The Bucket Bag, Part Five

Zippered Pocket For Lining, Part A

If you're going to add pockets to the lining, the time to do it is before the lining is constructed.  I'm going to add two pockets, a zippered one and a patch pocket for my cell phone.  Today I'll take you through the first part of installing the zippered pocket and tomorrow we'll finish that up and add the patch pocket. 

First, I stitched the white band to the top of the lining section and top stitched it.  Then I marked the zipper position on the wrong side of the fabric.  To mark the position of the zipper, you'll need to know the length of your zipper.  I was able to find a 6" zipper this time, but I usually use a 7" or 9" zipper.  It depends on what I have in the collection and what is available.  Where you put the zipper is up to you, I like them in the upper 1/3 of the bag so that it is easy to get to and so that the pocket bag can be deep enough to hold things.  Mark one horizontal line longer than your zipper, then mark two lines, one above and one below, 1/4" away from that.  Make two vertical lines as end points of the zipper.  I generally mark them 1/8" to 1/4" longer than the zipper, just to make sure my opening is bigger than the zipper stops. 

To reinforce the zipper area, I fuse a rectangle of lightweight interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric.  I have a ziplock bag of scraps and usually I can find something suitable in there.  I use a lightweight that I can see through so that I can see the lines for stitching. 

On the right side of the fabric, I've centered the rectangle that I've cut over the marked lines for the opening, right sides together. I've pinned it from the wrong side, as I'll be stitching from the wrong side.

Now I'm going to stitch around the rectangle that I've drawn on the wrong side, stitching on the outside lines and pivoting at the corners

Next, the opening is cut.  Carefully cut through all the layers on the center line, stopping about 1/2" from the ends and cutting diagonally towards the corners.

The patch on the outside is turned to the inside and pressed.  Now you have a "window".  This is where the zipper will go.

To set in the zipper, center the zipper underneath the window and pin in place.  Once everything is lined up right, baste the zipper in place.  This takes less than 15 minutes, and is much more secure and easier when top stitching the zipper than fighting with the pins. 

After the basting, top stitch the zipper in place, close to the window edges using a zipper foot.  Remove the basting and you're done with the first part!

Next:  Adding the pocket bag and patch pocket.

Parting Shot.  The Other Irises.  My other irises are blooming, too.  Usually the yellow and purple ones bloom first, but they bloomed at the same time this year.