Vinyl Covered Fabric Lunch Bags

Meet Your Hosts

Teadoddles | Our Crafty Mom | Shoppe No. 5 | Purple Hues and Me

Blue Willow House | C’mon Get Crafty | This Autoimmune Life

Salvage Sister & Mister | Domestic Deadline | Winter and Sparrow | Super Mom – No Cape!

[bctt tweet=”What crafty creations could you make today from YOUR craft stash?! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge” username=”Teadoddles”]

Leftover Project Parts

A couple of weeks ago I posted about spring cleaning my craft room. I’m still in the process of taming the chaos! I have two baskets full of projects that were abandoned at some point. Either I was missing something to finish it or I lost interest or I ran out of time. I’m determined to empty both of these baskets before I head back to teach summer semester at the college.

One thing lingering in these baskets were these vinyl covered pieces of fabric. I decided to make these mani-pedi kits for Christmas one year {we don’t need to say what year!} & the pattern included a spill proof mat. I never added the binding to the mats, but I did finish the bags!

I kept hanging on to them because I knew I could do something with them, I just didn’t know what. Then I thought they would make great lunch bags! I will need something like that for summer semester, because I will be there past lunch.

Anyway, these had some pretty set in creases from being folded for so long. Since the back was still just fabric, I was able to iron them out with little trouble. My iron did stick to the edges in some places.

Here’s a link to the iron on clear vinyl I think I used for this, but I really don’t remember! I decided to stack two pieces & sew them together, so the bag would be vinyl on both sides.

I have enough for 3 bags – two with the gray floral & black polka dots and one with the blue floral front and back.

Making the Bags

I stacked the pieces vinyl sides together & stitched 1/4″ in all around the edges leaving an opening for turning. The opening was about 4″ so I could put my hand through it. Before turning it right side out, I clipped all the curved corners.

This wrinkled up badly after turning it right side out!

I was able to cover it with some cotton fabric & iron out most of the wrinkles.

I top stitched all around the edges for a finishing touch & to close the turning opening. The corners didn’t turn out the best, but that’s because of the vinyl.

I broke two needles doing this! The first one was a universal 90/14 & I think it broke because it was older & too dull. I switched to a microtex needle, which worked much better. However, I was going around the corners too fast & hit thicker fabric. Oops! So, two tips ~>

• A microtex needle works better to pierce the vinyl
• Take it slower – no speed sewing! ; D

Once I had both sides sewn together, I folded one end a little more than two thirds up to make the pouch. I did fold the first one into 3rds, but I like the deeper pouch better.

Since the edges are finished, I just stitched down the side to hold  the pouch in place.

To hold the top flap in place, I added some sticky back Velcro. This was leftover from my trunk organizer project, so I only had enough for two.

I keep the two sides together so it’s easier to line up. Just remove the paper backing, stick it on one side, & fold it over. This is supposed to be made specially for sticking to fabric. It sticks much better to the vinyl than it did to my burlap bags!

After I get some more Velcro for the blue bag, I’ll have a nice trio of lunch bags for school!

I also made a {very} small dent in my “to do” pile! Be sure to check out all the other fabulous projects in the link up below!

Pin it for later!

If you’d like to join in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge, you can request to join our Facebook group here!