As always, I had grand plans for all I would accomplish this weekend… finish hemming Cabo (and fix a minor zipper issue), sew my apron for the apron exchange, and sew a zipper pocket in the lining of my Weekender bag.� And that was just my plan for Saturday morning.� When I finished that, I would rearrange and organize the drawers and cabinets in the bathroom, and organize my closet.� If only things got done by virtue of ambition alone!

Cabo isn’t done yet.� In attempting to fix a minor zipper problem, I ended up breaking the zipper instead.� Now I need to go buy a new zipper and sew it in.� No big deal, but a setback nonetheless.

The apron, I’m happy to say, is finished!� I’m really happy with it too - it’s very 50’s/vintage looking.� I had a very hard time picking out fabric, but managed to find a pretty vintage looking print that I’m hoping my swap partner will like.� No pictures - I want to keep it a surprise for the recipient!� Unfortunately, the apron took a loooong time to sew, mostly because finishing seams with bias tape is hugely tedious.� I tried my best to keep all the stitching straight and perfect, but it is far from being perfect.� Sewing for someone else is hard!

I didn’t even get to the zipper pocket for my bag - by the time I finished the apron on Saturday, it was too late to even think about starting another project!� And the house stuff?� Ha!� That will have to wait until another weekend.

And what about Sunday?� Sunday was spent at the lake, as usual, boating, swimming, and generally trying to stay cool.� Fun, but it’s hard to stay cool when it’s 110+ and the lake water temperature is 88.7! � Is it fall yet?

The hot weather has been keeping me from knitting.� When it is 100+ degrees outside, and around 80 in the house (with the AC running at full blast!), I have zero desire to touch yarn.���

I’ve been trying to sew instead, since sewing doesn’t require that I be in constant contact with fiber.� Unfortunately,�sewing is not a portable hobby and since I haven’t been home much on the weekends, I haven’t spent as much time sewing as I’d like.� The cabo halter is taking me forever to finish, even though it is an uber-easy project that has only taken a few hours of sewing time so far.� All I have left to sew is the hem… not sure when I’ll find the time to finish it up - hopefully before the weekend.�

After I finish sewing Cabo, I’m going to do a detailed post comparing my completed�halter to the one pictured on the pattern.� Stay tuned… all I can say for now is that I know why the model is hiding her face behind that cowboy hat.

I worked on Cabo a bit last night, up until Project Runway came on TV, at which time I sat down on the couch and promptly fell asleep. Oops! Thank goodness for the DVR.

As I was sewing Cabo, I realized the instructions called for finishing the seams with a zig-zag stitch - after I had sewn the seams, of course. Personally, I dislike how this looks as a seam finish. It makes the garment look homemade. Of course, no one will generally see the inside of your garment but you, so it really doesn’t matter. But, you know me… I’m a bit on the obsessive compulsive side when it comes to my crafts. I decided to rip the seam and use french seams instead. For those new to french seams, I’ve posted a tutorial below.

How to sew a French Seam

1. Pin fabric with WRONG sides together. This is not intuitive at first, but trust me.

2. Sew a narrow seam. For a 5/8″ seam allowance, I like to use a 1/4″ seam. For a 1/2″ seam allowance, I do slightly less than 1/4″ (approx. 1/8″) seam.

The completed narrow seam. Note that at this point, you may optionally choose to trim the seam allowance to 1/8″ to ensure that it does not show on the right side the completed seam.

3. Press the narrow seam to one side.

4. Fold fabric with right sides together and press at seam.

5. Sew a second narrow seam with wrong sides together. For a 5/8″ seam allowance, sew a 3/8″ seam (3/8 + 1/4 = 5/8″). For a 1/2″ seam allowance, sew a 3/8″ seam (3/8 + 1/8 = 1/2″).

6. Press the completed French seam to one side.

7. A completed French seam, from the wrong side…

And from the right side…

Dear Amy,

I adore your patterns. No, I take that back. I adore your DESIGNS. Your patterns - not so much.

I’m currently working on my third project from one of your patterns. The first was a Madison bag, and the second was the Weekender. Now I’m sewing a Cabo halter. Fortunately for me, I’ve been sewing for nearly all my life and understand the basics of laying out and cutting a pattern. Although your sewing directions are fabulous, your pattern layout & cutting directions are seriously lacking.

When I opened the Madison bag pattern, I was dumbfounded that the pattern did not include layout instructions for the pattern pieces. Fortunately the pattern pieces are small and your fabric requirements were generous enough that the pattern could be laid out just about any way I chose. The pattern didn’t mention anything about where to position the pieces with respect to the grain of the fabric (at least for the pieces that weren’t laid on the fold), but presumably the straight edges of the pattern piece were to be parallel to the selvedge. The Weekender layout gave a bit more guidance, but left it to the sewer to create his/her own pattern pieces for several parts of the bag.

Tonight I cut out my Cabo fabric. I was pleased to see that you included an actual pattern layout diagram in the pattern. However, as I was studying it, I realized that anyone who was using directional fabric and following your pattern layout literally would end up with an upside down fabric pattern on the top part of their halter. According to your layout, all pattern pieces face in the same direction EXCEPT the top exterior front piece. Yikes! Check out the diagram below:

See the pink shaded piece? The piece you labeled as “Upper front exterior”? The red “V” I’ve drawn on that piece to indicate the direction of the pattern faces the opposite direction of the “V”s on the other pattern pieces. Interestingly, the piece labeled “Upper front lining” is facing the right direction.

I’m guessing that most people sewing this pattern would realize that the lining and exterior pattern pieces are interchangeable, and would end up sewing the pattern pieces to achieve an upright pattern on the upper front of the halter. Someone new to sewing, or someone who is very literal about following a pattern may not notice, however. Personally, I would chose to cut out the fabric so that both the lining and the exterior pieces are facing the right direction, which would require extra fabric. (Yes, I am that anal.) But, I’d need to know this before I went to the fabric store, not after I purchased my fabric and was in the middle of my pattern layout.

So, to sum it up, I’m a bit frustrated and conflicted. Your designs are great, it is nice to have options other than the big pattern companies, and I like supporting independent designers. However, for such expensive patterns, they always seem to be lacking a bit in the pattern layout area - the part that I consider to be the most important when sewing from a pattern.

Sincerely,

A frustrated sewer

PS. Your seam allowance instructions are kind of wonky too.� Why 1/2″?� Typically garments are constructed with a 5/8″ seam allowance, and quilts with 1/4″.� I’ve never seen another pattern using a 1/2″ seam allowance for all seams.� Oh, and on the Weekender, there was one seam with a 1″ seam allowance.� Huh?� If you’re going to choose a non-standard seam allowance, at least be consistent!

Lots of laziness & lake time around here this weekend, but I did accomplish one crafty thing… Presenting my completed Amy Butler Weekender bag!

In case you are wondering, in the picture, the bag is standing on its own, and is completely empty… love that Timtex structural support!
Details:

Pattern - Amy Butler Weekender Bag

Fabric - Random mod/retro home deco fabric from JoAnn’s (I think).� Initially I had planned to use a lighter weight AB cotton fabric, but decided this pattern needed something a bit heavier.� I’m glad I went with the heavier fabric!
Highlights - First time using Timtex.
Lowlights - First time it’s taken me over three hours to sew two pieces of fabric together (due to said Timtex)

Thoughts - I love the way the bag turned out, but wow - what a pain in the rear this was to sew!� Not sure I’d do it again, certainly not with my old clunker of a sewing machine.� I still have to hand stitch the lining in place, but I’m planning to sew a zipper pocket inside the lining first.

Up next in sewing - AB Cabo Halter and an apron for Caitlyn’s apron exchange (so excited for this one - I found a neato vintage pattern on e-Bay!)

I also had some adventures in knitting this weekend, as I attemped to make a dog toy for Rebekkah’s critter charity drive.� Let’s just say it didn’t quite work out as planned… details tomorrow.

This is a repeat of a tutorial I posted over at Sew I Knit back in March. I know a bunch of people who are making the Amy Butler Cabo Halter (including me!), which uses an invisible zipper. Hope this helps any of you who haven’t done it before!
***VERY IMPORTANT: An invisible zipper is inserted before your seam is sewn. Your pattern instructions may tell you to sew the seam up to the point where the zipper will begin. Don’t sew the seam, instead follow the directions below for an invisible zipper.

1. Before You Begin - Supplies & Preparation

To sew an invisible zipper, you will need (l-r): an invisible zipper foot, an invisible zipper, and your cut fabric pattern pieces.

Invisible zippers may not come in as many colors as regular zippers, however, because they are invisible, matching the zipper to the fabric exactly is not critical. When the zipper is closed, you will only see the small zipper pull. Choose the color zipper that has a zipper pull which best coordinates with your fabric. When you remove the zipper from its package and unzip it, the zipper teeth will form a ridge on the back side of the zipper, as shown below.

Before sewing the zipper, it must be ironed so that the back of the zipper is flat, and the ridge of the teeth is on the front side of the zipper. IMPORTANT: When ironing, use a low heat setting. The synthetic setting of your iron is best. When I ironed this zipper, the heat was too high, and the teeth melted together… it’s good thing this zipper was just for my tutorial!� The picture below is the back side of the zipper after it has been ironed. As you can see, it is nice and flat, and you can see the rows of stitching next to the zipper teeth.

Next, you will need to prepare your fabric so you can line up the zipper properly when you sew it. The teeth of the zipper must be exactly lined up with your 5/8″ seam allowance. To mark the seam allowance, you can machine baste along the seam allowance using contrasting thread, as shown below. If you do not want to baste, you can also iron the seam allowance to form a fold, or you can use dressmakers chalk or a fabric pen to mark the seam allowance.

2. The Invisible Zipper Foot

In order to install an invisible zipper, you MUST use an invisible zipper foot. When I purchased my zipper foot for this project, I could only find a cheap (~$3), plastic zipper foot from Coats & Clark. Figuring out the zipper foot caused me more trouble than any other part of the zipper project. The zipper foot came out of the package in four pieces - white, red, yellow, and blue. The white piece is the foot itself, and the other colored pieces are interchangeable parts that allow you to attach the foot to different types of sewing machines.

It took me a long time to figure out which interchangeable colored plastic piece to use for my machine. Finally, I determined that I had to remove the foot from my machine, and measure the distance from the center of the foot screw (at 2″ below) and the center of the needle (at 1.5″). Because this distance is 1/2″, I determined that my sewing machine required the red plastic attachment for the foot.

Hopefully you can tell from the picture below how the foot is attached. Once you have the foot assembled correctly, it works just like any other foot attachment.

Here is a front view of the foot. You can see there are two grooves in the front of the foot. These grooves help to guide the zipper teeth for the right and left side of the zipper. Also note that the bottom part of the foot slides along a horizontal bar. Be sure you have your needle lined up with the hole in the center of the foot before you begin, or you may break your needle.

Your invisible zipper foot may look slightly different from this one, and may be attached to your machine differently. However, it will have the same grooves, and will operate in the same manner.

3. Inserting the Zipper

Open the zipper completely. Pin the right half of the zipper to the right piece of your fabric. The top of the zipper (where the teeth end) should be 3/4″ from the top of the fabric. For the particular zipper that I was using, this meant that the top of the zipper tape exactly matched up with the top of my fabric. Start at the top of the zipper, and with the right side of your zipper (face down) facing the right side of your fabric (face up), pin the zipper tape to the seam allowance, being careful to place the edge of the zipper teeth exactly along the basted or marked seamline. Start sewing at the top of the zipper. Lower the presser foot, placing the ridge of the zipper (the teeth) under the right groove of the foot. Now you are ready to sew!

Sew along the length of the zipper, removing pins as you come to them, and keeping the teeth of the zipper lined up with the seam line. Stop sewing when you get to the zipper pull and cannot sew any further.

Next, you will sew the left half of the zipper to the left side of your fabric. Line up the top of the zipper and top of your fabric, as for the right side, leaving 3/4″ between the top of the zipper and the top of your fabric. Lower the presser foot onto the zipper, with the left groove of the foot over the zipper ridge.

Sew along the zipper, removing pins as you come to them. Be sure to keep the edge of the zipper teeth lined up with your marked seamline.

Stop sewing when you get to the zipper tab.

Voila - your zipper is sewn in! The only step remaining is to finish sewing the seam.

**Note that while I have not done so, you may choose to baste your zipper in place before sewing it.

4. Finishing the Seam

If you are using the Coats & Clark invisible zipper foot, or a similar zipper foot, you will need to reposition the foot in order to finish the seam. Slide the foot all the way to the left, so that the needle is positioned in the small groove on the right side of the foot. You may also choose to use a regular zipper foot for this part of the seam.

Close the zipper. With the right sides of your fabric together, position the foot as close to the zipper as you can. Be sure to pull the bottom tail of the zipper out of the way to the right so it does not get sewn into the seam. You will want to begin sewing the seam several stitches above the point where you stopped sewing the zipper. (Note in the picture below, I began sewing about 1/4″ above where my zipper seam ended. The longer stitches you see that end in the blue thread mess is my seam basting.)

Here is the finished seam. You can see the zipper stitching in brown, and the seam stitching in light blue. The zipper and seam stitching won’t match up exactly, but your goal is to get them as close as possible so as to avoid any gaping or bunching on the right side of your fabric at the bottom of the zipper.

After you’ve sewn the seam, you may also want to stitch the bottom ends of the zipper tape to the seam allowance to keep them laying flat.

5. The End Result

Zipper closed:

And, zipper open:

6. Internet Resources

There are lots of other tips and tricks for sewing invisible zippers - the tutorial above illustrates only the method I used. Here are some other resources you might find helpful when you sew your invisible zipper:

- Sewing.org

- Invisible Zippers

- Threads Magazine - Sewing in a Zipper

- Simplicity - How to sew an invisible zipper

- Needlepointers.org - How to insert an invisible zipper

Here it is… my completed Madison Handbag.

Inside:

Project Summary

Pattern: Amy Butler Madison Handbag

Fabric: Amy Butler Charm

Pattern modifications: I used heavy canvas interfacing to line the exterior pieces of the bag, which did not seem heavy enough to provide the structure that I wanted. To give the bag more structure, I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the lining pieces of the bag.

Final Thoughts:

- Fairly straightforward pattern. Handle placement might be tricky for those new to sewing. I like the bag, but if I were to do it again, I would not use the canvas lining, and instead would use a very heavy fusible interfacing on the exterior. Also, I would not add a facing to the lining of the bag. The facing on the lining makes it a bit bulky, and it doesn’t lay as flat as I’d like.

-I need a better sewing machine. My machine has fits every time it has to sew through more than three or four layers of fabric - it just won’t do it without spitting out the bobbin. Then I end up with a tangled mess of bobbin thread coming through the needle plate. It isn’t pretty.

- This will make a nice bag for small knitting projects, like socks. It isn’t big enough for much more than that. It would make a cute purse if you were a minimalist. I am not.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Caitlyn’s house, where we both set up our sewing machines and worked on sewing our Amy Butler bags.

We had a surprisingly productive afternoon! I went from this:

To this:

In a matter of just a few hours!

The unlined Madison bag is a bit on the droopy side. Instead of using heavy iron-on interfacing, I used heavy canvas sew-on interfacing. Thus, the bag is not really structurally sound. I’m going to experiment with the lining, and add some iron on interfacing to the lining. Perhaps that will help stabilize things a bit.

Caitlyn also made some good progress on her Amy Butler messenger bag. Here’s an action shot:

It looks like there are a couple of new patterns on the AB site… take a look at the adorable Cabo halter top! I MUST HAVE that pattern!

And, finally, a bunch of people have commented on my header image. That’s a picture I took in my backyard last summer, when the bees were out in my purple coneflowers (aka Echinacea). I think this is one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken. Here’s the original image. I edited it using Photoshop Elements to get a properly sized header.