this on my left bar of my zigzag foot. Now, my needle is too far to the left, so I'm going to push my center button, and now it's going to hit right in this divot, and that's what I want.
Place your zipper in your bag. I like to just line it up with the edge of my zipper foot. Start with a backstitch. Make sure your zipper tape is right at the top of those hills on your zigzag. Cut, and just take this slow. Okay, you're sewing through the zipper tape, and the thing that you want to watch with your eyes is right here. Don't worry about your needle. I mean, worry a little bit about where your fingers are so you don't sew over them, but keep an eye on that alignment. That's what's important. That's what's going to get you a nice straight zipper installation. Oh, you're doing such a good job. Have I mentioned today that I'm proud of y'all? If you are working on this zipper with me right now, let me say, I think you're awesome. You're doing something a little bit new, a little bit scary, but you're doing it, and that's what matters.
Now, as you approach that zipper pull, lift your presser foot and turn the work towards you, and you should be able to slide that up really easy. Okay, put that presser foot back down and go on your merry way. Finish with a backstitch. Let's see how you did. Oh my gosh, that rainbow zipper is life. I love this so much. Okay, look at that.
Now, let's do a little top stitch just to make it look pretty. So top stitch here is we're going to fold this down, and you could go inside here with the clips just to kind of hold that in place, or you could press it a little bit, but be careful because sometimes those zipper teeth will melt. It depends on the quality of your zipper. And a top stitch, make sure this is folded down, is going to, oh, got to switch feet. Go back to your zigzag foot, and we're going to place that top stitch an eighth of an inch away, and I like to up my stitch length to a 3.5. I just think it's a little fancier. Okay, keep your eyeballs on this little notch right here. Let me show you up close. There's a notch right here. I am lining my fabric with that notch. That is an eighth of an inch away from my needle right now. That's how you get a nice straight top stitch. I'm going to finish top stitching this top edge and I'll meet you back here. That's cute.
All right, so that's what we've got so far. It's time to attach your other piece. So what's up? Center that zipper tape on your second half. You're going to have about a quarter to a half an inch on either side. Clip it across. I want you to put your zipper foot back on and sew just like we did before. Flip it and top stitch it, and I will meet you back here. You've got this. I believe in you. You're amazing. Keep it up.
Okay, my little sewing wizards, this is what you should have now. Does yours look like this? If it doesn't, you might want to go back and just, like, rip out your zipper and try again. If you follow my steps exactly, this will work. But listen, it takes practice. Okay, so the zipper that I did a week ago is probably not as good as the zipper I'm doing today because we are constantly learning, constantly improving. Your fine motor skills are getting more accustomed to how that machine works and the way that it rolls under your hands. Okay, so if this one isn't the perfect zipper, don't stress it too much. If it looks for the most part like this, keep going. I don't want you to even worry about it.
Okay, I want you to match those pretty sides together, and we're going to clip down the side. Like, fold your zipper in half so that your teeth are kind of at the top, and these two edges are even. This is what it should look like. Clip around the sides and the bottom. Now, we are going to lay this in the machine, and I want you, whatever that measurement is, it may have gotten a little off as you've been working with the fabric. I want you to start your needle so that it's like right beside this tab. So for me, that's like about 3/8 of an inch. Don't get super tight up in the seam allowance for this. Whatever hair is in my face, whatever you start with, just be consistent with that as you sew down, across, and back up. We're going to do this all in one stitch.
Okay, so I'm going to lay this in, and I'm going to justify my needle to the left because that'll give me a little bit stronger of a hold on my. So see how I'm just laying it in just a little bit to the right? I don't want to hit the zipper tab. I want to sew right beside it. So like I said, that's like about 3/8 of an inch for me, and then we're just going to work our way down. I love this little bag. I have. I posted like a speedy tutorial on this. It was like a yellow bag with a blue lining a few days ago, and y'all were really excited about a sew-along, so I hope this is helpful for you. I did change a couple things from the original design to hopefully make it just a little bit easier for you.
Now, as you approach that first corner, I want you to stop like about 3/8 of an inch away from the edge, or whatever your seam allowance is that you're following. Lift your presser foot, but leave your needle down, and just turn the fabric, and we're going to keep going. Lovely. We went to the most wonderful Fall Festival at my sister-in-law's house over the weekend. She doesn't mess around when it comes to like festivities at her home. She had three bouncy houses for the kids, a huge layout for like food, and she just told everybody to bring like a pot of soup or sandwiches or pizza or whatever, and man, did everybody show out. It was like the perfect autumn day, and it made me want apples. So I ended up driving. We have several really great Amish markets nearby. So I made my kids drive 30 minutes out into the country, up into Kentucky, because they live, my father-in-law and my sister-in-law live in a town very close to the Kentucky border in Tennessee. So I made them drive with me for 30 minutes to go buy apples. But man, they were delicious. Does this time of year make anyone else want apples? I am eating like two apples a day right now because they just taste so good to me. I would say they're probably my favorite fruit. I also went to the store the other day, and they have those colossal blueberries that do not look genetically modified at all. Just kidding. They are like the size of rocks. It is kind of terrifying, but I'll tell you what, they taste delicious.
All right, backstitch at the end. Who knows what I'm talking about? All right, now look what you've got here. So this is what we've got now. Your bag is inside out. Now, let me just say this, everyone freaks out, and I've said this before, "Oh no, we didn't open our zipper before sewing." Like, everyone is always so weird in my comments about this. "You didn't tell them to open your zipper up before they sew. How are they going to get the bag open?" Like that's, um, how they're going to get the bag open.
So before we flip this, though, I want to box the corners because right now, if I turn this right side out, it's just going to be a very flat pouch, and I want to see if I can make this stand up a little bit on its own. And you can make these boxed corners like as boxy as you want. So the way that I've created this, though, is we're not going to cut the box out where I've shown you this a lot where we cut this little square out. I'm going to reach in and push this corner out like so. And it's okay if your seams are going the same direction. That's fine. Make it come to a point and pull it so that your, you can feel those seams through both sides and you know that they're right on top of each other. And whatever measurement you decide to make this is fine, just make sure that it's, you remember what it is so that you can repeat that on the opposite side when you sew the other corner.
So let's see. I've got my point touching like right here, and that's 2 inches, and that looks very good to me. So I'm going to kind of just angle this in here and draw a line, and we're going to sew it. So remember, you're going to do that same thing on the other side, 2 inches in. So lay it down and sew. Now I have to tell you, I am not winning the trophy for mother of the year again. I just sent my kids back to school after fall break. They have two weeks of fall break, and y'all, I went to my son's backpack, the one that's in like daycare, he's four. He must have had like a pee accident before fall break, and I did not even look in his backpack. Y'all, that was the most hor. It's still in my nose. It was like straight ammonia smell. So we just sacrificed those underpants, and those are gone now. But, um, I felt like a terrible mom. Oops.
So here's what we've got, and this will just fold into the bag. Okay, like there's a million ways to do this. You can secure this even better if you want, but for now, let's just do it this way. Oh, that's going to be cute. Now, open up your other corner and repeat the same thing. Just make sure that everything is stacked, like your seams are stacked, and I'm focusing on this point right here, not this one. Flatten it out as best you can. That looks pretty good to me. I'm going to lay this down. Oh, you can't see me. Hey. And draw my line. Okay, so that one. But I did get everyone to school on time, and my son had an orthodontist appointment this morning that we were on time for as well, so I'm pretty much a domestic goddess. Oh, that's so not true. I am working on like 19 loads of laundry right now because we have done zero laundry. We have no clothes anymore.
Okay, let's see how this turned out. So here's what we've got. And you can trim up any of your threads that are sticking out. Just try not to cut into your fabric. But this is why you'll be glad that you went ahead and did those pinking shears before you sewed anything because every edge of this bag is technically finished. Is it the best finish you possibly could ever put on a bag? Probably not. Does that matter? Not really. Not for a beginner setting project. Sorry, I get a little crazy about trimming up my threads.
All right, let's turn this right side out and see how it turned out. So that Heat and Bond, you can hear it, it makes it, it's crunchier. So we've given some strength to that quilting cotton because I had to use it. It was adorable, but it just wasn't, it was too flimsy for what I was trying to do. That's why the Heat and Bond is an awesome alternative. Okay, flip it out, and where you put those little zipper tabs, those should flip right out. So that your zipper pull doesn't run right off the edge. This turned out cute. That's cute. Look at the bottom. See how it's like squat now, and it'll, it'll stand up. I'm in love with this bag. I think this is adorable, and I'm pretty sure I need to go make 17 more of these to give to everyone I know. You can see inside. You have those little pieces where we did the fold and box the corner, but it's like not that big of a deal, right? Like, it's not taking up a bunch of real estate. It's fine.
This is such a good beginner project because if you do this and you finish it like this, you're going to feel really successful. The holidays are coming up, y'all. Give these as Christmas gifts. Be like, "Oh, I'm a seist. Check me out." They make a perfect little, like, if you're traveling for the holidays, you can put your toothbrushes and all of your stuff in here. So many uses for a bag. So many uses for a hedgehog bag specifically.
I am Chelsea with She So Seams. Thank you guys so much for joining me today to make this adorable little pouch. Again, this is just one way to make a pouch. There's a million different ways to do this. I like this version because it is sticking your lining and your main together using that Heat and Bond, which removes a layer of challenge of trying to attach a lining to your bag. So if you are like working through a progression of projects where you're like easy to hard, I would put this on the very easy end because you're not having to contend with that lining. You're using your pinking shears to finish those seams. You guys can totally do this, and you're going to be so proud of yourself when you do. Y'all send me pictures. You know I love to see them. And I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day. I will see you next time.