Zippy arrows

I was so excited to wrap up another small-ish project this weekend, my first perfect zip bag (pattern here by Elizabeth Hartman).

Elizabeth's pattern is extremely well written, and I can't believe I've never seen anyone else apply zipper tape using the method she suggests. Heck, I can't believe I never thought of it. But it's brilliant and works like a charm. I made the large style C bag, and this baby is no slouch, measuring in at 5" x 9" finished, which is pretty big for a zipper pouch. There's lots of room in there.

For the back, I continued the linen and arrow motif from the front. I also chose to add a zipper pull and an inside pocket.

In the pattern, the front of the bag calls for a patchwork section, though Elizabeth doesn't specify which design to use (she does include several examples of different styles). After seeing them all over Instagram lately, I decided to make a small raspberry kiss block using this tutorial from Wooden Spoon Quilts. She provides instructions for finished blocks measuring 4.25" and 8.5" square, but I needed a piece of patchwork measuring 6.5" square (unfinished), so I used the calculator she recommends to figure out my own cutting measurements. I ended up making a 6.875" (unfinished) square because 6.5" produced some strange cutting sizes, so I just trimmed the linen sashing a bit to accommodate the slightly larger patchwork. In case you're looking to do the same, here's what to cut for a 6.875" (unfinished) square:

For the center block, cut ~
4 - 2" background fabric squares
2 - 2" cross fabric squares
1 - 5" x 2" cross fabric rectangle

For the corner triangles, cut ~
2 - 4" squares, then cut along the diagonal to make 4 triangles

Then, assemble the block as outlined in the tutorial and proceed with your bag.

I used a variety of fabrics from my stash. The arrows are from Wild and Free, the blue grid and mustard lining are from Doe, the red is an old Lizzy House print, and I can't remember the names of the linen and aqua fabrics.

I love how they all play so nicely together. I gotta say, I'll be pretty sad to give this one away (it's destined to be a thank you gift for the friend who's housing me for QuiltCon!), but I bet another one of these lies in my not-too-distant future, this time for me.