Sunday, April 20, 2008

Cotton Cosmetic Bag Madness Construction

I'm making some special cosmetic bags for the Buffalo store out of cotton. The construction is very similar to the Asian silk cosmetic bags with just a few added steps. When I'm done, I'll have about 30 bags total in 13 different prints.

I start with some Warm&Natural batting. I bond Heat & Bond Vinyl to one side in large sheets. On the other side, I bond Heat & Bond adhesive in large sheets. I do this until I have a piece of Warm & Natural that is about 36" wide by 90" long, covered in vinyl on one side, and glue on the other. I then cut that into 36" by 6 or 7" strips.

I then select the fabrics that I'm going to make cosmetic bags out of. I cut 6" and 7" strips of each fabric by 45" wide. I peel off the glue paper backing off of one of the strips and then iron onto the glue side of the batting, one of my fabric selections. I then cut that finished strip of bonded materals into 6" x 8" rectangles, which will make the small size cosmetic bag, or 7" x 9" rectangles which will make the larger size bag. Once I have all my pieces bonded and cut out, I use my serger to overlock the edges.

Here are my completed stacks of overlocked pieces.


Next step is to pin the pieces together and sew a 5/8 inch seam using a basting stitch along the top edge. This is were the zipper will be sewn in. As you can see, I use binder clips to hold the pieces together when I sew. This means I don't have to puncture the vinyl with a straight pin.


The next step is pressing open the seams, gluing in the zipper and putting in a limited edition label on the inside of the bag. I glue in my zippers because it just makes the process go a lot faster.



Once the zipper and label are glued in, I choose a matching thread for the fabric and sew in the zipper.



I then pull out the basting stitch, fold the right sides together and binder clip the pieces again. I then sew the bag together.



Once the bag is sewn together, I clip all the corner edges and turn the bag right side out. Here is a photo of the cosmetic bags in various stages.


It will be a while before I'm finished. I am also making at the same time, some place mats and matching napkin sets out of some of these fabrics, and we are working on building some platforms on our roof so that Mr. Sprocket can work on our HVAC unit easier. Later this evening, I'll put up some more photos of that project.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Just wanted to stop by and tell you how much I appreciate all that you report on. I like to look at both your court & sewing sites. You
Truly seem to be a very organized lady. And, that's a good thing.

Could you send me detailed instructions on how to do that??
Of course I'm just joking. No one can help another person to become organized.

I'm just waiting for your reporting on Spector #2. Even though in my mind I can't believe there is going to be a Spector #2.