Clear Bag Tutorial

Friday night a few of us girls got together and made some clear bags with zippers at the top. They turned out really cute, Plus very easy to do.

Christmas is coming, wether we like it or not. :)
I thought that these are Perfect for project keepers....either sewing, paper, or whatever else you have in mind.

Instructions:
1 zipper per bag
2 strips of fabric per bag
Plastic for the bag- I used the table plastic cover you can get from Joanne's. I did medium thickness. Sewed great. If you get the thicker stuff or you find your plastic sticking terribly when sewing lay a piece of tissue paper under and on top of it when sewing. Then it can't stick to your feed dogs or your pressure foot. ALSO: We cut our bag size (the length of the zipper + the width we wanted) with the fold at the bottom. This makes your life easy when trying to line things up before sewing the sides. Believe me!!

Pick out your zippers and cut 2 strips per bag. Mine were cut to 3" by whatever the length of the zipper was. If you would like your bag smaller than the zipper than leave it long right now. you can trim it later.

To save some time and an extra step fold over one edge 1/4 inch to the wrong side and iron.

Line up the ironed edge to the zipper edge. Then sew in place using your zipper foot. That way you can get sort of closer to the zipper. We didn't make ours invisible as you can see.

Repeat for both sides.

Lay open and flat the sewn strips to one top of the plastic. Sew this down using 1/4 inch seam allowance. Repeat with the other top.

Now you sort of have a tube. Open the zipper up so your hand can slip through (not fun to try and turn when it is closed). Fiddle with the sides and get them all lined up so there are no puckers or problems. Having the fold at the bottom makes this very easy to adjust!!

Sew down each side. Sew over the zipper too. --if the zipper is too long you may trim at this point. Then turn it right sides out! Tada!!

How cute is that?!

The smaller ones in the 1st picture at the top are the left over scraps. They still had the fold on the bottom, but were a little longer and skinny. They work just as well.

If there are any ?'s ask it!! hopefully i will know the answer.

I found these kind of addicting. I ran out of plastic though....oh man.

edit added: i have a few bags in the shop if you would like to purchase some that are already done. can't find one listed? convo me and i'll set you up.

hope you find this helpful.