My kids all want to learn to sew, and so we are on a sewing adventure, and they hope to end up with new quilts handmade at their own hands!  Join us as we sew through the summer each week!  Sewing with Kids — week 1week 2week 3, week 4, and week 5.

I’ve been working on a pouch for a fun swap on flickr, I’ll post more on that soon, and purchased a *few* zippers on etsy.  Of course, showing the girls they decided that they would love little zipper pouches too.  So today, I gave Emmalie a leg up on the scary world of zippers!   Zippers don’t have to be difficult and if you start with something simple like this pouch, they are actually a lot of fun!

Here’s what you need –

4- 5″ charms

1 – 4″ zipper

and Lapel Stick makes things oh so easy and pretty much perfect the first try!

Glue the exterior piece to the top of the zipper, and the interior to the back of the zipper.

We just finger pressed the fabric down, away from the zipper.  Then add the exterior and interior on the opposite side, in the same fashion.

Finger press again, and open the zipper about half way, so you can turn it right side out later.

Matching up the zipper ends, pin it toward the lining, then match corners, and edges.  Leave a 3″ opening at the bottom to turn it right side out.

Backtacking at the ends keeps things nice and neat when you turn it right side out.

Clip the corners, and excess zipper ends, so they lay nice and flat.  Then turn it right side out!  Push the zipper the rest of the way open, to ease the process.

Once all the corners have been pushed out, pin the bottom opening and top stitch it closed.  Like so –

She did such a great job!  And she loves her new pouch.

I can’t wait to see what little treasures she puts in there!

Hopefully we’ve given you a new idea to sew with the kids in your life!  And dispelled some of your zipper fears (if you had any)!

Happy Sewing~

Amy