For those of you who may not know. Sewing with clear vinyl can be a troubling task for the uninitiated. I managed to make gifts this year using clear vinyl and I have a tip or two as well as my general showing off 🙂

Above is a project bag. I made it for a friend for her birthday and I am quite proud. These little suckers go for about $16-$20+ on Amazon and at our local quilt shops. They are incredibly handy and easy to drop money on. I found an $8 pattern on Craftsy  and voila! I can make as many as I want. A little clear vinyl, a little fabric, ribbon and fusible fleece from my stash and we’re good to go. I filled it with notions I knew she’d love and finally I had a gift that I thought she’d really appreciate (and it went over pretty darned well if I do say so myself).

Another friend of mine (the panda mom from my previous post) had a baby shower and I decided to bite the bullet and actually make her an item instead of going to Baby’s R Us ( I find that place overwhelming and knowing nothing about babies I am simply lost):

So I went on Pinterest and found this awesome changing mat pattern for free. It folds up into the clutch type deal above. Note, if you decide to make it, I added a few inches all the way around after reading her blog comments so that it might last them a little bit longer. It really was rather quick and easy…and I mean that…I am not a speedy sewist. To add to the joy she actually uses it, all the time!

Here are a few tips for sewing with vinyl:

• Use a “teflon foot” they can be cheap click here. It is a non-stick foot that glides over the vinyl. If you want to go low tech you can put scotch tape on the bottom of the foot but, of course, then you get to take it off with all that may entail.
• Use tissue paper. If you do not have a teflon foot or you need non-stick on the bottom as well as the top just use plain old tissue paper that you would use for gift wrapping. Sew right through it and then rip it off. It is crazy how well that works.
• Use a towel to iron out your vinyl. Inevitably your vinyl will get crinkled/wrinkled/wavy. You can fix this. Obviously you can’t put your iron straight on the plastic vinyl but if you put a towel over it you will be all good. Interestingly, it may not seem fully flat at first but once you have sewn it and let it “rest” it will be perfect in no time.

For my non-sewers, I would apologize for that last bit but…nah…welcome to my world. I find this stuff fascinating. In the same way I don’t know why everyone doesn’t want to be a librarian/kickboxer/biker enthusiast…

I wish you to be well and happy.