Mod Podge a Food Container-Tutorial

 Start with a empty, clean container.  Ones with lids are a plus

 You'll need...

► empty container

► fabric of choice

► Mod Podge 

► paint brush to smooth out Mod Podge

 I started spreading the Mod Podge on the back, so the seam would not be seen.

 Do small sections at a time.  That helps to keep the fabric smooth.  Continue until you've went all the way around container.

 My container was almost 6" high, so I measure the fabric at 6", so there wasn't much waste.

Trim the little you have hanging over the bottom.

 waaaaa-laaaa a completed fabric covered food container with tons of space inside.

How to....Handmade/Homemade Packaging

this is a super easy tutorial/how to, and required no expense for me

 I had these business cards I got for free a while back for doing a review.

I have 200.  What in the world was I going to do with 200 business cards?

 I had some scrap card stock laying around. 

 Cut the card stock to the same size as your business card.

 card stock cut and ready for the next step

 here I have some fabric covered buttons onto bobbin pins

place those on your card

(I did package some magnets the same way, 

minus the card stock, just go to next step if you don't need card stock)

 place card stock with items on it into one side of a snack size

ziploc baggie

 fold baggie in half, fold the side that don't have anything

 in it onto the back side of your product

 place your business card just above the card stock and on 

top of the ziploc part and staple

waaaaa-laaaa.....handmade/homemade packaging

Up-Cycled/Recycled Wrapper Zippered Coin Purse Tutorial

I've now made a video, see it here

This is a bit lengthy and has alot of pictures.

There's your warning, you still have time to run away.

*If you're coming over from Allfreesewing.com

Welcome*

also

Welcome from Pat Sloan's Facebook page!

Someone asked me awhile back to post a tutorial on recycled wrappers and I can't remember who, and I'm sorry it took so long.  And I still owe someone a Capri Sun tutorial as well. 

This is for a Top Ramen Zippered Coin Purse

you will need:

*recycled wrapper of any kind

*glue stick

*scissors

*ruler

*rotary cutter

*clear vinyl

*zippers

*sewing machine

 using your ruler and rotary cutter, cut about 1/4" off of all four sides, leaving you with two pieces of the wrapper, the front and back

 on the back of all wrappers will be this thicker wide seam, I cut it off, just fold the wrapper over and cut up against the wrapper without cutting the wrapper........make sense?

 now, your two pieces are ready to adhere to vinyl

now about the vinyl......I use 6 gauge clear vinyl from Fabric.com it's $1.95 a yard and I buy 10-20 yards at a time.  It ships to you in a big long roll, almost as tall as I am 5'5

cut a piece of vinyl off your roll big enough to cover your wrappers

using your glue stick, cover that entire piece of vinyl in glue

 lay your two pieces on top of the glue, pressing it flat and getting out any wrinkles.

 do the same again, making a sandwich out of the wrappers and vinyl, with the vinyl being on the outside

 you'll notice you can see the glue, that's ok, it will dry clear and look beautifully

cut the excess vinyl off and you'll have two perfectly covered wrappers with vinyl

 for the zipper, I found out this past few weeks, some of my friends can't put a zipper in, but i'd bet they could do it like this.......easy peasy........

turn your wrapper upside down and line up against the right side of the zipper, sew all the way down

 with that sewn on, flip that wrapper over so you can see the face side and sew it down once again on the front side, like the picture below.

 sewed down the front as well as the back

 do both sides 

 with right sides together, we'll start to sew the coin purse together, so from any side and I use a zig zag stitch at first, kinda like a serger stitch, stitching only down one side of  the coin purse, I even sew through the zippers, (a plastic zipper, not metal) cause I normally use one that's too big and have to trim it to fit.

 once you get that one side zig zagged, open it up like above and open the zipper all the way, this will make turning it rightside out easier with the zipper opened all the way

 here it is zig zagged all the way and I then go around it with a regular stitch, just to ensure stability

 this is optional, but I like a flat bottom better, snip the corners and sew that down to get your flat bottoms

 here's how I break all my seam rippers......I use them to pull out corners that are stubborn

 the inside of my flat bottom coin purse

and now we're done.......I hate how the vinyl shines in pictures.

I know this was long.....I hope it wasn't confusing, if you have any questions, please ask!


**UPDATED 12/13/11*

Every since Allfreesewing.com featured me, I've gotten all sorts of questions and all of them have been from "no-reply" emails.

So, I'll answer them here.

-someone asked if you could use clear contact paper, i'm sure it would work as a vinyl covering, but i'm thinking it will gum up your needle.  guess you'd have to try it and see.

-someone asked if you could use bigger bags.......YES.....and I do, any bag you can cover in vinyl would work.  I wouldn't recommend paper, cause when you turn it inside out, the paper wrinkles and it looks bad.

-the vinyl does goes on both sides of the wrapper (inside and out)

Anonymous asked: My local fabric store stays out of 6 guage vinyl, would 4 or 8 work? Which would be better? Have never sewn vinyl before, but, am excited to try this! 

I think 4 would work better than 8, 4 would be much thinner and the vinyl really don't have to be that thick.

Aunt Spicy asked:  Does it smell like Ramen?

NO, smells like fresh vinyl.  lol

Here's a great tip from Angela Moore: love it!

i used to use a seam ripper for the corners, and yes broke them. then i got some smallish knitting needles in a box of stuff from a friend and i use them instead...no breaky, breaky. hope this helps.

thanks for the pattern :) 

I need to try this tip myself.  Thanks Angela...

Friendship Bag Swap

Once again Michelle has put great another great swap. This will be my 3rd and I think I'm hooked on swaps. I could be crazy signing up for another one this close to my fall semester of classes starting. But hey, you always have to make time for sewing, right?

This is the Friendship Bag Swap. Also Rachel put together a great tutorial for making a cute bag.