No question is stupid. Questions are how we learn. I'm sure someone who knows more than I do will come along to help.

you sound just like me hugs

Hi Joann,lesley here from south africa,I myself have just worked these ith bags out,so lets start a the beginning,hoop stablizer,do first stitch out,possibly the outline of entire bag and zipper line,now its a good idea to slow sewing machine down, now plase the zip on the line Making sure that both ends of the zip are out of the bag outline.this won't make sense intil you are almost finished,now take the smallest piece of material face down,you can see the wrong side ok! now lift the sewing foot slide the material under,just enough that you can,t see the zip (the whole zip,not just the teeth) now stitch in place,easy! now lift the sewing foot ,flip the material under away from you,you can now see the zip and right side of material,now take the next piece of material face down again,slide it under the foot the whole way leaving enough material to cover the zip,so once again you can,t see the zip,stitch in place,lift sewing foot and flip material towards yourself,see zip is now in,now is the time for embroidery or pattern,so now all is finished except putting on straps and the back of bag,what I do is place my last piece of material face down covering the entire design,allow the machine to sew a few stitches stop the machine,now open the zip to about center of the bag,now place your strap wherever you want it,I use a small piece of double side sticky tape to hold the ends of the strap in place(make sure the sticky is out of the bag)tuck thr strap out of the way of stitch line,smooth the material in place,finish the bag, voila! Hope this makes sense,sorry not much of a teacher.
regards Lesley

Thanks for asking the ques. and such a nice explanation from Lesley. This will make it easier for me to do it when I finally try it.

What Lesleyann said is spot on and is the method I prefer. However, there is an alternative way to do the fabric around the zip which you might find easier. You take the piece of fabric, the width and double the length of the finished space it will fill. Fold it in half and press. Now lay the fabric over the zip with the folded edge along the teeth of the zip. Repeat when you do the second piece so that the two fabrics meet neatly. That is how this one is done:

Good questions. Thanks for asking.

There are no stupid, no dumb questions! We've all asked them, we are all learning. You are just asking a question someone else needs to ask too! Sometimes the questions we ask sparks exactly what we need to know to make it all fit into place. Thank you for asking!

Well, I've wanted to ask this one question myself. Thank you for asking as I have no idea how to start these ith things and I sew want to make them! Now I have a reference to come back to.
Meri