Zippers conquered! (Well, sort of...)

I think we all know what that means?  Oh yes, I conquered the pouches.  Finally!  This is my first entry for February for the Craft Book Challenge over at Liesl Made.

I made three more.  The initial purple one just isn't good enough for a present so I'll keep that myself.  This time I interfaced the linen which made sewing it much easier as it was far sturdier.  I had fun choosing the fabrics from my lovely stacks of layer cakes and charm squares.  The choice of zippers in my local Hobbycraft isn't great, and it's pretty much the only place I can get to, unless I brave Nottingham City Centre on a Saturday (not for the feint-hearted).  The lovely Sandra has given me the address of a fabulous Etsy shop which sells a great variety of zippers at a low cost, but I think I need to build up my zipper confidence before I invest!!
Here's a peak inside at the linings:

And a close up of the zippers.  I had loads of brilliant advice from both Sandra and Malea, but unfortunately I'd already sewn the zipper part before I read their comments/emails.  I will try your ideas next time girls!  Pop over to visit Sandra's blog for lots of lovely pouches and Malea's blog to see her pouches made from the same pattern I used.  Much better than my attempts I must say!

This time I sewed the side seam bigger than the 1/4 inch recommended.  I made sure to capture the majority of the zipper tape to the side of the metal fixing/plastic stopper inside the seam.  The zippers still don't quite lie flat at the ends, but they are better than the purple one which you can see here.  Oh, and by the way, the craft book used was I {heart} Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  A book full of gorgeous projects and wonderful photography, but not such great instructions and real lack of diagrams and progress photos.

I think I might make these again, and I'll certainly try other projects from the book, but I think I'm going to need a bit more sewing practice first as the projects seem to be a case of work-it-out for yourself. 

On a non-crafty note.  I had a fish pedicure at the weekend, you know the little Garra Ruffa fish that nibble your dead skin?  Sounds gross but it was heaven.  I've just booked another!