Ellen's Esplanade Sew Along - Week 3 (and 4 If You Need It!)

It's zipper time!  For this week, we are going to get all the zipper things sewn and then put the entire bag together!  If you need to stretch this out over 2 weeks, you have time, but I bet you can bust it out!  If you start getting overwhelmed, just do it one step at a time and get up and take breaks.  This seems like a lot, but it's (hopefully) going to come together easier than you expect!

Zipper Pocket - I am totally loving all the purses that turn through a zipper pocket now since it means no hand stitching the lining at the end!  The ones that used to leave the hole along the top edge are also much neater now that I don't have to try to iron them in and hope my seam allowance was exactly the same at the start and end of my sewing!  The only thing to really remember is to leave the zipper OPEN when you are on the final step!

If you are adding additional pockets, now is a good time to put them on the lining piece without the zipper pocket.  The supplemental pockets are so amazing, lots of pockets in a small area, and they look pretty nice!  Or you could just do a simple slip pocket, out of 2 rectangles!

Facing - Pretty simple step, just remember to stitch on the facing side for your topstitching (understitching the seam up instead of down)

Top Zipper - Wonder tape is awesome and a total game changer!  If you don't have any, a glue stick or even fabri-tac will work, just go light and try to stay inside the seam allowance.

Attaching the gusset - When this is sewn on, you should be able to zip it closed and have the zipper right side up.  Remember to unzip it when you go to attach the lining, or you will end up with a very strange bag...

Finishing the bag - The lining is sewn similar to the outside, just make sure that your pockets are right side up!  The pieces are already smaller than the exterior, so you don't need to worry about adjusting the seam allowance to make it sit in nicely, it's all going to come together, trust us!

I could have sworn I had zipper ends, maybe the craft gnomes stole them... in any case, I decided to try these belt ends that I bought for some random project, and they almost worked perfect!  They are slightly narrower than my zipper tape so I folded in the edge a tiny bit.  Some E6000 glue should hold it together nicely, and I barely got high from the fumes... ;)

Found these at Joann's, but I've been told they have something similar at walmart!

And DONE!!  Now for good pics...