Zipper feet

Folks,

In my younger days (in sewing terms), I used to question everything. Why must I sew something this way and not that way. Is that the best way? Is there a tool available to help me sew better? Then I got so used to sewing in a certain way that I stopped looking for better ways.

Recently I said out loud to hubs that I wished someone would come up with an app to do XXX. For the life of me I can't recall what XXX was. Anyway hubs said there was such an app and he was right! It got me thinking that the little irritations I face daily when I sew with zippers can be solved by better tools.

Let me explain. I sew a lot of zip pouches and it's possible I've made at least 500 by now. So you can believe me when I say I know how to sew zippers. I have to say, despite having sewn so many zippers, I still have issues with the zipper foot.

ignore the lint!

See this zipper foot? It comes with the sewing machine. I hardly ever use it. Know why?

See how close the needle is to the zipper? That's desirable if you sew clothing but for zip pouches, I like to sew further away from the zipper teeth. I don't know about other sewers if they mind sewing so close to the teeth because in real life I don't go around asking people that sort of question. Of course you're probably thinking why don't I sew more to the right but if I do that there's nothing to anchor my zipper foot on. (underneath the zipper foot there is a groove) In fact, that's what I did in the old days - using the zipper foot like you would a regular foot - but it always felt a little unstable.

For a few years now, I've been using an adjustable zipper foot. Most of my zip pouches have been made using this zipper foot.

I love using this zipper foot because I can sew anywhere on the zipper. I could place it snug next to the zipper teeth which I'll never do or I could just follow a drawn line and use the line to guide me. This foot is great for making piping, by the way!

So, like I said. I made most of my zipper pouch using this adjustable zipper foot. And honestly it did a good job. But I never found it perfect. There was just one big issue I had with it. The zipper foot did not have enough grip. I always felt it was too slippery when I sew as I'm not anchoring onto anything. Because of that I need to go slowly. If I have to go slowly for 500 zip pouches, you can imagine my frustration.

Yesterday I was at my sewing machine dealer's office and I casually told the good folks there my zipper foot problem. Okay, who am I kidding? I poured out my problems to them. When I bought my adjustable zipper foot from Brother a few years ago, I was told that was the best zipper foot available which was why I bought it. My dealer brought out this other adjustable zipper foot.

Janome adjustable zipper foot

the orange one is my first one

Honestly, I couldn't tell based on the look if it would be better but I bought it. Yesterday night I immediately sewed a zip pouch to test the new adjustable zipper foot.

This was what I sewed. Is it pretty? Oh never mind, let me show you the problem...

After assembling the foot (it's not clip on, sadly) I realised with horror that I could only sew with the fabric on the right hand side. I have adjustable needle but this was as far it could go. I know it's just a matter of getting used to always sewing with the fabric on the right but I really felt quite angry because this probably meant my dealer had sold me a zipper foot not meant for my sewing machine. They knew the model number I owned. I mean, wtf, rite? Despite everything, I managed to complete the zip pouch. Btw, the grip was soooooo much better. I contemplated calling up the dealer immediately asking for a refund or exchange it for another zipper foot which looked exactly like the one I already had. But the office was closed and I thought about shooting an email to the dealer. I was already forming the angry email in my head. Grr!

Then I had a feeling... an overwhelming deja vu. Wait, wait. It's there. Something. What is it? I can't quite grasp it yet. It's close. I can almost feel it.Then it hit me.

I'M THE BIGGEST DUMMY IN THE WORLD!

This has happened before. When I bought my first adjustable zipper foot, I too struggled with it until I realised the keyword is ADJUSTABLE.

Yep, I see the screw now and I can move the position of the foot. I'm just so glad I never emailed that angry letter or stormed down demanding a refund. Previously I too wanted to storm down to my Brother dealer to demand a refund.

the needle is in the center of the foot

This morning I discovered something even more wonderful. I managed to adjust the position of my needle and the zipper foot such that I am able to sew in the center of the zipper foot. You know what that means? Firstly, I no longer need to mark a line to follow. Secondly, the distance from the zipper teeth to the sewn line is exactly where I like to sew.

See how much space there is between the teeth and the fabric? I think I'm going to bitch so much less when I sew with zippers from now on.

One fabric to rule them all

Hi people,

I think my vision is improving because yesterday morning, I woke up after sleeping for 12 hours (yes, very impressive) and saw how filthy the bathroom was. This bathroom is shared by the kids and hubs but do they clean it? With my almost fully restored eyesight, I simply could not bear the sight of the crap. So I washed it. How did I end up being the only one in my home who cares about cleanliness? To be fair, my son does his share of housework. He helps out a lot, sometimes he takes the initiative and sometimes I have to persuade him to. The other 2 members of the family tie for last place for the amount of housework done.

My right eye no longer feels like there's a golf ball in it. It's more like a pea now. IT'S GOOD. It's progress. All the headaches are gone. I no longer feel pain. It's more like I'm recovering from being punched in the eye. IT'S GOOD. It's progress. The eye cream still stings. Three times a day I act like a baby when I have to put it in my eyes. I close my eyes and wait it out. It's like 5 to 10 minutes. Hubs has started calling me blind woman. "Where's the blind woman?" "Blind woman, come here!" "I have something for you, blind woman."

Yes, I want to punch him in the face too.

This week I kinda felt like I was learning to walk. I hadn't sewed for VivoCity craft market for quite a while and suddenly I didn't know what to. So I wasted a few days playing around with some fabric but I couldn't feel motivated to make anything. Then I decided to start with clutches but it turned out I have run out of magnetic snaps so that became a UFO. Finally I looked at my circus animals fabric and decided I would only sew with that fabric. Yes, my own little challenge.

In any case, I had gotten a little excited working on something. Last December, on the last day at VivoCity, I was probably feeling very high, I asked hubs to write down some notes in his phone. Later he read the notes to me and I couldn't make head or tail. It seems, in my high brilliant state, I wanted to make a zip pouch with the raw on the outside.

Raw on the outside? That completely made no sense. So I did not pursue it. Anyway, yesterday, I decided to make a zip pouch with the raw on the outside.

Wait. Did you think I would really leave exposed seams on my pouches? I used french seams to sew the edges together. It's sort of a french seams except in french seams you would press the seams to one side but I left mine jutting out. For the bottom, I used bias binding to enclose the raw. I find it unthinkable to handsew the bias binding so I used zigzag stitches instead.

This zip pouch is a lot of work. And it looks a little weird to me. But hubs and my girl love it!

I don't know why I felt I had to push myself so hard but the next thing I made with the fabric was something miniature. This was a tough one. It's a coin pouch in case you haven't already figured it out. I had to use tweezers to sew the bottom. It was so so small I almost screamed as I sewed. I said a lot of bad words. But just look at it. It's so darn cute.

The next one was a no brainer. Two rectangular pieces of fabric = a zip pouch. I made this the traditional way. No tricks, no nothing. But I added a bias binding trim. Which hubs HATES. He said the trim I added spoilt the whole thing. My girl wasn't too crazy about it too.

I had been thinking of increasing my stock of Get Up And Go Go sling bags and was so glad I had enough fabric. I think this fabric print looks really fantastic on this sling bag.

With this cut of fabric, I could easily make anything but I took the easy way out and made a drawstring pouch. This was the 3rd item I made today and was starting to feel my energy sapping.

Last block of fabric. It was getting late and close to dinner time. I asked myself if it was possible to make a very big zip pouch and get away with it. I told myself to go ahead. Halfway, I knew it wouldn't work and had to add handles. Handles are hard to make. So I was really hungry while making this hand carry zip pouch. My advice is never to sew while hungry. I kept seeing food while I sewed.

Although I asked Bear nicely to model the zip bag for me, he stubbornly remained in the shadows.

I used up most of the fabric. I succeeded! What's left are unusable and will be kept for fabric buttons. Now I'm going to eat ice-cream. See you soooooonish.

Linked to these partays:
Sew Many Ways
Blue Bird Sews

To die for zip pouches

Hello friends,

I've been bad. I did not go vegetarian once this week. Yesterday to "punish" myself further, I ate potato chips. I felt guilty thru'out so I believe I'm punished enough. I'm avoiding wearing any of my older(tighter) clothes as I want to defer finding out if I've put on weight. Next week I'm going to be good. I will have at least one vegetarian meal a day instead of making the whole day a vegetarian day. That way I won't feel so deprived. The mind can be so powerfully stubborn.

Next weekend I'll be back at Vivocity to sell my bags. (More details here) A quick glance at my stock tells me I haven't been productive enough. Only one more sewing week left. If you are eagerly awaiting my next ePattern, I'm ashamed to say it's all on paper. Nothing has been transferred to the software yet.

Today I discovered that the bag of 50 pieces of swivel clasps that I bought in December has been used up save for one. I'm amazed I've made so many wristlets in such a short period of time. In December I tried to buy 100 pieces of the swivel clasps but there weren't enough in the shop. Clearly this is a hot item but for some reason, the shop owners just refuse to stock more. Perplexing! So until I make another trip to the shop and I'm hoping they have new stock, I won't be able to make any more wristlets.

Here are a few zip pouches I've completed. The first 3 big ones I don't make often.

Can you tell the tree trunks are felt? What? You couldn't tell they're trees?

This one's aimed at those looking to buy a Valentine's gift.

Back to my favourite theme - flower-flower. And the stems are chain stitches.

I know the handle is a little weird for the butterfly pouch. I wanted to use the baby blue drill remnants. The handle is detachable so it's optional.

I've finally completed all my rabbits zip pouches. I embroidered 3 more. Unfortunately I got so carried away with the embroidery that I forgot to keep an eye on the amount of linen I had. So four of these pouches were in a bit of a fix as I ran out of linen.

For these 3 zip pouches, for the back I pieced remnants together. Good save, I think.

But for this zip pouch, I ran out of options. So I used another linen for the back and tried to "save" it with the fabric tab and handle. Kind of wanted to make it look deliberate and not out of desperation.

After a while, all the rabbit zip pouches start to look the same to me.

I made a "houses" zip pouch too. I think the trees killed it.

Linking to these parties:

Young and crafty
Family Ever After
Petite Hermine
Blue Bird Sews
Ask Anna
So very creative
The gunny sack
Get outta my head please
Ninth street notions
and a few others later on......

Keep sewing and carry on

Hello friends,

It's midway thru' Jan and I'm sorry to report that my sewing hasn't been productive. Lately for the past one week, I've been plagued with bad sleep and ghosts are chasing me in my dreams. I wake up when I can't outrun them. What's worse is the ghosts FLY. Hopefully I can get better sleep soon so I'll stop getting these daily gripping headaches. I've read that you could die from taking too much paracetamol but when you have a pounding headache, you have no choice.

I updated my Etsy shop today with two items. The first one is my sexy zippy wristlet. I showed you the embroidery in a previous post. The wristlet took longer than expected to construct. It's a little hard to think straight when your head is pounding. This morning I made the handle which I embroidered with feather stitches as well. But instead of french knots, I went with daisy chains.

The flying pigs drawstring pouch I made a while ago. (see this post) Although I put it up for sale at VivoCity, no one bought it. It puzzled me as I sold so many other items. But no point spending time mulling over it. So I thought why not pop it in the shop.

Would you guys do me a favour? Go favourite them at Etsy. (if you have an account) Thank you.

I made a few other sexy zippy wristlets using premium linen cotton, some of the fabric I've used before and a couple are new fabric from my stash. I really love looking at my sexy zippy wristlets. You know what? I've never given myself a sexy zippy wristlet before. It's so sad huh? Time, laziness, lethargy, headaches - these are my enemies.

Echino beige

Yellow Green Pseudo Patchwork

Echino Fuchsia

Yuwa Green Roses

Houses

Echino Hot Chocolate

I have roughly 3 weeks left to make more items for my first craft market date in 2012. It will be on 4th and 5th February at VivoCity. I'll see you in my next post.

 Linked to:
Ninth Street Notions
Skip to my lou
Young and crafty
Family ever after
Sew Chatty
Keeping it simple
Sumo's Sweet Stuff