A Zippy Weekend

 Last Saturday our Simple Living Toowoomba group had another fantastic workshop which was presented by the very talented Neralie and Valda. The topic of this workshop was all about learning to love zippers as a lot of people these days seem to have trouble inserting them. Of course, Neralie made it look super easy as she showed us how to insert a pocket with zipper into a bag then finishing with a zipper on top. 

Of course, being a quilter and therefore having a lot of sewing experience, she doesn't measure anything unlike me as I am straight line challenged.....

....and before long the pocket was measured, cut and the zipper was sewn in. 

Then the top zipper brought both sides together and voila! The bag was finished in no time. 

The ladies brought along a number of bags that they had sewn to show us the different types you can make. The one in the photo above was made by using hexagons Neralie had left over from a quilt and doesn't it look fabulous?

...one for the children or grandchildren....

...a bag made from Drill which actually looked like canvas...

...and a chairbag for a Disney lover. 

A couple of videos by Sew Sweetness were recommended and I just had a look at the link and there is a lot of information there on making bags. Check out the tutorials on Bag Making Techniques although one of the ladies at the Saturday workshop said Neralie's version was much easier. I suggested she start her own YouTube Channel. LOL!

Neralie and Valda always have a 'surprise' demo at the end of their workshops and this time we were shown how to make covered coathangers to use up bits and pieces of fabric and wadding. 

Today Neralie has been working on a tutorial which she has emailed me so I will do a blog post on that later on in the week if anyone would like to make these. She has an ingenious way of making the hook cover so that it doesn't work its way off the end. Did I say these ladies were very talented?

At our next Simple Living Toowoomba workshop in April we will have another Rag Rug presentation as these are always hugely popular. Do come along if you live in the region and want to learn how to make the rugs. Due to COVID restrictions I think we are still restricted to 30 people attending but perhaps that has changed recently but it is always good to book in early so as not to miss out. 

Have a wonderful week!