My latest project was quick, easy and fun. Yesterday was Christmas and I usually receive at least one gift with great smelling lotions, bath salts and perfume. My favorites for sure. If you have read many of my other posts, I am a saver of things that can be used again, recycled or repurposed. Well, you know that means the bag that contained all of the toiletry items will become something I plan on using instead of throwing away. I even save the hard paper inserts. They are perfect for gift tags. Look at the deep purple color inside that bag. I can cut that apart and use it for lots of projects. The plastic bag could be taken apart and used for in the hoop applique projects and there is also a perfectly good zipper. So how much would those items cost if you purchased them separately? Or what would this bag cost you if purchased? Not to mention it would be a shame to toss it in a landfill.
There aren't too many things that need to be covered up once the paper and tags have been removed. Just the top band has writing and that will be easy to disguise. So, if you have something like this from your gifts, hang on to them and maybe try this project..
How cute is this? It took me less than an hour to do everything on this bag. So how did I get it done?
First I measured the area on the top of the bag that I wanted to cover and found some ribbon in my stash. I used my computer and Microsoft Publisher to design the artwork. If you are using this program, you can find these images by inserting pictures from the internet inside the program. Just click on the Creative Commons area for free pictures. I grouped everything together and then saved it as a picture. This is important in Publisher because you can only mirror print items that it sees as graphics. I inserted the saved image back into the software, rotated it and printed to my Sublimation printer.
The ribbon I chose is 100% polyester satin. Since I used white, I could print anything I wanted on it. I did print it slightly larger than the ribbon so there would be some bleed around the edges and the artwork would fill up the ribbon. A few pieces of heat tape allowed everything to stay in place for pressing.
I set my heat press to 380 degrees and 60 seconds. Then all I had to do was wait.
I also used my iron to press the ribbon under on each edge so it would not unravel. My sewing machine was set up for regular sewing with a zipper foot.
A few pins and some masking tape held the ribbon in place while I did the sewing.
I added a small piece of grosgrain ribbon to the zipper pull with some beads. Now I have a new make up bag that is just the color I wanted. It really makes me feel good to reuse, upcycle things and be crafty. If you would like to see more details on this project, watch the video below. I hope I have inspired you to upcycle something today, share something you learn and be generous with what you create. Someone, especially our planet, will thank you for your hard work.
