Kaede Hip Bag - Bag Sewing Tutorial

In this video we're going to be making the KD hip bag, or sling bag, or hip bag, or waist bag, bum bag, whatever you want to call it. So welcome back to Country Cow Designs. I'm Jo and my husband Adam and I make sewing patterns for bag makers. Now if you watched our videos before you might notice that we're in a slightly different location. That is because we have recently moved into a new shop premises for our fabric and hardware and sewing patterns. We'll go into that in another video. This video is about making the KD hip bag. So I know a lot of people like to wear it as a sling so we have got instructions in the pattern for how to adjust the length depending whether you want to have it as a sling or a waist bag and adjusting it to your size and that sort of thing. I just wanted to show you briefly the bags that we've gone through when we're designing this pattern because I just want to assure everyone that you can sew this on a all three. So I'll just very briefly show you prototype number one. Made some big changes from that. Prototype number two. Number three. Number four's already gone to its home so that's number five. Number six. Number seven. Number eight. And number nine. Okay so these have been made on a variety of different machines. A Benina domestic machine, a Janome HD9 straight stitch machine, and a Sailrite Fabricator industrial machine. Loads of different fabric types. Cotton, denim, wax canvas, cork, faux leather. We've done it all because we wanted to assure you that you can make this bag in pretty much whatever material that you want to. If you want some more inspiration on fabric ideas and things like that check out our tester bags. They are beautiful. The pattern testers just made the most beautiful bags. We will link the blog post in the description of this video so you can have a look and see all of their different bags. So features of this bag. It's got a big flat pocket on the front which fits a standard iPhone. It's got a zip pocket that is about the same size as well. And then it's got this top closure zip. So on the inside we have got card slots on one side and on the other side we've got a zip pocket and a nice fitted lining. So there's lots of different ways you can wear this bag and it does up with a side release buckle. So if you tighten it up you could wear it around your waist or your hip or your bum or the front. Pretty much wherever you want. So the features that make this a little bit different to other bags that we've designed in the past. We've got darts to give it a 3D shape and we've got a unique construction method for this exterior zip that keeps the zip pocket out of the seams but also means you don't have to do a facing. So hopefully you're going to enjoy that because that's different to any type of zip pocket construction I've ever seen. So if you want to sew along with me and make this bag you can grab the sewing pattern from our website countrycowdesigns.com. If you just want to watch and see how it's made yeah you can join me too. So I think that's just about everything. Let's get started. Step one of the pattern is preparation. If you're a beginner bag maker I recommend using nice thin fabrics like cotton and things like that. If you're more experienced you might want to use cork or faux leather but just be aware the thicker the fabric the more difficult it will be to sew because it is a small bag and whatever fabric you choose make sure that it is suitable for your sewing machine. So you will need to print the cutting chart which will look a little bit like this and this is going to have the measurements for all of your pattern pieces in it and all of your pattern pieces and the letters representing them. So as you cut your fabrics out you can go ahead and put the letters on the back that will help you keep track of what each pattern piece is. Once you've printed this out you're also going to want to print out all the pattern pieces and if you have any trouble printing at all we do have a video for how to print and assemble the pattern pieces which I'll link now. For this video I am using cork for the flat exterior and then I've got this lovely water resistant canvas for the rest of the exterior. All of that is interfaced with a medium weight woven interfacing with the exception of the top zip tab. That is the only exterior piece that does not have interfacing on it which is going to be this tiny little piece here pattern piece D. For the lining I am using a water resistant plain canvas and again my pattern pieces are interfaced with the exception of the card slots. The card slots because of this fabric is already a good weight I think it's 225gsm. I didn't want to add interfacing it will quickly add a lot of bulk. You can use a lightweight interfacing on this if you have a light fabric. I've also got all of my notions ready so this is my webbing strap. The webbing strap you're going to want to cut according to how you wear the bag whether you wear it across your body or around your waist that is going to make a difference on the size of strap and also your personal size. So for me the pattern instructs a size that increases from 33 inches to 53 inches. I find that works well if I want to wear it around my hip or if I want to wear it across my chest but for example if I was making this for Adam who's got a more broad chest than me and he wants to wear it across the chest as well I would make it bigger because I think this would be a little bit short on the short side for a guy who's got sort of like um wide shoulders. So just follow the pattern instructions in the preparation section if you want to change the length of the strap. I've also got my piping for the flap. Of course that is optional but it does add a really nice little touch to the finished bag it just looks really nice. I've got my zips and all of my hardware ready to go. Now before you start you're going to want to mark the top and bottom center marks on all of the pattern pieces except pattern piece H. So what I do is I simply fold each pattern piece in half and then you just want to do the tiniest little snip just an eighth of an inch that will create a nice little triangle cut out to show where the center is. This will make putting the bag together so much easier. I definitely recommend marking the center's top and bottom now. You can of course use a pen instead if you prefer and do that within the seam allowance. Step two is the exterior zip pocket and darts. Now before we start I am just going to say about interfacing. If you have a machine that really struggles with bulk or you just want a really neat finish you can trim the interfacing out of the top corners on the lining. So I'm just going to demonstrate how I do this. I simply just peel back the interfacing. Usually this is pretty easy to do but it does depend on the interfacing you're using and you may prefer to do this before you've used the interfacing on. I'm just going to trim a little bit out this is just really going to reduce the bulk in the corners where all the seams join. So this is totally optional but if you're using a domestic machine or you're using a fabric that might be a little bit too thick and you've got interfacing on it just might be worth doing this. So for this step we are going to need the two exterior pocket trims which is C, the pocket zip tabs which is pattern piece E, the two lining exterior zip pockets which is J, you've got yourself a nine inch zip and a zip pull and we'll also be using pattern pieces A shortly to fit the darts but for now we're just going to concentrate on this pocket. So this pocket is assembled slightly differently to what you may be used to. I've never come across this design before but I wanted to do this so that we keep the bulk out of the side seams of the back. So what we're first going to do is place one of the zip pocket pieces right side up, place the zip right side up on the top edge. So if you have a directional fabric this is the top and just clip those together and I'm going to sew that with a scant quarter inch seam allowance which is a little bit less than a quarter of an inch. I'm now going to place the other pocket piece right side up, again this is the top edge. I'm going to take the other side of that zip, line up your pocket sides and we're going to clip the zip to the top edge of the pocket and I'm going to sew that again with a scant quarter inch seam allowance. So now we're going to flatten this out like this. I want to fit my zip pull but first what I'm going to do is press this with an iron to flatten it out. Now if you have a metal zip you might want to avoid using the iron but maybe just use a seam roller something to get this to lay as flat as possible. Now the wrong side of your fabrics is on the right side of your zip, that is correct. Okay now I need to add my zip pull so if you're using continuous zip tape this is nice and easy. I'm just going to pop that on, feed both ends in and then just pull it on. Okay so I'm going to place that in the middle. Now we are going to fit our zip taps so what you want to do is place one of these right sides together with the zip. Make sure it's centered on the zip and it's lined up the edge here of the pockets. Do the same thing on this side so you can see my zip tape's a tiny bit longer than it should be so I'm lining up with the pockets. So I'm going to sew with an inch seam allowance but I don't want to sew the quarter inch at the top and bottom okay because I don't really want to sew this bit down so I'm just going to sew an inch in and just from about here to here. I'm going to do that with both of my zip tabs. Now those are sewn I'm just going to press that away from the zip so you can press that with an iron if you prefer but we're not going to top stitch these yet. Now you're going to grab your top trims and on each of these you want to draw a line three quarters of an inch. If you're working with a directional fabric just pay attention to the pattern because one of these you want the line to be measured from the bottom the other wants to be measured from the top. Now you might be thinking why are we doing this but don't worry it will make sense when we get to it. So what we want to do is fold it to the line and press it with an iron if you've got a fabric that can handle the heat and if not use a seam roller because we want to create a crease on this three eighths of an inch. Now the reason we're doing this is because when we sew this on we're only sewing part of it but we want the whole thing to fold neatly on the same line this will ensure that we get a nice square finish to the zip pocket. So just fold it up to your three quarters of an inch line and give that a good press. Okay so we've got those pressed they're now one inch each make sure yours are one inch and what we're going to do is we're going to start with the top one. Okay so you're going to center it it helps if you mark the center of your zip and we're just going to clip that together okay and you're lining it up with the zip not the zip tabs don't worry if your zip tabs are a little bit wider like mine are than the zip that just isn't a problem at all. Okay and what we're going to do is we're just we're going to sew in that crease that you created but you're only going to sew from the zip tabs to the zip tabs. Okay so you can just mark that with a pen if you want I do like to use a biro on the wrong side of the fabric but I know a lot of people recommend that you don't even keep these in your sewing room so perhaps a fabric marker is better. Now I'm just going to take that over to the sewing machine and I'm going to sew that with the three eighths of an inch seam allowance in the crease starting and stopping at the zip tabs. For this step you will need to use a narrow presser foot or a zip presser foot. When you reach the zip pull just leave the needle in and then you can lift your presser foot and shimmy the zip underneath. Okay so that is sewn now and the reason we created that crease is because now when we press this back it's going to be completely straight. If we didn't create the crease it'd just be harder to get a really neat square edge there. Okay so that one is looking pretty good now we are going to take the bottom piece and do the same thing make sure it's centered clip it in place and we're just going to sew it between the zip tabs. So we're going to press that bottom piece away and again it should sit nice and neat. Now you can see these are not attached on the sides. I know this is a peculiar way to assemble a pocket but this is going to work and what it means is that the pockets can be narrower and they're not going to be in the side seams of the bag. So what we are going to do now is with the pockets open like this we're going to top stitch this entire rectangle here. So just make sure yours is sitting nice and flat and go ahead and top stitch. When you approach the corners just make sure that all of your pieces are laying flat and square before you top stitch in place. Okay so now we're ready to close up the pocket. So we're going to put the pocket down to this is the bottom of the pocket okay and flip it over and you will notice that you have a shorter piece so what you want to do is trim that down so that they both match. Now I'm going to clip this pocket together on all three sides. So we need to sew these three sides closed and in order to do that you're just going to lift away this section and go ahead and close your pocket up. Use whatever seam allowance you want it can be three-eighths of an inch or you could use a quarter inch that would be fine too. Okay so now that the pocket is closed what we want to do is stitch these down. So we're going to sew across here across there and along and this is going to be an eighth of an inch away from this top stitch. Now you may want to just use a little bit of fabric glue to hold that in place or a little bit of double-sided tape if you want to make things easier for yourself. This top stitching can be a little bit fussy so I recommend using a thread color that matches your fabric. It will be a lot more forgiving if some of your stitches aren't quite in line. Okay so on the back you'll see that it is sewn a little bit through the pocket. So the reason that we're doing this bizarre construction is to keep it out of the main seams of the bag but also to make sure that we can actually sew the pocket closed. If you use the traditional method you will find that you won't be able to sew the top of the pocket up here because this will already be sewn down. And also I just think it looks really cool and it leads to a really nice finish. You now need to grab all of your A pattern pieces. So you're going to have in the exterior a full size and a reduced size and on the lining you're going to have the same. These are cut using the full size and then you fold it on the dots and cut the reduced size. Now you're going to need to cut out the darts on the paper pattern piece. So I've just done that with mine and then what you need to do is on the back of each pattern piece you're going to have to mark out the darts. Now we're going to repeat this process for all four pattern pieces. What you need to do is pull your lines on the darts together. So you've got one on each side you're going to pull it together like this so the fabric is right sides together. Add a couple of clips and we're going to sew that line on a sewing machine. I'm going to do the exact same thing on this side so fabric is right sides together. Match up those lines and we're going to sew on that line as well. We're going to do this with all four pattern pieces. Make sure that you backstitch at the beginning and end of these. So once you turn them over you just pop them out you will see that you've got your darts finished there. So we just leave those as they are you don't need to trim them and now we're ready to move on to the next step. Step three is the exterior pocket. For this step you are going to need your completed exterior pocket and you're going to need your two reduced size A pattern pieces. This is your exterior and your lining. Then you're going to need your two flat pieces exterior and lining and the lining needs to have the stabilizer fused centrally to it. So I've already done that. You're also going to need your little bit of piping and a magnetic snap and pattern piece F which we will be using at the end. So we're going to start with the flap lining. Now I've already marked mine you want to mark it centered and one inch up from the bottom so that is marked on mine. Now I'm going to grab the magnetic snap washer and place that so it's centered over my mark. Then I'm going to mark these side slits and snip them. So I'm going to fold it on that line and just give that a good snip. A sharp pair of scissors would be good for this or you could use a seam ripper if you're very careful. So before I go any further I like to just add a little bit of fray check to these slits just to make sure that it doesn't fray over time. So I'm going to fit the male magnetic snap through the slits in my lining. So that's the piece that has the sticky out bit. Now I like to add a bit of stabilizer behind this just to reinforce it. So I've got just an off cut of a stabilizer that I had lying around. You could use absolutely any stabilizer that you want. Then I put my washer over the top and bend those prongs down. If your prongs are really stiff you can use a tool or something or even maybe a mug. I have used one in the past to push them down. Okay now I know a lot of people like to put a bit of interfacing over the back to stop these prongs from going through to the fabric behind. You could also use a bit of tape or something like that. Whatever you want to use really. So I'm just going to stick a little bit of interfacing over it. Now what we need to do is fit the piping to the exterior. So I've got the exterior flat piece right side up and what I'm going to do, we're just going to have the piping along the curved section. So you want it to overhang a little bit on the edge and I'm going to clip it so that the piping bit is facing upward toward the top of the flat and I'm going to clip that along the curve of this flat piece. Now it will be overhanging a little bit on each end which is fine. You just want to check the distance from where you're sewing the piping to the edge is three-eighths of an inch so that it's going to match when we sew the film. Now I'm just going to baste that piping in place. So my piping was a tiny bit less than three-eighths of an inch up to where I need to sew it so I've just inset it very slightly on that edge to make sure that it's three-eighths of an inch to where I need to stitch. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to place the lining right sides together with the exterior and clip those together. So we're going to sew down the edge here with three-eighths of an inch seam allowance and then we're going to sew along the curve and back up. You can use the stabilizer as a guide. I like to use a zipper foot right up against the stabilizer here and also you're going to need a zipper foot or a piping foot for this section of piping but personally I just prefer to use a zip foot and get it right up against the piping cord. Don't worry if you don't get it first time if you don't quite get close enough you can always just do a second row of stitching so if this is your first time doing piping don't worry you can be a little bit cautious and then on the next row you can make sure that you get closer to the piping. If you have an awl or a screwdriver or something like that you can use it to kind of guide you along the edge of the piping and make sure that you are getting nice and close. Okay so what you can do now is just check how your piping is looking. You want to check if you've got any stitching showing so you can see here I haven't got close enough on this little section here so I just need to do that bit again. So what I like to do is just add a clip where I'm not close enough yep so mine's all the way from there along and then what I'm going to do is sew another row of stitching but this time I'm going to get closer to the piping and make sure that I get as close as possible to it without sewing through the cord. Okay so you can see that I got a better stitch with my second row of stitching. Now what I'm going to do is just trim these corners down to reduce the bulk and you can trim down here a little bit if you want to and I'm going to turn this out. Now if you've got like a turning tool or a chopstick that would be really helpful and you can just gently push your seams out. Make sure that your piping is sitting nice and neat so it's pushed all the way out before you top stitch your flap and if you've a fabric that doesn't mind the heat you can take this over to the iron and give it a nice little press on the iron. Now I'm going to take this over to the machine and I'm going to top stitch with an eighth of an inch seam allowance along all of these three edges and then I'm just going to close the top edge. I've changed my thread color here because I really like to have threads that match my fabrics I just feel like it gives it a really neat finish. Now the flap's done we are going to grab the exterior pocket piece which is A and it's a reduced A. Okay so we are measuring two and an eighth of an inch down and I've marked just there I've gone ahead and marked my washer slits as well so I'm ready to fit the female magnetic snap. So I'm going to push that through pop my piece of scrap stabilizer on again that can be any stabilizer that you have it doesn't have to be anything specific. Okay and again I'm just going to cover over those prongs with a little bit of interfacing just to protect the fabric behind it. Now you need to grab your lining pocket piece that's a reduced size what we're going to do is we're going to place these two pocket pieces right sides together match up that top edge and clip them together and we're just going to sew that top edge. Now that's sewn I'm just going to press this seam open you could do that with an iron or you could use a seam roller like this one this will help me get a neater finish here so what I want to do is get a really neat finish on this top seam here I'm just going to clip it down in place and then we're going to top stitch that with an eighth of an inch seam allowance. Now what we want to do is clip the exterior and lining pocket pieces together so you want to make sure that the darts are kind of going in that way so that it's 3D out toward the exterior and you also want to make sure that your darts are butterflied so they're not they're not both on the same direction. Okay so I'm going to be pointing in opposite directions match the seams up and clip those in place and then you just want to clip it around the rest of the edges also matching up those bottom center marks. Once they're clipped together we're just going to baste the edges all the way around the pocket. If you have a metal machine bed like I do just watch out for your magnetic snap because it will try to stick to the machine as you're doing this. So now you want to grab lining piece F so this is the one without the darts in it and you just want to place it right side up and then we're going to grab the flap and that is going to be exterior's right side up and match up your center marks there and clip those together and we're just going to baste that into place. Now you're going to grab the zip pocket that you made earlier and you want to find the bottom edge. Okay so the bottom edge is going to sit sort of like that so what you want to do is get the center mark on that bottom edge and the center mark on the flap place the right sides together and match them up. So you can see I've had to fold my pocket down out of the way because I don't want to sew through that right now. The zip pocket is a little bit wider you can see it's kind of sticking out the edges here that's absolutely fine just make sure that it's centered I'm going to sew that on with three-eighths of an inch seam allowance. So now what you want to do is just push everything up away from this bottom piece so absolutely everything is pointing up maybe give that a little press on that seam you could use an iron if you prefer. What we're going to do now is we're going to top stitch through this bottom pocket piece while everything else is pointing upward. So as you're doing this you're going to be sewing through the seams behind make sure that your pocket is not being sewn through. Now what we want is to add the pocket so this has got darts the back panel does not so this can sometimes feel a little bit weird to put together because it's something 3D with something flat but just stick with it what you want to do first is match the pocket to the pocket back okay match those up nice and neat and clip together and do the same on the other side. Now sometimes I like to just baste that in place so it doesn't move because you don't want it shimmying around when you're sewing but that is totally up to you. Next I'm going to clip the bottom center marks together make sure that they are matched up perfectly and then you can go ahead and clip the rest of the pocket to this back piece. So this will fit but it is a little bit weird doing something 3D to something flat so you may find it easier to sew it with the lining facing up like this because then you can kind of get around the curve easier. Okay I'm going to take that over to the sewing machine and baste that pocket in place make sure that the top edges don't slip around or move as you do this. I want to make sure that they line up perfectly with the back. Okay so that is your pocket sewn on now the flap is going to kind of have a curve in it so you want to attach the magnetic snap and then you need to press the curve in so what it's going to do is going to kind of come up and around. Okay so you've got this little curve here so you just want to find where it lays nice and neat and roll that seam or press it with an iron. Now we just need to shape this top section for that we're going to use pattern piece F. Now what you want to do is mark the centers on your pattern piece and match them to the centers on this panel. Now if you have gone off book a little bit with the seam allowances like for instance you use a different seam allowance around the zip or here maybe your panel is going to end up too tall. If that's the case you want to make sure that you trim it to match. This pattern piece F is what all of your panels should be like when they are done and ready to be assembled. So what I'm just using it for is to shape this top section here I'm going to mark that and I'm going to go ahead and trim that down. So that's looking pretty cool and that is that panel finished. One thing I am just going to do is just turn this over and just trim this pocket just a tiny bit on those corners. Now I will make sure when the bag is assembled that that doesn't get caught in the seam but I just want to give it a bit more of a chance. We want this pocket to be as big as possible without ending up in the seams. So you can set this panel aside and we will move on now to the next step. Step four is the card slots. For this step you're going to need your two card slot sides which is piece H. You're going to need your card slots piece G and you're going to need your paper pattern piece F. So the first thing we're going to do is we're going to place the card slots wrong side up and there are some measurements in the pattern and you want to mark those measurements on the wrong side of the fabric all the way up your card slots. I also recommend marking the bottom and the top of your card slots. So this is the wrong side of my fabric it's all marked up ready to go. So what I'm going to do is fold it wrong sides together on the first line and I'm going to take this over to the iron and give it a press. Now what I'm going to do is fold the next one right sides together on the next line. I'm going to press that. I'm going to fold the next one wrong sides together then right sides together, wrong sides together, right sides together until we've got all of our card slots. Now as you're doing this make sure that your sides are lining up and if you need to just adjust your fold slightly. So what you'll end up with is one, two, three folds like that. This is how it will look from the back. Now what we're going to do is pull each of these folds away and top stitch them individually. Now those are top stitched we're going to baste the sides to hold it all in place. You want to baste both sides in the same direction so I'm going to go from bottom to top on both sides. Okay so next you just need to mark a line up the center here so that we can sew this up and close up the card slots. So now you want to grab your two card slot sides and we've allowed for these to be a little bit different because depending on the thickness of your fabric your card slots can end up different heights. So what you want to do is just make sure that the bottom edges line up when you clip these together. So you're going to put them right sides together and clip together. Do the same thing with the other side and we're going to sew both of these on with three-eighths of an inch seam allowance. Now what you need to do is push those side pieces back. I'm going to press those with the iron or you could use a seam roller and then we're going to top stitch on the sides going through all of the seams behind. This is where it's really helpful if you've used no or lightweight interfacing because these card slots can get a little bit bulky. So the last thing we need to do now is shape this panel. So we're going to place pattern piece F on top, line up the center with the bottom center mark and clip those together. Now we're going to be doing this from the bottom so that we're trimming off the top and I'm just going to mark all the way around this pattern piece. You'll have to forgive the fact that my pattern piece is also a KD crossbody on them. That is because when I originally started this pattern it was designed as a crossbody bag but then it quickly became apparent that it would be better as a hip bag. So I changed it but I never got around to changing my pattern pieces. Okay so I'm going to go ahead and cut that out to that shape. So that's your card slots done, now we can move on to the next step. Step five is the interior zip pocket. For this step you're going to need your eight inch zip and a zip pull, your zip pocket basing which is piece I, your two interior zip pocket pieces, K and your lining main panel piece A. Okay so we're going to start with the zip pocket facing. Now as you can see I've already marked mine up according to the pattern so this is three quarters of an inch in from each side to create a box in the center. I'm also going to go ahead and mark the center on this and what I'm going to do is I'm going to place it centered three quarters of an inch down on this line main panel and these two pieces are going to be right sides together. So I've pinned that in place, now I'm going to sew this rectangle here. To get a neater finish I recommend using a really short stitch length on the corners. I actually go down to about a one but that does depend on the fabric that you're using and the small stitch length that it can handle. So yours should also have a center line drawn with two triangles on the end. I don't tend to draw mine anymore because I've done this so many times but what we want to do is cut along the center line and then you're cutting toward these corners and you want to get as close as you can possibly get without cutting the stitching. So you might prefer to use a craft knife or a tiny pair of scissors. These are just my absolute sharpest scissors so I'm going to go ahead and use these. So now I'm going to take this over to the iron, I'm going to press it like this on all four sides and then we're going to push that facing through to the back so you want the whole thing to come through. This can be a little bit awkward sometimes, just fighting me today. Okay and then you want to press it again on this side to get a really nice neat finish on these seams. So you may need to just like roll them out with your fingers to get a nice neat finish. Okay so that's all pressed. Don't skip the pressing because it really makes difference to any puckers that you get in these corners here. It really reduces them and that small stitch length really helps too. So now we need to create the zip pocket and we're going to do a similar thing to what we did with the exterior pocket. I'm going to have the pocket piece right side up and you're going to clip your zip right side up on that top edge. So if you have a directional print this is the top edge of your fabric. I'm going to sew that with a scant quarter inch seam allowance. Now you're going to place the second pocket piece right side up. This is the top edge. Match that zip so it's right side up again and make sure that these pocket pieces line up on the sides here. Then clip the zip to the pocket piece and we're going to sew that with a scant quarter inch seam allowance. So I'm going to take this over to the iron and I'm going to press this zip flat again. It's going to make it way easier to fit. If you're using a fabric that can't be ironed you can actually just top stitch this edge here down just within your seam allowance and that helps it stay flat. So I'm going to go ahead and fit my zip pull. Again having it in the center is going to make things slightly easier for you. What we're going to do is we're going to place this over the zip and the zip should line up with this pocket facing on the back and you want to make sure everything's centered. Obviously you're going to need to pull this through as well. I like to fit this in place with a little bit of fabric glue before I sew it so that's what I'm going to do. If you choose to use glue make sure you keep it within the seam allowance of your zip. Now we're going to sew all the way around this box with an eighth of an inch seam allowance. When you're sewing this part make sure that your pocket pieces are open like this. If they're both pointing down you're going to end up sewing your pocket closed and it will be completely useless. So this is the alternative method we could have used for the exterior pocket but I know a lot of people struggle to get a neat finish on this and prefer not to use it on the exterior of their bags so I wanted to use an alternative method that still kept it out of the side seams. Okay so now what we want to do is turn that over and pull the top pocket piece down. Again they are not going to match that's absolutely fine. One is shorter so the shorter one you want to fold it back by half an inch and give that a good press. Now that's pressed back what you want to do is get the other pocket piece to match it so if you just clip them on the sides then you can make sure that they are both even. There we go and then I'm just going to press that one to match the first one. So the reason that we're doing it this way is because this will make it easier to sew a neat closing gap later on because this is where we're going to turn the bag out through. So what we need to do is sew just the sides of this pocket. You don't want to sew through the sides top to bottom. Back stitch really well on the bottom because that's where we're going to turn the bag out. So that is your interior zip pocket done. Now we can move on to the next step. Step six is the top zip closure. For this step you're going to need everything that you've got left. So you're going to have your two exterior panels, your two lining panels, your top zip, your top zip tab and everything for your straps. But we're just going to start with the zip. So first things first you want to put your zip pull on and then on the end where the zip is closing to you want to mark it one inch on each side. So what we want to do is separate the zip at the end and then you just you literally just pinch it on the line that you drew and as you pinch it it will create this 90 degree fold. So you've got your 90 degree fold and you just want to firm that up in place. So I'm going to use just a hand needle because I find it easier to hold it in place and do this. You can do this on your machine of course if you want to but basically I'm just going to sew a couple of stitches near the edge where it won't be seen. You want to do the same thing on the other side. As you do this make sure that your zip teeth line up where they are turned so you want to have a nice matching level on both sides. Now I'm just going to trim the edges down so that it matches the rest of the zip and I don't really like to leave the raw edge on the nylon zips so I just use the lighter very briefly on it and that stops the nylon from fraying. Okay so what we want to do with our little zip tab you want to fold it in half first of all so you've got a mark down the center then you're going to fold these edges into that center mark and you'll probably need to press this with the iron so that's now going to be one inch wide then you're going to fold it again on the center so you've now got four layers with no raw edges on this side and it's going to be about half an inch wide so you want to place that on the raw end of the zip. I'm going to use a little bit of fabric glue to hold that in place just clip that in place and you want to make sure that the bottom is in line with the top so that's nice and neat. We're going to top stitch this open edge here with an eighth of an inch seam allowance. Okay so that's your zip done now on all four of your panels your main panels you want to half an inch in on the top edges from both sides so your zip is going to go right sides together with this exterior panel with the flap your zips should be closing in the same direction to the left and what we want to do is we want to place it between the half inch marks now if your zip doesn't fit like at all just go back and check that your test square came out correctly because if your pattern piece is printed at the wrong size which happened to me on one of mine because you haven't printed it correctly then your zip won't fit so just a heads up there and you'll have to adjust your zip accordingly. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to place this between the half inch marks and I'm going to clip that together and baste the zip in place. Now you want to grab your card slots piece make sure it's the card slots because this has a flat back and we need a flat back to match it. We're going to place this right sides together with our exterior piece match up all your center marks match up the sides and the zip is going to be sandwiched nicely inside between the two layers. Now we're going to sew this entire length with a quarter inch seam allowance you may need to use a narrow presser foot or a zip foot to get your quarter inch seam allowance. Okay so what you want to do now is push this lining up away and the zip too so we're going to be top stitching this seam here on the exterior and we're top stitching through the seams behind as well you may need to press this edge to get a neat finish before you top stitch it. Now we're doing this this way because it gives a neat finish on the corners when we're finished so we're not top stitching the lining we're just top stitching through the exterior and all of the seams. So next you're going to grab your other exterior panel and you want to place the other side of the zip right sides together with it and again it's going to be between the half inch marks that you've made clip that together and baste it in place. Now you need to grab the remaining lining piece and you're going to place it right sides together with the first lining piece and you're going to clip it to the same edge of the zip that you're working on so you can match up the centers match up the edges and clip that all together and we're going to sew through this with a quarter inch seam allowance. So now that's sewn you're going to push the lining up away from the zip you're also going to push the other lining and exterior up away so we've just got the exterior that you've just sewn you're going to press that to get a nice neat finish on the seam and then you're going to top stitch the exterior only and you're going to be sewing through the seams directly behind it as well. So your lining and exterior are both attached to this top zip now so what we're going to do is just set that aside for a minute and grab your webbing straps and for both pieces one of them is longer than the other but for both pieces we're going to attach a strap slider to the end in the same fashion so what we're going to do is we're going to put it up and over the center bar now if you've got a bit of a fraying end you can again treat that with a lighter or some fray check to stop it from fraying and we're going to fold the raw edge under just a little bit so it's probably just under an inch okay so we've got it folded under itself so the raw edge is hidden I'm going to clip that in place and I'm going to use a rivet to fix it in place if you're not using rivets that's absolutely fine instead you can just sew a row of stitching on the edge and another row of stitching as close as you can get to this center slider if you're using a rivet you can fit a rivet making sure that it's centered on the strap and then you can set that with your rivet press and we're just going to repeat the same thing with this webbing now you need to grab your buckle and what we're going to do is feed it through the buckle so I'm working with a short piece of webbing first then I'm going to go back over that center bar and there you have it now this part of the strap is adjustable and it's fixed to the buckle we're going to do the same thing from the other side of the buckle with the other piece of webbing so this is the longer piece of webbing and depending on the type of buckle you have you can have one that kind of locks it in place but I'm just going to show you how to use it with just a really basic buckle and then they are all pretty similar so I've put the free end through the buckle then I'm going to put it back up and over this center bar and there you have it attached on both sides with a strap slider on each side having a strap slider on each side just means that we can really adjust the length of this strap quite a lot because depending which way you're going to want to wear it you want to have a lot of room for adjustment so you now want to grab your main bag and we're going to work with the panel that has the flap on it so all the other panels the other exterior and both linings are going to be up here out of the way and what we're going to do is we're going to place the strap we want it three-eighths of an inch down from this seam here this top seam and you want to make sure that your strap sliders are the wrong way up okay if they're the wrong way up this will be the front of the bag we're going to have the webbing overhanging the edge by about an inch on the edge that's just going to add strength to the strap so it doesn't have to be specific just about an inch overhang and three-eighths of an inch down from the top seam go ahead and clip that to the panel make sure that your strap is not twisted and that both your strap sliders are wrong way up go ahead and clip the other side in place too go ahead and baste that in place making sure that you're only sewing through the exterior panel here with the flap you're not sewing through these panels up here okay so we now need to open this up so that we've got the exteriors right sides together and the linings right sides together like that and what we want to before we go any further is match these seams up so let's start with where the zip tab is the zip tab is going to be pointing toward the lining like that folding that way and then we want to match these seams up absolutely perfectly on the exterior this is really important you want it to match perfectly okay do the same thing on this side now i'd recommend before you go any further just basting that just to make sure that they don't move at all it does make a difference to how the finished bag looks so now what we're going to do is clip the rest so that the linings right sides together and the exteriors are right side together so i'm just going to go ahead and pop this strap into that exterior zip pocket just to try and get it a little bit out of the way and you might want to bring your zips in or this top zip into the center just so it's not in the way i'm going to match up the darts first and clip those together then i'm going to match up the center mark and clip those together and then you can just clip the panel all the way around so for the lining we want it to be a little bit different because we want a slightly tighter seam allowance so what i'm going to do is just mark it three quarters of an inch below this main seam now as i'm sewing when i reach these marks i'm going to increase my seam allowance to half an inch as i go around and you want to make sure that you're not going to sew this in okay because um you don't want to do that accidentally because we need to be able to access this to turn the bag right side out so before you start clipping this all together undo the zip make sure that's out of the way i would recommend sewing it with this side up to make sure that you're not accidentally catching that in your seams so i'm just going to clip that all the way around as you do this match up the center marks on the bottom the lining is a little bit harder to clip purely because one side doesn't have darts and the other does and so it's going to be again a 3d to flat situation it's just going to feel a little bit more awkward but it does actually fit and clip together okay so we're almost there because remember you don't have to top stitches when you turn it out so you're getting really close now what i'm going to do i'm going to sew with three-eighths of an inch seam allowance all around the exterior and then when i get to those marks on the lining i'm going to increase it to half an inch i'm going to make sure i don't get any of my pockets caught in the seams and you want to be nice and close to where the edge of the zip and the zip tab are so what i like to do i sew the whole thing with my standard presser foot because i find that easier then i'm going to go back over it with a zipper foot so i can get the three-eighths of an inch seam allowance right up against it okay because you're not going to be able to get the three-eighths of an inch seam allowance here with your standard presser foot because of those zip teeth so just bear that in mind you're not sewing through the zip teeth you're not sewing through the zip tab you're just sewing right next to them okay so we're now ready to turn this bag out so through the zip pocket that you left open you're just going to push the whole bag out through it now if you're using faux leather or cork or something like that and you're having a lot of trouble you can try heating it just gently with a hairdryer sometimes it just makes the fabric a bit more malleable and makes it easier to turn out so you just want to spend some time really pushing all of the curves and the corners out you can reach through the pocket and then push the seams out like that you just want to make sure that everything is all the way out so you've got a nice neat shape and then up here you can see it will be a bit ugly at beginning you need to pop your zip tab out so this is where i like to use my turning tool because there should be a tiny little gap like that you can actually pop it out there we go and then you're going to need to press the lining in so that it stays in and it's not showing up above here and obviously press it around the zip to make sure it's sitting nice and neat push it right into the bag okay and give it a good press what really helps with that is if you have a travel iron or like a mini iron you can press the bag provided that you're using materials that are okay with heat you can go ahead and press it on the edges it gives it a really nice neat finish okay once that is pressed your lining should be sitting pretty neatly on the inside there's just one last thing to do you need to pull your zip pocket out and close up that gap so this is slightly easier because we folded it in so we can just clip it together and sew it closed so i'll take that over to the machine and sew it with an eighth of an inch seam allowance if you can't manage that you can do a quarter inch seam allowance you just want to keep it as small as you can so shove that back inside and just push it in as far as you can and the corners now if you're struggling to get like a really nice neat finish you can stuff it with a tea towel or a small towel and then you can iron the outside it makes it much easier to iron the outside of a bag but this is looking pretty cool i am pretty happy with that so that's our bag all finished i really hope that you've enjoyed sewing this bag with me um we will have more patterns coming out soon and more videos so i will just show you a look at the next pattern the next one is going to be designed by adam and this is something totally different okay so this is a very quick make it's a present box that comes undone and then the whole thing just opens up so it's super simple it's really quick to make and the idea is you know for holding presents and things like that and it's just got a knot that closes it like that there you go so um we'll have more on that one soon that's just going to be like a really quick make be a nice little um change because we have had some complicated bags recently and then after that i promise i am getting around to designing my baby backpack it the pattern is pretty much done um so that will be sometime in the future too and if you want to know more about our new in-person shop um you can check out our website countrycowdesigns.com or we're going to do a video very soon on our youtube channel which will just be a little bit of an intro to the shop and the kind of things that we supply um you can kind of get an idea we've got basically everything that you need to make bags and um this is down in Newquay in Cornwall in the UK so if you're local we hope to see you soon um the shop is going to be opening officially on the 1st of July and um from the 8th of July we will have regular shop hours so yeah check out the website for all the information and the opening hours and um hopefully we'll see you there