Before I came home for the SNAP conference, I decided I wanted to make a little travel bag that would fit my make-up, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. I wanted to be able to wipe down the inside of the bag in case of my make-up spilling, but I also wanted to be able to wipe down the outside of the bag too after staying at multiple hotels (I am kinda a clean freak and hotels gross me out). I came across this Lou Lou Thi laminated cotton the week before I came home and I snatched it up knowing that it would be perfect for this project.
This was my first time working with laminated cotton and I kinda have mixed feelings. I love that it is thinner than oilcloth and definitely not as stiff as oil cloth, but that being said, I still thought it was kinda hard to work with. The main reason being that since I used it for both the outside and the inside of the bag, I had a hard time getting it to feed through my machine since it has a tacky feel to it. It would just stick to the presser foot and also where the feed dogs come up. I figured out a solution to help with it sticking though (I will share it with you in a bit)
I would definitely use it again, but probably not for a front and back of anything like I did this time.
So here is how I made my bag. I am just warning you now that I don't recommend using laminated cotton for both the inside and outside of the bag unless you are experienced with laminated cotton! Consider yourselves warned! ;)
Here is how I made my bag....
SUPPLIES:
-4 pieces of fabric that are 9x14 inches
(This laminated cotton is 58 inches wide, so I bought 1/4 yard of it. That was enough to make the entire bag. If you didn't want to use the laminated cotton, you could just use 2 fat quarters of fabric. one for the inside and one for the outside.)
-2 pieces of leftover quilt batting that are 9x14 inches
(if you don't have leftover quilt batting, then you could use fusible fleece- BUT- you can't not iron the laminated cotton so fusible fleece would only work if you weren't using laminated cotton. You just need something to give the bag a little padding so you could use anything thicker like fleece, felt, etc.)
-One 14 inch zipper
(I used a vintage metal zipper that was 20 inches long so I had to shorten it. Here is the tutorial.)
Step 1: Cut out you fabric. You should have two 9x14 inch pieces for the outside of the bag, two 9x14 inch pieces for the inside of the bag, and then two pieces of quilt batting (or whatever you are using) that are 9x14 inches.
Step 2: Get ready to sew your zipper on. Start by taking one of the outside pieces of fabric and lay it right side up and (When you are working with laminated cotton you can not use straight pins to hold layers of fabric together because it will make a permanent hole in the laminated cotton, so I found that it was easiest to use tape to secure my zipper. If you aren't using laminated cotton than pin away- no worries!)
Once your zipper is taped in place, lay your other fabric piece right side down on top of the taped zipper and then lay your layer of batting on top of that. Now you are ready to sew your zipper in place.
Step 3: Sew your zipper in place. When you open up the fabric it should look like this.
Repeat step 2 for the other 2 pieces of fabric and piece of batting and sew in place. When you are all finished, it should look like this opened up.
Step 4: Top stitch the seam so that the fabric lays completely flat and also has a more finished look.
Ok.. Here is where I used the trick that helped me manage the laminated cotton better. I put masking tape where I planned to sew. It helped the laminated cotton not stick so bad to the presser foot and things moved much more smoothly. The only downfall is that you have to remove it after sewing through it and it can be kinda tricky.
Update** One of my readers left a comment suggesting painters tape since it is less tacky and would pull off easier- Genius!! ***
Update** One of my readers left a comment suggesting painters tape since it is less tacky and would pull off easier- Genius!! ***
Step 6: Fold the bag in half so that the zipper is on the left side and the raw edges are together on the right side. (the right sides of the bag should be facing each other in the middle of the fold). Once it is folded in half, sew a 1/4 inch seam along the raw edges.
Step 7: Lay your bag flat so that the zipper is centered and the seam you have just sewn is centered on top of the zipper. (make sure your zipper is open halfway so that you can turn your bag right side out after sewing) Sew on both sides.
Step 8: Make box corners on all 4 corners of the bag. Here is a great tutorial if you are not sure how to make a box corner. For my bag I made my corners 3 inches tall. If I were to do it again, I would probably do 2 - 2 1/2 inches but having it this tall has been kinda nice.
Once you complete all 4 box corners, turn the bag right side out and you are finished! Ready for travel!! :)
