Zipper Top Installation!

 Bags, well, containers of all kinds, actually, are some of my favorite things.  Much to the chagrin of Dear One!  He is so kind about it but he would be so happy if many of them disappeared.  Until he needs one and I have the perfect bag or container for his need...yes, it does happen!

Recently I came into two beautiful bags.  Since they were in perfect condition, I wanted to try to put in a zipper at the top.  So often I have taken "open top" bags, filled them with stuff, put them on the back seat in the car, suddenly put on the brakes, and the bag has fallen onto the floor.  Of course, top down so everything spilled out.  Sometimes this happens not in the car where I can relatively easily find everything, but sometimes  when I am "out" somewhere and things roll away and are lost forever...

So...zipper installation was the name of the game over the weekend.  NOT a professional job, but still...just about everything will stay in these bags now.

After watching probably twenty YouTube videos, I went the cheap lazy route this time and learned that I would have preferred the recessed zipper tops.  Next time.

The first thing to be done was to make a zipper tape tab for each end of the zipper.  This entailed cutting some of the zipper tape which was a little unnerving (in case I botched it).

After the tabs were on (and to do that you cut a piece of pretty fabric twice as wide and three times as long as you want the tab to be--more or less-and stitch the right side of the fabric short end to the wrong side of the zipper tape, then fold in the ends and sides and bring up the "bottom" to match the "top" then stitch around all four edges.  Go to YouTube and you will find a hundred options, some of them pretty clear and easy.) it was time to stitch the zipper to the top of the bag, being sure to leave enough room at each end to push the tabs down inside the bag.

Tonight I am too tired to go into how to do this explicitly...go to YouTube!  It will be much more clear with a video to show you.  A picture being worth way more than my pitiful words, you know.

Here is the first bag where I installed the zipper.  Works great.

This bag was done just the same but I took a picture before pushing the zipper tab down inside the bag.  

The one thing missing on both of these zippers is the large split "key ring" I need to insert into the zipper pull to make the actual zipping/finding the zipper pull easier.  I have a whole bag of them.  I already mentioned that I pulled a large amount of stuff off the desk and put into a big bin so I could actually use the desk without danger to life and limb due to falling stuff...well, I have not yet found the split rings.  Soon, I hope...!