Overnight quilted zipper bag and the colour of November

A week ago, my quilted zipper bag making factory produced its 17th finish this year. Here it is: Overnight / Yön yli pouch:

Note its surroundings! Contrary to the common belief – that November in Finland is grey and slushy – the actual colour seems to be green, at least in the Southern Finland. You see, after a couple of rainy days, there will eventually be a bit of sun, which will then light up the lushly green lawns and the mossy spots.

Things happened before Overnight was finished. I constructed the bag panels rather slowly. I was planning to add to its width and depth considerably when I suddenly noticed that I could just as well make a smaller item for a change.

Here are the smallish zipper panels, quilted but not trimmed:

I shot the picture on a rare day that had some sunlight. And when the bag was finished, I had to wait for a couple of days to find the next available moment of sunlight (it was brief). But I managed, and now I can present the bag in light that shows up the 3D effect of quilting:

Why the name “Overnight”? This time, I went to an online dictionary to see if I could be inspired by the word “wallet,” the approximate size of this item. A bit of browsing and I found the word “overnight bag”. I thought that I could use that name for a joke! After all, this is so small that it would be a ridiculous association.

This is one examples of how I research for ideas for naming my quilty items.

The measurements of this Overnight zipper bag - one in the Open series - are as follows:

• Width at the top: 20 cm (around 7-7/8")
• Height: 11,5 cm (around 4-1/2")
• Depth on the bottom: 4 cm (around 1-1/2")

Because Overnight is so small, it was easy enough to find enough of a suitable lining fabric:

Note the colour of the zipper! I was auditioning options from my zipper stash, which is considerable, and wanted to choose the shortest viable one. This weird peachy colour looked good, and the zipper was short.

It turned out the zipper was so short that I had no hope of attaching a typical hexagon to its end. I had to make a rectangular end piece, and while attaching it, take care not to hit the metal zipper end with my needle.

Though this zipper forced me to move back to the uncomfortable zone, it also provided a clear benefit: the zipper colour choice helped me decide on the fabrics for the side tab, zipper end, and the small strip for the zipper pull. They are all peachy-coloured as well.

Because the Overnight quilted zipper bag is so small, it feels sturdier than usual, even though I’ve used the same batting + interlining fabric combo as always. The sturdy feel makes it very nice to hold and handle.

I’m planning a small pop-up shop thingy with my quilty friend Soile, for one day in December. I will bring Overnight to the table and see if it gets picked up among the first ones!