Ali Cat & Co.: Swoon Bonnie SAL Day 2: Exterior

Day 2 of the Swoon Bonnie sewalong. Today we will complete the exterior of the bag.

Take two of your main exterior panels. The top outsides of the pieces should swoop up .

Pin the two pieces together. When the two pieces are right sides together, the pieces should be identical. Sew the shorter of the long sides at 1/2" seam allowance.

Press the seam open. If using vinyl or leather, then use your fingers to press it open.

Sew down each side of the seam at 1/4"

Repeat with the other two main panels.

Exterior Welted zipper pocket

Take the panel that you want your welted zipper on

From the bottom of the panel, measure up 9".

Draw a 7" line (3.5" on either side of the seam).

1/2" above that line, draw a second line then connect the sides to make a rectangle.

Make dots 1/2" inside from the short ends, centered 1/4" vertically.

Draw diagonal lines from the dot to the rectangle corners like below.

Then draw a line from dot to dot.

Take your pocket facing. On the right side of your bag, measure up 9". Position the facing so the mid center is at 9" up. I have my facing folded in half here so the middle of the facing matches the middle of the bag seam.

Unfold the facing and pin it down along the edges.

Flip your panel over and sew around the rectangle. Do not sew the mid line or the diagonal lines.

Fold the panel in half and carefully snip the mid line.

Open the panel back up and continue to cut along the center line until you get to the dot for the diagonal lines.

Now cut the diagonal lines.

What it should look like when you are done.

Pull the facing to the wrong side of the panel

Iron the facing well to the wrong side of the panel.

What the right side of the panel will look like.

Welt Pocket! Watch THIS video on the welt pocket. Please laugh at my cheetah suit. I hate myself in videos.
What your welts will look like.

Zipper time! The zipper on the welt pocket is optional. If you do not want to add a zipper then skip down 3 photos.

Open your zipper 1/2 way.

On the wrong side of the panel, lay you zipper right side down on top of the welts.
I usually glue my zipper in place, but I ran out of glue so I used tape instead.

Sew around the rectangle at 1/8". Using a zipper foot can be helpful.

Using your seam ripper, carefully open up the basting stitches on your welts.

Ta-da!

Now to add the pocket piece.
Take one of your pocket pieces and flip your main panel over to the wrong side. Align the one of the short sides with the top of the welt piece. Pin.

Fold the top of your main panel down and sew the pocket piece to the seam allowance of the top welt piece. Be sure to not sew through your main panel!

Now the top is attached. Do the same for the bottom of the pocket to the bottom of the welt.

Align and pin. Fold down the bottom of the main panel and sew the pocket to the welt seam allowance.

Now sew down each side of the pocket piece. Be sure to move your main panel out of the way.

All sewn.

Try out your zipper and make sure everything is perfect.

I did not add a bottom strip but here are the directions.
Take a bottom strip. Fold the shorter of the long edges to the wrong side by 1/2" and press well.
Repeat for the other strip. Pin the strip on the right side of the main panel, matching the bottom raw edge. Top stitch across the top of the strip and baste the three other sides. Repeat with the other strip and main panel. When sewing the strip to the main panel with the pocket, pin the pocket down and sew through the bottom of the pocket when you top stitch the strip.
Stole this image from the instructions.