This weekend I finished up a few projects - a Ron Burgundy pillow I sold on Etsy and two new toiletries bags (tutorial here) for me and Ryan in preparation for our big vacation. I had already made toiletries bags a while ago, but I hadn’t followed the directions to the letter and the finished product was not brag-worthy. I mean, I followed the directions on how to make it, I just hadn’t used the suggested fabric. Instead of canvas for the outside, I chose cotton. I had such cool cotton fabrics that I wanted to use! No biggie, right? WRONG! Well, unless you want a sad and floppy toiletries bag. It was so floppy (see the picture I’m trying to hide all the way at the bottom of the post) that to give it any kind of structure , I cut a piece of cardboard and put it in the bottom of each. A few out-of-town trips latter, I noticed that Ryan had reverted back to his gallon Ziploc bag. I’m not joking. That’s what he uses. I never claimed he was classy… I kinda hated mine as well, so I couldn’t blame him. I decided to give it another go and am MUCH happier with the new ones:
Pretty, right? And it was SO MUCH easier this time because I figured something out. See, sewing oilcloth is a ginormous pain in the butt. It simply does not want to move through your machine. The first time I made the bags, I about screamed in frustration. WHY IS THIS SO HARD????!!! So this time, I searched my FACE off trying to find some suggestions. I mean, who the heck would sew with this stuff if it sucked so hard? Not this lady. So if you ever end up trying this, I’ve got a very helpful and inexpensive tip: tissue paper. I know. I never would have believed it either. But if you put a strip of tissue paper over the oilcloth (both sides if they’re both oilcloth) while you’re sewing, it’s totally fine. When you’re done, you can just rip the tissue paper off. It’s seriously that easy.
Oh, and Ryan didn’t want one that was so big, so I modified his. Instead of 16″ x 14″, I cut the fabric into 16″ x 12″ pieces. He said it was exactly what he wanted (we all know he just said that because he was afraid I’d cry).
I also inserted a piece of interfacing between the canvas and the oilcloth to give it a little more structure. It seemed to help a bit. In all honesty, though, these things are still a little floppy, but NOTHING like the first ones (see sad picture below). Maybe I’m expecting too much.
Because I’m a giver and want you to learn from my pain, here’s a picture of the old ones in all their non-glory. I’m so ashamed of the hideousness. Let this be a lesson to you on what happens when you use regular, old cotton. You’re welcome.
They just look pathetic, don’t they?
2 Comments
Try buckram for interfacing. It is cheap and gives a nice crisp boxy structure. You can use two layers if you want more structure.
Oh man. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that advice! Thanks!