Patchwork Zipper Bag Tutorial, Part One

Part One: Making the Patchwork

Part Two: Making the Bag

Finished Size: 7 7/8" by 5 3/4"

Materials

• Sixty-four 2" Squares for the patchwork and an additional two for the zipper gussets: for a total of Sixty-Six 2" squares
• Lining fabric: Two 6 1/8" by 8 5/8" rectangles
• Zipper
• Fusible fleece: Two 8" by 5 7/8" rectangles
• Pellon’s Quilter’s Grid On-Point fusible interfacing: Two rectangles measuring approximately 13 by 10 1/4"

The Patchwork

1.  The exact size on the fusible grid is less important than getting the number of squares you need.  I cut mine so that I had 8 full squares across, six full squares top to bottom, and then partial squares surrounding those.  This measured 13" by 10 1/4".

2.  Lay the fusible interfacing on a white ironing surface with the rough fusible side facing up.  Lay the two inch squares on the interfacing using the grid lines for placement.

3.  Lay a pressing sheet over the patchwork and fuse in place following product directions.  (Which is really just a fancy way of saying press with a hot iron).

4.  You’ll notice that there are little bits of raw interfacing hanging out around the outer edges. 

Trim those away.

So that your foundation looks like this from the front.

And like this from the back.  (See those little bits where the foundation doesn’t cover?  Not a problem – they’ll be trimmed off later).

 

5.  Fold over where patches meet, using the grid lines to give you an accurate fold.  Sew with a quarter inch seam.

At the beginning and end of the seam lines, there are squares that do not get sewn.  Start and end the stitch line right at the edge of those patches.

6.  After sewing all the horizontal seams, trim off just a little bit of the seam allowance.

7.  At all of the outer edge seam lines, snip the edge of the fusible foundation in one-quarter inch, to the edge of the seam line.

8.  This will allow you to press the inner seams open and leave the outer patches that were not sewn still lying flat.  Like this:

Here’s the back in full:

9.  Repeat these same steps sewing the remaining seams, once again trimming the edge off the seam allowance, cutting into the foundation around the outer edge, and pressing open the sewn seams.  After all that, your back will look like this:

Here’s a close-up of the outer edge:

And here it is from the front.

10.  Now it’s time to trim off the excess.  Simply line up your ruler so that the quarter-inch line runs along the seam intersection of the border squares.

Trim off the excess.  Isn’t that pretty?  Words to live by: “When in doubt, summon the French General.”

Make two.

I’m making a zipper bag out of these, but I think they are just the right size for little mug rugs as well. 

(And I’m just so pleased with myself that I got past the silliness of cutting off my needed seam allowances!)