I See Red

If you think I'm an extreme person you're right. There I was working with nothing but black and white polka dots followed by blue and white polka dots and now at the other end, I choose to go with a fabric that has at least 7 colours on the print. Yes sir, I went back to my other love - Ikea fabric. If hubs would let me, I would decorate my entire flat in Ikea items. Nope, he wouldn't let me.

Making these curvy crossbody bags take time. You just can't rush it especially when you work with zippers. In case you don't already know, zippers are known not to cooperate. You have to make them. I always use continuous zippers for my curvy bags. You buy them by the yard/metre and you have to buy the zipper sliders separately and if you don't know how to insert the sliders, you can get the sales staff to do it for you. Which I never do because I like to insert the sliders only when I absolutely have to.

Just in case you are running to the store to buy continuous zippers, please remember they aren't for everyone. The ones I use are wide and have GIANT teeth. I've seen others which are not as wide with regular teeth. But I prefer the wider ones. The GIANT teeth are really hard to sew through. So be prepared. I use jeans needle to do it. I think size 100/16 will do the job as well. But don't you hate the sound of the needle going through the teeth? Grrr.

The supply store I go to only stocks continuous zippers in red, beige, black and white. If you want other colours, you will have to order but you need to buy the minimum the factory asks for which is a lot and totally not worth the money because it'll take you decades to use them up. So I stick to red, beige, black and white.

Today I thought I'll show you some glimpses behind the scene.

See how many pins I need to hold down the zipper? Did I mention how uncooperative zippers are? Even continuous zippers.

Ah, the slider is in. I repeat. The slider is in.

And why can't the store sell red sliders?

Oh hubs said the RED is a bit much. A bit much? I say go red or go home. Okay, okay. I have bought a lot of red strap. Have to use it somehow.