Zipper Play

Last weekend Mary Mulari was here for the day. One of her specialties is working with zippers. She really loves one of the most irritating notions in sewing. I have re-done so many zippers in garments that I began using Velcro as a substitute, where possible. Mary has a book that explains how to make accessories using extra long zippers and, while she was here, I picked up both a lime green and a navy blue five and a half foot long zipper so I could try her techniques. (These long zippers were originally dveloped so that the sewer could cut zippers to custom lengths.) Since I forgot to buy the book from Mary while she was here, I borrowed the book from an ASG friend and here is what I came up with today:

And here is how they look unzipped:

The small navy change purse is about 3" x 4". The medium size navy makeup bag is about 7" x 5". The multi-colored ribbon tote bag is about 10" x 10". The navy bags just use the long zippers while the tote uses grosgrain ribbon to add width to the zipper tapes. They are really quick to make and you can go a little nuts dreaming up different combinations of zippers and ribbon to make these bags. They are probably not the most practical things to have but I think I'm going to have fun zipping and unzipping them to the oohs and aahs of small children.

BTW - seveal craft stores have these zippers available but in very basic colors. Nancy's Notions has them in the full range of colors including Lavender and Pink.