Zippers & other Lining Issues

I was thinking ahead to the lining on this purse KAL and did some zipper research for you. I have always just popped into the fabric store and bought an ordinary dressmaker zipper in the color suitable for my purse. However, many of the handmade purses you see in boutiques have heavier zippers. So I started googling and found a site where you can order these nice zippers. However, it is a 3 week delivery time and you have to order 12 of one color. Other sites I visited were also bulk orders.

So for those of us who just make a purse now and then for our own use, we will have to make do with dressmaker weight zippers. I did find a snap-on decorative pull on the "button wall" at Hancock's Fabrics, and it does make it much easier to grasp the teeny zipper pull provided on the zipper. I generally have just been tying some yarn onto the zipper pull. I made a beaded pull once, but it eventually fell off!

So, for those of you thinking ahead to your purse lining, you need at least a 14" zipper and 1/2 yard of fabric. I like to choose a cotton print that coordinates with my yarn. For the interfacing, I like to use quilt batting. I prefer to buy the batting that looks like a blanket. Two nice ones are Warm & Natural batting and Heirloom Cotton Blend. You can also buy some sturdy non-woven interfacing. Fabric stores and Walmart sell this by the yard. I have used both, and prefer the end result when using batting. If you are also a quilter, you will have batting lying around. If not, you might find it easier to buy some interfacing by the yard.