Sewing Patterns - Zip It by Nancy Ota Review

Pattern Review by Tracy Chapman -- November 5, 2005

If you are looking for a fabulous, fast and fun project, I HIGHLY recommend Zip It.  Make just one Zip It pouch and you will be hooked!  The pattern is very easy but it's also really fun and easy to adapt to your needs and ideas.  Customize with appliqué, embroidery, beads, rickrack and all sorts of embellishments to suit all your gift giving ideas.  (Scroll to bottom of this page to see several different ideas.)

I made a bunch of these pouches last summer (they are g-o-n-e now and everyone LOVED them!).  The last couple days I have been thinking this will be a FANTASTIC project for holiday sewing.  I'm thinking make-up pouch here...but there are so many things that a zippered pouch is perfect for!  The ones I made last summer turned out great and they were so fast and fun to make.  BONUS...I DID NOT NEED TO USE MY ZIPPER FOOT! It's a great way to use up scrap fabrics and makes a sturdy, functional pouch in a multitude of sizes.  Speaking of sizes...even if you are an absolute beginner, once you make one or two it's very easy enough to change the size to suit your own taste.  I've made a few in different sizes that I liked better for particular recipients (smaller, bigger, or more square than rectangle).  Here's one I made for myself.  It finished at approximately 4" x 4".  

Here are several more ideas:

You really can whip these out quickly if you use assembly line sewing techniques. 

Think of all the great ways you can customize your pouch and make fabulous gifts for:

• teachers (what classroom can't use an extra pouch for organization...and a customized coin purse is a special gift idea)
• dads (think tool pouch)
• quilting and sewing friends (think scissors pouch or marking tools pouch)
• kids (make a cool pencil case or doo-dad pouch)
• teens (make-up case for girls, hobby/collection or shaving kit pouch for guys)
• the uses for zippered pouches are virtually endless
• embellishment ideas are limited only by your imagination!

PROJECT RATING:  I rate "Zip It" as a TWO THUMBS UP pattern.

Where do I find the vinyl pet screen material?  I purchase my Phifer Pet Screen material very reasonably from Lowe's (or Home Depot or other local hardware store, depending on who has it when I need it). As far as I know, most hardware stores only stock the product in black.  It is available in colors at some quilt shops and specialty stores but it is quite expensive.  We seriously considered stocking the colors, but due to the high cost of the product (because we don't buy in the volume that Home Depot and Lowes does we do not qualify for their buying price, in fact...our wholesale purchase price is just about the same as your retail price at Lowe's & Home Depot, etc. ), the weight of the product (OUCH on the shipping charges!), and a variety of other profitability factors, we decided it would not be a good investment for SewThankful at this time.