Pins & Needles: Valentine's Project and Some Tips for Sewing with Vinyl

I've been working on some Valentine's Day projects lately and one of them involves vinyl. Yick. It took me a while, but I finally got some things figured out!

Red Marine Vinyl from Joann's

The first thing I figured out was to cut this one layer at a time! I tend to be an impatient cutter, so if it's just cotton or something, I can do four or so layers. Straight lines with my rotary and a ruler, I can manage way more! But vinyl is apparently finicky and you don't end up with accurate lines when you do it that way. So I took it as a lesson in patience. Or something...

I know a lot of people use binder clips or paper clips to hold their vinyl, but I found if I pinned close to the edges,

the pin holes practically disappeared by the end.

I also found on curved seams, you still have to clip the seam allowance. I thought I could get away with just flipping it over (yeah, yeah, the whole patience thing didn't stick), but that caused real problems!

These (hard-to-see) little messy spots are from not clipping the seams, and also from sewing the lining on the outside. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but since the vinyl doesn't have any give to it, it pulled the lining away from the edges - despite using pins - and made it a pain in the patoot to keep even while sewing.

As for the actual sewing, I've heard a couple different methods for keeping the vinyl from sticking to the presser foot. My son is currently addicted to Mythbusters, so I figured I better conduct my own experiment!

The first method is to use tissue paper over the vinyl. This worked, to an extent. It was really difficult to see where I was sewing though, and the paper stuck inside the stitches.

Also, it would take forever to pick it out of all the seams!

The second way is to put a piece of Scotch tape over the bottom of the foot. Be sure to cut out a little window over where the needle goes down before you start sewing! Some of us forgot this little step and now have a sticky needle...

Other than that, it worked like a charm! Even with a fancy stitch that moved the vinyl all over the place.

And it worked quite well on the actual project, too - curves and all.

So - wanna see what I'm making? Of course you do!

A button just for Tasha

These sweet little bags! Personally, I'm in love with them! My normal philosophy is to make boy stuff because there are sooo many girly things available, but I couldn't resist when I had this idea :)

They have a lace strap and are lined with white, sparkle gray, or dark gray and have random pretty buttons from my collection (I knew I was saving those for something!).