I’m having so much fun making vinyl bags for two very good reasons:

1. Doesn’t take long
2. No shopping for supplies

I made this one with the idea of a light duty tote, something that I take to the library on a rainy day and use to carry home a few paperbacks. I was stumped when it came to attaching the handles (cheapo vinyl tubing) to the body of the tote.

That’s when I resorted to sifting through the office supplies, and found the cherry paper clips.

Here’s a close up of how I wrapped the wire on the tubing and used the paper clip. When heated the coating of the wire bonds to the vinyl tubing. It’s better than using vinyl glue and unlike the glue, using heat won’t yellow the either vinyl.

ETA: Make your own tote!

Which means I can show you this little bag that I was rambling on about last night.

I added the crochet top and yarn handles this morning (the fabric inside had to be stuffed in there otherwise it would have looked like yarn and a weird reflection in the pic.)

Lexi immediately said “Oh my new bag.” and made off with it. (She does this quite a bit with things that I make, that means she approves of the item and I have no hope of ever having it returned to me. Fortunately, Josey brought it back just long enough for me to take a photo.)

But tonight I managed to sew a clear vinyl bag from some clear vinyl that was in the selvage bin at a deep discount because it was ruined.

“You can’t iron it!” The woman at the counter scolded, scolded, me as I scooped it up.

I figured the flat bits would be good enough for wallet windows and clear pockets so no big deal if I had to throw away the wrinkles.

So I cleaned up the sewing area and fickled around for a while trying to think of how I could mess it up again– and a tote sounded like a good quicky project. Then it occurred to me that I often iron things that I shouldn’t, so I cut off some of the vinyl, stuck it between two sheets of paper and ironed the snot out of it. It did grow somewhat, so I cut two pieces for the front and back of the tote to about the size I wanted, then ironed the snot out of those (between two sheets of paper) and lo–! Still a little wobbly but not nearly as bad as before.

Right on. Trim the vinyl back to the desired size.

Next thing I know I have the sewing machine ready with a roller foot and leather needle. Try a few different stitches on a scrap, decide I like one. I stick the pieces together, sew the seams, clip the gussets, sew the gussets– turn the thing inside out and..

Are you ready for this?

A tote bag. Constructed entirely without the assistance of pins; a fact that sort of freaks me out. It was so fast, nothing broke or died, and I didn’t even feel compelled to throw the sewing machine out the window.

P.S. No pictures because the husband has joined a cult that forsakes the convenience of  batteries for digital cameras. It’s rather upsetting.