If you’re new to my 52 zippers project, you can read the backstory, see all the zipper pouches, and download basic zipper pouch instructions here.

Well, you may (or may not) have noticed that I’ve missed the last few weeks of my zipper project. The last month has completely kicked my butt! I wear a Fitbit that tracks the amount I sleep and the last month+ has averaged out to about 5 hours a night. The last time I got two consecutive nights of 7+ hours of sleep in a row was the first week of May. Not good.

I’ve thought about trying to catch back up with the zippers, but with my kids out of school that’s pretty unlikely over the summer, and impossible for the next month. So I’ve decided I am still going to continue with 52 weeks of zippers, they just very likely won’t all land in 2017. I’ll work on the project until I have 52 zipper pouches, whenever that ends. Maybe I will catch up by the end of the year, though, who knows!

Anyway… These pouches are Creative Maker cases, a pattern by Sew Sweetness. These were my teacher’s gifts this year, and I got them done at 4am on the last day of school. Phew!

The covers are Essex linen in Natural, with a band of the lining fabric stitched on for an accent.

I made the smallest size. I made a few little changes when following the pattern… I was unable to get a piece of foam into the zipper loop so I used fusible fleece in there instead, before sewing it to the zipper. I also omitted the Peltex as I was just too tired, and wrangling a stiff piece of Peltex into the covers after 3am did not sound like it was going to be fun at all. I figured for the smallest size it was probably ok without it.

I used ByAnnie’s purse zippers, blue mesh, and blue foldover elastic. Using the foldover elastic to bind the mesh pockets worked pretty well. I love the colorful mesh! I’ve got a few more colors of it for a different project and I’m excited to play with it. I found a blue ¼” elastic on Etsy for the pen corral.

I filled the cases with a few Papermate Flair pens, which I think are a favorite of many teachers, and a package of post-it notes. I was going to find a little notebook to tuck into the back slip pocket but ran out of time. I tucked in a Target gift card instead. 🙂

I have plans to make one of the large size for each of my kids to hold a sketchbook and colored pencils, and the medium size for me to hold a quilty sketchbook and my fancy markers.

Zipper pouch specs:
Size: Small size of the Creative Maker case by Sew Sweetness.
Zipper: 30” double-pull purse zipper from By Annie’s.