Zipper added

These are not the best pictures to show you the added zipper, but maybe it will give you an idea of what I did. The technique I used is one I found in the Lazy Girl Designs pattern "The City Bag". I hope I'm not stepping on any one's copyright toes by posting this, but I just had to share.

First, you measure the top of your open bag, end to end. The zipper should be at least two inches longer. Cut two strips of fabric 4" by length of zipper plus 2". Fold the strips to resemble double fold bias tape. Fold in half, wrong sides together, press. Open casing and lay wrong side up. Fold in edges to meet the fold line, press. Fold in half and press again.

Slip fabric edge of zipper into the casing. Leave at least 1/8" of zipper fabric showing. Use your zipper foot if you need to, or move your needle. The casing should be longer than the zipper at both ends. Stitch through all layers. Do this for both sides of the zipper with one casing piece on each side of the zipper. Press casing smooth. Trim the ends to about 1" longer than where the zipper teeth end. On the back side of the zipper, fold the casing fabric ends to a point keeping the raw edges of the casing away from the zipper teeth. Fold the casing again to form a square edge. Tack the folds in place. The casing should now be the same length as the zipper teeth. This might be the trickiest part, so I may take a few pictures to show how it's done.

Now you have a zipper enclosed in it's casing. This is what you top stitch to the opening of your bag. With the zipper tab UP, find the center of the zipper casing and the center of the top edge of your bag. Match and pin being sure to overlap the casing and bag by about 1/2". Sew the casing in place. Now, the pattern has you do it with the bag pieces still not sewn, but when you have a bag with side seams already sewn, it gets a little harder, but not impossible. Once you have the casing sewn on both sides, you will tack the ends down. I hope you can see in the picture where that is. Oh, when you begin to sew the casing down, leave about an inch on each side because that's what will be tacked down on each side of the bag.

I'm sorry if I got a bit long-winded because it really is an easy technique. I'm much better at showing you in person rather than writing it down. Any questions?

I'm off to work.