April 1, 2016

Becca Bags Zippered Pouches

When a local quilt shop offered a class on the Becca Bags, I signed up immediately.  I was curious about Joan Hawley's one-zip technique where you only use one side of the zipper tape and feed it back through the zipper pull.

Becca Bags by Paige Alexander made with Cotton + Steel fabrics
And with this method, it eliminates having to cover the zipper ends resulting in a very neat zip pouch. See how the bags stand open so well with gussets sewn into the bottom of both bags.

Dreamy Fusible, a high loft fusible fleece, was sandwiched between the two layers.  The pattern calls for topstitching only at the top of the bag near the zipper, but I like the look, especially from the inside of the bag, when it is quilted.  I quickly added some straight line quilting using the walking foot.

Becca Bags made using the one-zip technique
I added a few lines of quilting on top section of the larger bag, but on the smaller bag, I quilted between the arrows all the way down.

You can see the zipper pull on the smaller bag is a natural color.  I had to rob it from another zipper. As the pattern warns, you must use the same brand of zipper tape and tabs for them to be interchangeable.  I had several Coats & Clark's all purpose polyester zippers on hand and used them, but YKK zipper tabs are sold in bulk, where you can color coordinate the zipper tape and tabs.

Becca Bags with quilting
Below is another picture of the other side.  You can see here where the grab tab was made from a section of the zipper tape.  I used grosgrain ribbon on hand for the zipper pull.

Becca Bag
As I mentioned before in this blog post and this one too, I am headed to Sewtopia Atlanta soon and made these bags for the blind swap.  I fussy cut the the top section to include South Carolina, my home state and Georgia, where Sewtopia will take place.

Becca Bag with fussy cutting to include South Carolina and Georgia
I can see making more Becca bags in the future and want to try using denim in place of fleece like Nicole of Mama Love Quilts just did in her zipperd pouch.

Zippered Pouch Stats:

  • Finished sizes:  4" x 6" small zip pouch and 6" x 8" large zip pouch
  • Pattern:  Becca Bags by Joan Hawley of Lazy Girl Designs
  • Zipper: 22" Coats & Clarks mfg. by Talon (older)  
  • Fabrics: All Cotton + Steel - Metallic Arrows in Navy by Melody Miller; Diningcar in Coral, State Words in Teal, and Palm Springs in Teal by Alexia Marcelle Abegg
  • Fusible Fleece: Dreamy Fusible, high loft polyester
  • Thread: Aurifil and Mettler

And, by the way, as attendees of Sewtopia, we will be touring the design studios of Cotton + Steel. How exciting is that?  I found a great post here by Apartment Therapy that gives a sneak peak into their studio.

Linking up to Finish Up FridayWhoop Whoop Friday, Celtic Thistle Stitches hosting Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday this week, Fabric Frenzy FridayWhoop, There It Is! and Show Off Saturday.


17 comments :

  1. Beautiful bags. I love your fabric selections ☺

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  2. I love bags and yours are very pretty.

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  3. These bags are really attractive and well made. Have fun at Sewtopia and visiting the Cotton and Steel factory.

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    1. Whoops should have said studio not factory.

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  4. Those bags are super cute! What a fun swap gift! Sewtopia should be a blast, can't wait to hear about it!

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  5. I hadn't come across this zipper method before, your bags look really lovely I am sure your swap partners will love them.

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  6. Oh that is such a clever idea with the Zips - what a gorgeous finish!

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  7. What an interesting idea! The bags look wonderful in those colours and prints.

    -Soma

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  8. Your bags are just gorgeous Paige! I would have a really hard time giving these away. :-). I'm going to check out that pattern because I really love the zipper installation and how neat it all looks.

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  9. Your zipper pouches are great! I love the way they open so wide and your fabric choice is perfect. Sounds like a fun trip coming up! Have a "SEW" great time!

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  10. What an interesting technique for the zippers. Enjoy Sewtopia! Some lucky person will be a happy swapper!

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  11. I love these pouches ! It seems to be an interesting technique for sewing zippers. And it looks very neat !

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  12. Fun bags! I'm the hunt for fun bag design and this one has been added to the list.

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  13. These pouches are awesome, I love how the zipper loops around the top of the pouch.

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  14. This is pretty cool. I've never seen a pouch like this. I didn't know that you could do that with a zipper, but I'll be the first to admit I have a lot to learn when it comes to bags and pouches.

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  15. I just received this pattern in the mail last week. When I saw it was just one side of the zipper, I knew I had to break down and buy the pattern, haven't used it yet, but son. Yours look great.

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