OK….so now it’s on to part two of the Uptown Girl Sew Along! WOOHOO!
Over to you, Ellen:
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Hi I’m back… got 6 hours of sleep and I’m on it again. Now we left off finishing the Recessed Zipper.
On to the Lining – Retrieve your lining pieces, I laid them right sides together and cut out the 2” square from the bottom corners. Put aside.
Slip Pockets – You can follow the pattern or I do mine slightly differently if you’d like to give it a try. I start with a piece of cardboard (from inside a fat ¼ is good) with a 1cm line drawn on it. Using this as a gauge I press the seam allowance of 1cm to the wrong side on the short side of both pieces. Then fold as per pattern and seam the other short end and along the long side and over the pressed in edge.
Now turn out, paying attention to the two corners so they are turned out square. The open end will be closed when it is sewn to the lining. Repeat on the other pocket. Don’t forget to do 1 or 2 rows of top stitching across the folded edge which is now the top of your pocket. Grab your lining and I use my square ruler to position the pocket 4” down from the top edge.
Now, Topstitch around the sides and bottom of your pockets. Closing the opening as you go. It’s a good idea to secure the top corners of the pockets with a zigzag or I do a triangle as in the picture. Then sew in your lines to cut your pocket into 3 smaller ones. My second slip pocket I only cut into 2 by doing a double line of stitching down the centre.
Now … I like to have a hidden zip pocket somewhere on a bag. So, I put one in on the lining that will be under the Zipper gusset. So I used an 8” zip, and fitted it into a box which is about 1cm wide x 7” long. My pocket fabric I cut and fused with a thin interfacing which measured 10” across and 16” down. Draw a zip box with the first line drawn 1 ¼” down from the top edge of the pocket fabric and centre it, then centre this on the lining right sides together. Position the pocket top edge 3” above the slip pocket top edge. Sew around your box and then cut open along the centre line and in a V at the ends. Finger press the seams and turn through to the other side. Place zip under the box and top stitch around to secure it. Making sure you zip pull is on the correct end that you want it. Then fold your pocket tail up and seam the 2 side and across the top.
Zip Gusset and Facing – With the lining in front of you that is to be at the back of the bag, centre the zipper gusset on the top of the lining with the zip pull at the required end which best suits you. Baste it on and then place the Top facing on the same top edge matching ends and seam all three together. Finger press the seam allowance towards the top and press and top stitch. Repeat with the other side, seaming the lining, zip gusset and top facing together. Press and topstitch. Put aside.
Zip Pocket Divider – gather your 4 zip pocket pieces, your zip and tabs. This is pretty straight forward; attach your tabs to either end of your zip. Then sandwich your zip in between two of your pocket pieces on one side and repeat on the other side. Using a pressing cloth, press your outside layer and lining to one side and repeat other side. Topstitch 3mm from zip and again 10 mm from fabric edge to form a casing for a zip tie or boning. Insert boning in and cut it so it stops short 1 cm on both sides. Fold all the fabric down so that all 4 layers are on top of each other and the zip at the top. Baste around the 3 raw edges. These will be encased later.
Now we have to join our front and back linings and sandwich the divider pocket in between them. First we have to box our corners by following the instructions on all four corners.
I must admit I had a little trouble getting my corners to sit nice in this next bit. So I basted the bottom of the divider pocket to the base seam line of one lining and then pinned on the other lining at the base seam. Then I seamed them together at the 10 mm mark. But I started and stopped at the corners seam line.
Then I folded the corner seam allowance back out of the way and pinned the 2 layers of lining and the divider pocket together and seamed them together starting at the corner seam stitching line. Then stitched all the way to the top of the facing. Back stitching at the point where the pocket starts to give it strength. Repeat on the other side except leave a 6” section open for turning.
You may wish to do a second row of stitching for strength and grade the seams.
Now is the time to make sure you have any labels or tags on your bag as in the next section we will be joining our outer and inner shell together.
Now I’ll leave you with this pretty picture… Till next time HooRoo
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AWESOME! Thanks again Ellen!
If you don’t have it already, you can grab the pattern for the Uptown Girl HERE!
Do you LOVE the Uptown Girl but don’t sew?…Just pop along to our new Buy and Sell Facebook group where you can find plenty of awesome people who do! 🙂 Sellers, you are most welcome to join us there too!
Until next time, happy sewing!
