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Zipper Pencil Case

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To welcome you back to the craft room of Craft Passion, here is the zipper pencil case pattern and tutorial which I did before my recent weekend getaway. Honestly, this is not suitable for beginner sewer because of the piping and the way I lined it, but intermediate or advance sewer should have no problem in getting it done.

As you can see from the photos, this zipper pencil case has a zipper that opens all the way down from top to the sides. This enable a widely open view that make getting things from the pencil case straightforward. Also, there are internal gussets at the sides to prevent contents from falling out.

This pencil case would make perfect storage for many purpose, pencil case, cosmetic pouch, stationery, accessories, craft tools etc… you name it!!!

{Get full details on next page.}

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Zipper Card Pouch

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I am not a big fan of big wallet, with the increasing numbers of cards that I have, my decent size wallet is no longer able to buckle up. Sometimes, I just temporary placing the card in my purse’s pocket but I forgot about it later. I need an additional card pouch where I know where all my cards should locate. So, here it is, my new zipper card pouch

This zipper pouch can hold up to 30 plastic cards (similar to credit cards), and more for thinner cards, business calling card for example. With the zipper open up to the side and couple with an internal gusset, this will make card finding easier and faster.

Get the pattern and tutorial to sew one yourself after the jump and don’t have to struggle with the cards anymore.

{Get pattern and tutorial on next page.}

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Sew Valentine Pillow

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Who? who is tapping my shoulder and shaking me? No, wait……. poof… all those sweet dreams just gone. Sigh…. I am back to my real world.

Why wait till February 14th, we can make everyday as romantic as Valentine’s Day. I designed and sewed a heart Chenille Valentine Pillow for my living room and couch. I can hug the pillow with love, just like hugging my loved one everyday!!! Sipping a cup of coffee with some sweet heart sugar cubes or dropping a cafe mocha truffle into a glass of hot milk and enjoy my day off.

This heart chenille valentine pillow is soft and fluffy, nice to touch and warm to hug…. the photo is self explanatory. Make one today and let the 365/year be valentine’s day everyday! Remember, love yourself like loving everyone in your life.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!
{Get full details on next page.}

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Sew Macaron Coin Purse

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Just can’t help for not making these sweet little macaron coin purses when one of Craft Passion’s Facebook fans showed them to me. Thanks to XYZZhandmade for her inspiring handmade and some tutorial links in Japanese, this, this, this and this. No, I can’t read Japanese but I can guess from the pictures on how to sew it. Here is the English version of tutorial on how to sew this macaron coin purse where I add more details in the sewing.

The space inside the coin purse is quite limited but good enough to place some small jewelries like ear rings, rings; may be to keep some small coins, folded money; a place to keep small piece of note that wrote your shopping list and reminder etc. Or, simply use it as a key chain or hanging ornament. Or, turn it into something enormously cute, like this.

I have tried both nylon and metal zipper, each gave different feel and effect on the macaron coin purse. Nylon zipper is easy to sew since you can just cut the zipper to the correct length. Zipping and unzipping is easier on nylon zipper too. Aesthetic wise, I like metal zipper though it requires more works to do. If you find zipping on metal zipper is craggy due to small circular shape, rub the zipper’s teeth with some wax or candle, then zip and unzip a few times, you will find zipping is smoother after the waxing.

{Get full details on next page.}

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Zip It Up Pencil Case

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Recently, I received an overwhelming and fantastic responses came all over the world to visit the tutorial of the Zip-Itself Tetrahedron Coin Purse, the same concept of this zip-it-up pencil case. Among the feedback and comments, some of you found it difficult to understand at some point, but I am glad that after putting you hands on it, you’ve made yourself some successful coin purses. As usual, practice makes perfect! Grandma G even tried it on with her sewing machine with a wider ribbon that her daughter Jessica of How About Orange designed. Jessica also shared the post with her readers. I was so happy that you all like the coin purse so much. As an appreciation to all your visits and feedback, I developed another tutorial to the same concept. This time both boys and girls can use this zip-it-up pencil case (just have to be fair to the boys too, right?).

I hope you like this Zip-It-Up Pencil Case as much as the coin purse. Please find the tutorial after this.

Finished Dimension: approx. 4″ x 8″ x 1 1/2″

Materials:
1. Zipper (nylon) – 80″
2. Ribbon (7/8″)- 80″ (Note: you can use grosgrain, woven, satin ribbons, or other alternative materials like lace, fabric strip, soft twill tape etc.)
3. Ribbon – short length for the purse loop.
4. Lining fabric strip (1 1/2″) – 80″ (optional)

Tools:
1. Sewing needles.
2. Matching threads
3. Pins
4. Marker
5. Warm iron (optional, use only with lining)

Get ready the materials and tools as per quantities stated above.
You can get the long nylon zipper from craft shop that cut into your requested length, and don’t forget to add a zipper pull.
Sew a few stitches to make a bottom-stop about 1″ from the end of the zipper.
Tie 2 knots on both top zipper tapes to prevent the zipper-pull from accidentally glide out from the zipper.
Measure 4 3/4″ from zipper’s bottom-stop. Mark, this is the START point.
Pin and backstitch the ribbon to the zipper tape along line A, start at 3/4″ from the ribbon end and 1/32″ away from the teeth in order for the zipper pull to glide through.
I sewed with longer stitch on the wrong side but shorter loop stitch on the right side for the backstitch so that the thread is not obviously seen on the right side.
When you reach the bottom stop, bend the zipper tape down, smooth the corner by crossing of zipper ends, continue sewing your ribbon till you have done around 70″ from the start point.

Come back to the start point. Arch the tape at the marking where the marking should be at the center of the ribbon’s width, pin the ribbon to the tape along line B.
Sew ribbon to the tape of the other side of the zipper.
Fold the ribbon’s end in and slip stitch the ribbon to the tape by following the curve.
A nice smooth curvature determine the beauty of the pencil case.
Continue back stitching the ribbon to the zipper tape until you have done 65″ from the start point.
There will be a different of 5″ of stitching between line A & B.
Zip-up the zipper and the pencil case shape is formed through a upward spiral closure.
Measure your pencil case from the bottom stop, it should be around slightly over 8″ and your zipper goes 7 rounds of zipping.
Press the top edge of the pencil case to find the top corners of a rectangular shape.
Mark both points on line A & B.
The point above the the bottom-stop is the end point, whilst, the point above the start point is the pencil case top-stop with a ribbon loop (please refer the last step-by-step photo for clearer picture).

Unzip the pencil case a little. Arch the line A zipper tape at the marking, the zipper ends should meet and intersect at the other marking on line B.
Place a ribbon loop on the intersection point of the zipper, pin & sew to join.
Trim off the extra zipper, crossed them and make a few stitches to stabilized the position.
Trim off the extra length of the ribbon and fold the raw edge of the ribbon, just like the start point, slip stitch to the tape.
Whip stitch the zipper edges at the back of the pencil case to complete it.
You may add a lining at the back of the pencil case. The lining will add some stability and aesthetic look to the workmanship of the pencil case.
Iron the lining strip by folding in both edges to form a 7/8″ double-fold tape.
Slip-stitch along the backstitch line to cover the stitches done for the ribbon. When you reach the curve of the start and end points, trim the ends to follow the curvature, fold in and slip stitch like you did the ribbon.

Zip it all the way up and you will get a pencil case.
Or, zip it all the way down to return it to a ribbon with edges full of zipper teeth.

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Zip-Itself Tetrahedron Coin Purse

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I accidentally saw this zip-itself coin purse when I did a search for the tetrahedron coin purse and I love the idea. I knew I am going to scratch my head and drill into the detail of the design and make it one day…. But, this day hasn’t been long before I need to pull my hairs and bite my fingers to find out the how-to from a mere internet picture. The story goes…..

On a relax weekend in June while shopping at a flea market in Straits Quay, I walked towards the only stall that sells handmade materials and finished handmade. I was so happy to find the little cutie zip-itself coin purse hanging at the stall. Dawn and San San, the 2 friendly and lovely lady owners of HaHa Plaza are so nice to guide and teach me how to make this purse. They even gave me a sample and some materials to try it out. Take a peep to see me shopping at Haha Plaza stall, yeah, the one wearing green T (thank you, Vickson, for this wonderful photo and uploaded to their facebook page). I am so glad I made this trip to the flea market, not only to learn to make this zip-itself coin purse but to be friends with these 3 wonderful people, Dawn, San San and Vickson. If you happen to be in Penang and would like to get some nice & niche handmade materials (handles, frames, fabrics, buttons etc), HaHa Plaza will be at the flea market at the following dates:

July 30, 2011
August 27, 2011
September 24, 2011
October 29, 2011
Time: 10 am to 10 pm

If you are not able to make it to meet them personally, then visit their online shop.

Materials:
1. Zipper (nylon) – 20″, 1pc.
2. Ribbon (1/2″ or 5/8″)- 20″, 1pc. (Note: you can use grosgrain, woven, satin ribbons, or other alternative materials like lace, ric rac, fabric strip, soft twill tape etc.)
3. Ribbon – short length for the purse loop.
4. Lining fabric strip (3/4″) – 20″, 1pc. (optional)

Tools:
1. Sewing needles.
2. Matching threads
3. Pins
4. Marker
5. Warm iron (optional, use only with lining)

Get ready the materials and tools as per quantities stated above.

Measure 2 3/4″ from zipper’s bottom stop, including the bottom stop.
Lay the ribbon slightly over the marking. If the ribbon has direction (in this case, the Pucca doll), the bottom edge should point to the zipper.
Back stitch the ribbon to the zipper, about 1/32″ from the teeth in order for the slider to get through.
Note: I sewed with longer stitch on the wrong side but shorter stitch on the right side for the backstitch. Scroll down to the lining step and you will see the stitches on the wrong side. Due to the short stitch on the right side and the way the needle pick up the zipper tap, it didn’t show a lot like backstitch from the back, but I swear that it is backstitch
Bend the zipper tape down at the end, adjust it to make the edge smooth.
Continue sewing the ribbon. Pin the ribbon on the tape will make sewing easier.

Continue sewing until you reach about 4″ – 5″ from the top stop of the zipper.
Your actual ribbon should look longer than this, I trimmed some away before taking this picture.
Unzip the zipper.

Come back to the start point. Arch the tape at the marking, pin the ribbon to the tape as shown.

Sew ribbon to the tape of the other side of the zipper.

Trim off the extra length, fold the raw edge of the ribbon and slip stitch the ribbon to the tape by following the curve.
A nice smooth curvature determine the beauty of the purse.

Continue back stitching the ribbon to the zipper tape until you are about 1″- 2″ away from the top stop.

Zip-up the zipper and the purse is formed through a upward spiral closure.

Press the top edge of the purse to find the top corners of the tetrahedron shape, which is usually the center of the bottom corners.
Mark both points.

Judge the shape from different angle to check if it is balance.
Once you are satisfied with the shape and marking, unzip the zipper for the next step to continue sewing the ribbon to complete the purse.

Arch the longer zipper tape at the marking, the zipper ends should meet and intersect at the other marking.
Place a ribbon loop on the intersection point of the zipper, pin.
Sew to complete the coin purse. Trim off the extra length of the ribbon and insert the raw edge of the ribbon, slip stitch to the tape.
Whip stitch the zipper edges at the back of the purse.
[Update: Thanks to Gandma G's suggestion to add more information in the photo that is self explanatory.]

If you would like to line your purse in order to hide the stitches, do the following.
Fold and press the raw edges to make a 1/2″ wide fabric strip. Slip stitch along the stitching lines of the ribbon.

A fully liner zip-itself tetrahedron coin purse is completed.

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Triangle Coin Purse - How to sew

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For the detail of how to sew a triangle coin purse with zipper closure, read more after this jump:

This 3-D triangle purse is actually in the form of tetrahedron shape with 3 triangles on the sides and 1 triangle on the base, other name of tetrahedron is “triangular pyramid”. The tetrahedron shape makes good coin purse that it suitable to keep small change and also for the ease of getting the correct coin in a quick glance. I used brown as main color for the purses to resemble the color of the cooked bamboo or reed leaves of the wrapping. And, add a cord or ribbon to mock the tying string to hold the filling in the wrapping. To mimic it even further, I quilted diagonally on the purse to make it looks similar to the reed leaf grain.

If you look closer to the main photo, I sewed 2 different positions for the zipper, one on the triangle slope (left) and one at the center of the triangle (right). Both of them are basically made from the same method, the only different is how to sew the sides of the purse (step-by-step photo #14).

Materials:
1. Fabric – 2pcs. of 5″ x 5″
2. Lining fabric – 2pcs. of 5″ x 5″
3. Zipper end covers – 2pcs. of 2″ x 1 1/2″
4. Batting – 2pcs. of 4″ x 4″
5. Zipper – 3″ (I used 4″ metal zipper shorten to 3″)
6. Decorative cord or ribbon, approx. 18″

Tools:
1. Sewing machine with normal presser foot
2. Zipper foot
3. Sewing kits
4. Erasable fabric marker
5. Ruler
6. Knitting needle or something blunt but pointy for adjusting the corners

Cut fabrics & batting according to the dimension above.
For fabric & lining, 5″ x 5″ size is already included 1/2″ seam allowance. Draw sewing lines on the wrong side of the fabrics with fabric marker or pencil.

Draw a diagonal line on the center of the fabrics with ruler and erasable fabric marker.

Pin batting on the wrong side of the fabrics. Trim the batting to follow the fabric sewing lines if necessary.

Stitch diagonally on the right side of the fabric with sewing machine.
Use the presser foot as a guide, sew parallel lines across the entire piece.

Finished diagonal quilting on both sides of the purse fabrics.
Set aside.

Cover both zipper’s ends with the 2″ x 1 1/2″ fabrics.
Fold the raw edges on the 1 1/2″ side and sew a narrow hem before covering the zipper’s end.
Fold the 2″ length into half and cover the end (trim the raw edges on the zipper end if necessary), pin to secure the position.

Change your presser foot to zipper foot, sew on the other 3 sides, except the one across the metal zipper.
Repeat the same to the other end.

Now you have 2 pcs. of quilted purse fabrics, 2 lining fabrics and a zipper ready for sewing into triangle purse.

Pin the zipper on the purse fabric with right side together.
Normally, I don’t draw any sewing line on the zipper, I use the grain line on the zipper as a guide, which is normally between 3/8″ to 1/4″ from the center.
Sew on the seam allowance to secure the zipper in place. Remove pins.

Now, pin the lining on the zipper and purse fabric, with right side together.
Sew on the sewing line with zipper foot. Remove pins.

Turn the purse fabric and lining down, and zipper up. One side is done.

Repeat the above 3 steps to the other side of the zipper.

Bring the purse fabrics together with right side facing each other, do the same to the lining.
Bend the zipper’s edge down to the lining’s side.
Pin both sides of the purse’s fabric and lining.

Cut 3″ cord as a purse loop and place between the purse fabrics, on the zipper head side.
Sew both side and leave a 2 1/2″ opening on the lining for turning the purse right side out.
Tip: if you want to do make the one on the right hand side of the main photo, sew base and zipper head side. Instead of 2 parallel sewing, it becomes a ” ] “, aka base-side-base.

Grab the unsewn side (which is the base for this instance), turn the purse with sides meeting at the center. Pin to secure.
Do the same to the lining and bring the lining to the purse fabric.

Sew both purse fabric and lining fabric together, with lining opening facing up.

Turn the purse right side out from the opening. It may seems a little too chunky to go through the small opening, as long as you turn each fabric through one by one, you will be fine.
Use knitting needle or something pointy but blunt to shape the corners.

Fold the balance of the cord into half and stitch the center to the center of the purse bottom.

Tie a knot or ribbon to the purse loop. Trim the cord to your liking.
A triangle coin purse that looks like a wrapped rice dumpling is completed!

These are some of the rice dumplings my mom made yesterday. Look yummy, right? It taste even yummy, trust me!

Get the tutorial how to shorten metal zipper after this jump:

I wish I have all the colors and sizes of metal zippers stock in my craft room or….. I stay next to a zipper store. In reality, I am not and I only stock a few for some lengths (4″, 8″, 14″ & 18″) in some most popular colors (white, beige, brown & green). I used this method to shorten all my metal zipper sewing projects, like this, this, & this… and many more to come.

Material:
1. Metal zipper

Tools:
1. Wire cutters or nippers
2. Pliers
3. Ruler
4. Pencil
5. Scissors or Pinking Shear

Mark the new length on zipper. For this instance, I want to reduce my 4″ metal zipper to 3″.

Carefully remove the top stops from the zipper with wire cutter. Use the cutter tip to slightly ply open the top stop then remove it from the zipper.
Remove the teeth from the zipper by pulling them out one by one after ply open.
You may use nippers to remove the top stops and a stretch of zipper’s teeth in 1 pull which is a lot faster than pulling one by one, but, this method has a tendency to spoil the top stops. Use that method only if you have a pair of new top stops to put back after shortening.

Remove teeth until the marking or 1 tooth below the marking.

Put back the top stops and use a pair of pliers to crimp it back onto the zipper.
The shorter length of metal zipper is ready to be used for your next project.

I hope after reading this tutorial, you won’t hesitate any more with sewing a metal zipper on your project. I do understand how horrifying to hear a “sprungggg…” sound come out from your sewing machine while you are still pressing the paddle and guiding the zipper through the feed dog and presser foot, then you found that your needle tip disappeared and the needle crooked… scary, right!!! I experienced it before, so I know how you feel about needle breakage on your sewing machine.

Happy Sewing!!!!

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Sewing Safety Sign Triangle Pillow

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Material:
1. 14″ triangle pillow insert, I used Novelty Triangle Pillow Form from Downlite.
2. 40″ x 15″ Plain Yellow fabric
3. 10″ x 48″ Black felt or faux suede
4. Zipper (Yellow) – at least 14″
5. Cord ¼” dia (Black) – 3 yards
6. Yellow & Black sewing thread

Tools:
1. Sewing Machine
2. Zipper foot
3. Pins & needles
4. Scissors
5. Tracing wheel & carbon
6. Fabric marker or chalk

Download the 5 pages pdf pattern and print them out without scaling the printing, otherwise the size won’t be correct.
Enlarge the first page to 200%.
Cut the patterns out.
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free here.}

Use the cut-out holes of page 2-5 to trace the 4 safety signs. {I found that it is easier to use the cut-out hole to trace than the cut-out piece}.
If you are tracing on the wrong side of the black felt of faux suede, remember to flip the “High Voltage” pattern to the wrong side too.
Cut the signs out.
{Trace the signs as close to each other as possible to lessen fabric waste. Reserve 3″ x 48″ for piping strips.}
Cut 4 pieces of yellow triangle fabrics with at least ½” seam allowance.
Use tracing wheel and carbon to mark the sewing lines.
Draw a zipper line ½” above and parallel to the base of one of the triangles for zipper installation.
Cut 2 strips of 1½ ” x 48″ for piping installation.

Position the safety signs on the triangles. Pin to secure or you can use some tacky glue to temporary hold them in place. If you prefer fusible web, go ahead but make sure your fabric is able to take the heat. Mine can’t, so I did it the “ancient” way of applique.
Zig-zag sew the edges with black sewing thread of your own stitch spacing preference.
Remove pins.
Encase the cord into the piping strips. Start from the center of the triangle base, lay the piping cord on the sewing lines of the right side of the triangles.
Snip the strip at the corner so that it can bend smoothly.
Allow some allowances on the ends.

Overlap the ends and mark the strips for joining position.
Pin and sew to join. Trim away excess ends by leaving a ½” seam allowance.
Cut away excess cord. Burn the ends lightly to stop the fraying.
Sew the ends together to join it up.
Change to zipper foot to sew the piping to the triangle. Remove pin as you sew.
A triangle with the piping around it. Only 1 triangle needs full piping.
Refer the image below for the arrangement.
Install piping as per red line:
1. Left triangle – pipe on 2 edges only.
2. Right triangle – pipe on the base only.
3. Bottom triangle – No piping needed, install zipper instead.
To install the zipper, fold and press one of the sewing line on the triangle. Align the zipper with the center line along ¼” from the fold edge, baste or pin the zipper under it, top-stitch on the zipper line. Sew the other side of the zipper to the base of the top triangle.
Sew and join all triangles to form a triangle pillow case.
Hand sew the ends of the odd piping ends to the corners of the main triangle.
A complete triangle safety sign pillow case without the insert.
This is the Downlite 14″ Triangle Pillow Form. {Love it!!!}
· Made In America
· Hypoallergenic Down & Feather Blend
· 3 Shapes (Cubes, Spheres & Triangles)
· 3 Sizes (12”, 14” & 16”)
Insert the pillow into the casing from the zipper opening.
There you are – a Triangle Safety Sign Throw Pillow for your home decor.

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Loop Stitch Purple Shaggy Bag

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It’s 2011!!! Happy New Year, Happy New Decade!!!! Happy New Bag!!!!

And, my new year resolution is….

“To be more organized with time and practiced better housekeeping, so that I have more time to craft and to share them here!!!!”

As many of you knew that I’ve started reorganizing my craft room since end of last year…. yeah, I am still doing it and glad to let you know that it is almost done (detail to follow soon!!!). Before things can get really neatened up, I have to “pour” everything out from their existing storage, sort & group them and store them again in a proper way. During this chaotic process, with all my craft materials, stashes and tools out from boxes, drawers, cabinets, shopper bags, under the table and basically every where (phew!!! Just imagine how messy it was, I don’t even dare to take pictures!)….. I barely able to reach my sewing machine which was buried under the piles. With no sewing machine to use (hey, I just got it serviced!!!), instead, I did crochet projects most of the time during this period, so be expected to see another crochet project for the upcoming post. But, I will come back for more sewing projects after this, I promise!!!!

Just before I started the messy job of my craft room reorganization, I made a loop stitch shaggy bag again and this time it is in purple. Basically, everything remains the same except the size. For the dimension, I crochet it a little bigger than the green shaggy bag by adding 6 more stitches on the base chain (47 sts instead), 2 more rows on the loop stitch row (26 rows instead).

[For the details on the crochet pattern, lining and pockets of the basic shaggy bag, please click here.]

The measurement is approximately: 14 1/2″ (W) x 9 1/2″ (H) x 2 1/2″ (D)

I hope that you like this purple version because I made it for my lovely mum for her birthday. [p/s: purple is my mum's favorite color ]

Perhaps, if someone could help me to cut the fabric strips, I would love to make more of the loop stitch shaggy bag! Not only that this pattern is easy to crochet, the bag is really nice to hold and great to use!!!