Overcoming my fear of zips

I have been killing two birds with one stone lately - getting some practice working with oilcloth and overcoming my fear of zips.  And getting through some of my pins on my 'things to make' board.  So, actually, that's three birds.

The black polka dot oilcloth is my least favourite, so that's the one I'm doing the practising on.  While working with it I'm almost yawning, can't wait to get to the Zoya, it's so bright and summery.  Sorry about the glare in the photo below, it was sunny and oilcloth is reflective.  A make-up bag, from this tutorial:

A pencil case, from this tutorial:

And then I felt like stepping things up a bit and making a lined pencil case out of laminated cotton.  When my package arrived the laminated cotton was wrapped in some scrap pieces, which turned out to be enough to make a pencil case.  So this fabric below wasn't actually one I ordered but seems perfect for a pencil case.

For this I used the dimensions from the pencil case tutorial I mentioned earlier, but followed instructions from Flossie Teacakes to get it lined.  I also put those little fabric covers over the ends of the zip, which turned out to be a waste of time due to the length of the zip, all it did was add bulk to the corners of the pencil case - duh!  Also, because you have to scrunch up the pencil case to turn it out the right way, the laminated cotton ended up crinkled, and ironing it is something to do only with great care, a very cool iron and a pressing cloth.  Haven't attempted it yet, wanted to photograph it first in case I ruin it.