MU Crossbody w/ Reverse Applique- TUTORIAL

Living in MU country, I thought it would be good for business if I came up with a bag to interest the local student body.  I'm thinking of selling something like this in the local consignment stores.  It needs some work, but I thought I would share it with you to get your opinion.

I used the Two Zip Hipster pattern again by Erik Erikson because I thought it would be perfect for the vision I had for my first bag with a mixture of fabric and vinyl.

Working with the vinyl was easier than I thought it would be.  It was also fun!

 I had to add this little strip of vinyl to the side b/c my front piece ended up being a little shorter than my back piece.  I think I like it!  What do YOU think??

You can kind of see where I had to take out some stitching here.  When I went to put on my closing zipper, I added it to the worng side so my pocket was upside down!  That has not happened to me in a while.  I've really been using my seam ripper less, but it got a workout with this project. 

Something is going on with my machine lately too.  It will be sewing perfectly straight stitches, and then all of a sudden it will get all crazy on me.  

 The reverse applique needs some work.  I got this idea from a reverse applique tutorial on the blog Girls in the Garden.  The picture above was my first attempt.  I tried to use a straight stitch all the way around the letters, but it just looked sloppy.  So, I went with the zigzag stitch.  You can see that the material is really wrinkly.  On my next attempt I tried to pull the fabric tighter while I was stitching.  I used the results from my 2nd attempt on the bag in this post.

Want to see how I did the reverse applique?

TUTORIAL

Materials:
-printed letters
-cutting board
-cutting utensil
-chalk
-fabric for applique
-vinyl (could slso use pleather or leather)
-tape

1. Cut out your printed letters, or whatever you want (shapes?)

 2. Position your new stencil onto your vinyl and use chalk to trace the letters.  All I had was a huge piece of blue chalk!  I basically just had to shade in the letters so I could get a good edge.  It worked well enough, but a thinner chalk would have worked so much better.

3. Use your cutting utensil to cut out the letters on your vinyl.

4. Cut your back fabric down to size and then stretch the fabric and tape it down onto the back of the vinyl to secure.  I actually used pins (GASP!).   I know your not supposed to use pins on vinyl, but I felt like I could pull the fabric tighter witht the pins.

5. Stitch around the letters to secure the vinyl to the cotton fabric and your are finished!

My second attempt went a little better, as far as the material not being as wrinkly.  The vinyl actually looks more wrinkled on this one.  I guess I was focusing so hard on not having the cotton wrinkle, that I was not paying as much attention to the vinyl.

It's really frustrating to spend so much time, and money, on a project and not have it turn out perfect.  I also noticed a tiny tear on my vinyl when I was all finished.  I used a sharpie to fill it in, so now it is not as noticeable.  (Gasp again!)  I know, SHOCKING!

Anyway, not shop material, but I still love it and there are some positive things that I can take away from this project.

POSITIVES
*I sewed on vinyl for the first time, which is a closer step to pleather or leather!
*I learned how to reverse applique.
*Don't buy cheap vinyl (or is all vinyl cheap??)

Do you have any vinyl projects?  I'd love to check them out. Send me a note and I will visit!

Have a great day!


Check out my Link Party Directory Page to see where I will be hanging out this week!

Blessings,
Gina