Handmade Christmas: Zipper Pouches

Back from a wonderful holiday with family in NW Washington, and kicking off the new year a little bit sleepy!


Before I left I posted a few of my Handmade Christmas project posts (soap and hedgehog). Because I have been on 32-hour work weeks this fall I decided to use my extra time to make most of my Christmas presents. What I didn't count on was that such a task would require more than 8 hours a week, which means that our house has been a mess for the last month, I hardly cooked dinner, we didn't have a Christmas tree or lights, and I'm exhausted. That said - I loved every minute of it.
Many of the projects I found online or in books, some I made up and others came to me by way of friends or family. Some I had to make 2 or 3 times before I found success, and amazingly, some came together the first try! I hope that all of the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them, and if not, I hope that they can fake it.

Zipper bags were my first project this year. I thought they would be great for many people on my list, and everybody can use an extra bag. This was also my first time sewing zippers, so that was an experience.

Once I got the hang of it though, I went a little crazy. As a result, everybody got a bag. The two above bags are adapted from a pattern at Prudent Baby. I used this pattern for three bags in three different sizes. For the outside fabric I used coated/laminated cotton (raindrop pattern) or oil cloth (apple pattern). The inside liner is PUL. The zippers shown above are plastic sport zippers, but I used a metal zipper on a third bag (not shown). It might rust if the bag was used to hold wet objects, but the metal zipper does look really cool.




I used a second pattern from Prudent Baby, this Boxy Pouch, which can also be adapted to a myriad of sizes. I made it in two sizes, using both oilcloth and cotton (dot pattern). The larger bag (at left) seems to be the perfect size for some very small diapers and ointment, though the recipient assured me that he could find many ways to fill it up!