I’m excited to share with you a little project I made for the attendees of the SoCal Social!
Viv (from The V Spot) and I were discussing what we wanted to do for the nametags this year. And she had the genius idea to do some sort of tag or holder that could be slipped onto the bags, like a luggage tag. She’s a smarty.
So I dug into the fabric stash and came up with these fun little Business Card Holders – or Luggage Tags! You could use them for either!
One of the features I love about them is the little pocket on the back. So you can slip in extra business cards, or the cards of your new friends! These would be great to make up for gifts – or to whip up before your next conference or event!
They go together really quickly too.
Ready for a tutorial?
To make one holder you’ll need:
- small amount of fabric (measurements below)
- Pellon Decor Bond
- Clear Plastic Vinyl – this is 12 guage (you can often find this in the remnant section of the fabric store – or you can cut up a vinyl tablecloth or use the bags that sheets/comforters come in)
Cut out your fabric and interfacing. You will need:
- 2 pieces 5″ x 5 1/2″ (pay attention to the print on the fabric and cut out the pieces accordingly. 5 1/2″ is the width measurement) of both fabric and Decor Bond
- 1 piece 7″ x 5 1/2″ of fabric and decor bond each
- 1 piece 1 1/2″ x 14″ of fabric cut on bias
- 1 piece 1″ x 5 1/2″ of fabric cut on bias
- 1 piece 1/4″ x 14″ decor bond
- 1 piece 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ of clear vinyl
Begin by ironing your decor bond to the wrong side of your fabric pieces.
To make the strap, iron the 1 1/2″ x 14″ piece of fabric in half, wrong sides together long ways. Open back up the fabric and lay the thin strip of Decor Bond so it is just to one side of the center fold. Press in place. Fold each long side in so they meet in the center and press, then fold the entire piece along the first center pressed line and press again.
Basically making bias tape with a little stabilizer in the middle. (If you don’t want to make your own, you can definitely use store-bought bias tape. Just open it up and add in the stabilizer and press everything back together!)
Make the small 1″ x 5 1/2″ piece into bias tape as well – but you don’t need stabilizer. This is to cover the top of the clear vinyl. Also – if you can do this without singing your fingers a bit, that’s a plus. Me? Not going to happen.
Sew down the folded edge of your strap.
Place the tiny bias top along the top edge of the clear vinyl piece, so there is a folded section on each side of the vinyl. Sew the bias tape onto the vinyl, just inside the bottom folded edge.
Now we’re going to make a little sewing sandwich. Which is not as fun as a BLT but it’s close.
Place one of the 5″ x 5 1/2″ pieces right side up. Then fold your larger 7 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ piece in half. Place it so the bottom raw edges line up. Place the vinyl piece on next, with the bias tape on top, and finish it with the last 5″ x 5 1/2″ piece, right side down. The bottom edges of the folded piece and the vinyl should line up with the bases of the other pieces.
Pin the whole shebang together, double checking that your vinyl didn’t slip around while you weren’t looking. It can do that, and sometimes you don’t know until you’ve sewn it all together, which in turn makes you have to undo the whole thing and say fake swear words. Good times.
Sew the pieces together with a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving most of the center top open for turning. Trim the top corners, and trim 1/4″ off the sides and bottom. This will help with turning right side out.
This is a little tricky to turn right side out, but you can do it. Once it’s mostly turned, you’ll want to make sure you use something to really get the corners straight. I use a little metal chopstick that is perfect – but you can use a turning tool or anything similar. You have to be pretty firm with those bottom corners because of the vinyl.
Once you’ve got it turned right side out, press the top folds in. Be careful not to press over the vinyl, that’s bad for the vinyl and your iron. If you need to, you can press the holder on the back side.
Fold the strap in half and tuck the short ends into the opening of the main section. Center them and pin in place. Sew around the entire tag, using a 1/8″ topstitch along the top edge and a 1/4″ seam on the sides and bottom.
In order to sew over the vinyl portion, you’ll need to cut some small strips of tissue paper and lay them along the edge. Just sew over the top of the strips.
Gently tear the tissue off – and you’re all finished with your super cute little tag!!
These are so quick to do that you can make up a bunch (like say . . 60) and give them out to your friends!
I’m going to use mine just to keep in my purse – and for all my blogging events too!!
I think it looks cute with my fabulous bag from Nest of Posies too!
What do you think? :)
Linking up at Sunday Scoop, Today’s Creative Blog, Met Monday, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday, Quilt Story, Shabby Creek Cottage, My Repurposed Life and the other fabulous parties on the party page – make sure you check them out!
Awesome idea Bev and I love the idea of creating these for gifts!
I love your tutorial Bev, but seriously. I think I’m gonna need you to teach me in person. ;) I love the ones you made for SoCal Social!
Too cute, Bev! Do you have any extras for sale? *batting eyelashes* :)
What a brilliant idea! Not to mention, it’s too cute!
Bev – these are so cute. I can’t believe you whipped up 60+ of these for the Social. You are amazing!!!
Bev, I love your card holders! Adorable! Love your web site also, I look at it often.
Oh bev, I love these! I need new luggage tags and the double duty is great.
Oh, Beverly, I love them! I know what I’m doing tomorrow!
I love these! My sis-in-law and family will be moving to a foreign country for one year………I think I might make these for them so they can easily find their luggage midst all the others. My grandma used to crochet a chain for us that we all used as “luggage locators”, but these are so much cuter! :0)
Pinning it so that I can find them again easily.
Thanks for sharing!
Melissa
redflycreations.blogspot.com
Um….that is stinkin adorable! I love it! I love the fabrics also!
I can attest- they are so cute and so perfect for business cards. So amazing that you made all of them. It was so great meeting you.
Hi Bev
I’m with Emmy — these are the absolutely most adorable luggage/business card holders EVER! I’m so glad I own one. And now we have the tutorial-YEA!
Bev…I LOVE mine. These are the cutest EVER!
Bev, these were a hit@ so cal social, thanks for sharing the tutorial to make them.
What a great idea and a fun way to use up some of my scrap fabrics. I love the idea of making them up for luggage tags as gifts. It will be fun to personalize them for each recipient. Thanks for the great tutorial – pinning this to my sewing board!
So cool! I can’t wait to make one. Your tutorial was so clear. Thank you!
What a great idea, Bev! After attending Haven last summer, I can see how great it would be to have something like this. The cards can take over!! :)
Bev, my daughter went up to San Francisco with her Girl Scout troop today and I had to smile and think of you as I attached my business card holder from the SoCal Social to her suitcase. Love it!
Those are so cute and so practical!
So cute and simple to make, Bev! Thanks for the how-to.
You are so talented, Bev! I’ll have to remember this for SNAP! :)
OMG these are SO CUTE! I don’t have a sewing machine – haven’t picked up sewing yet – but what a fun project that would make great gifts for my traveling friends! And a great way to easily find your luggage on the carousel at the airport.
I love mine!! You’re the smarty! :)
I love this idea! So cute and perfect to add to a bag at a conference :o)
Thanks so much for this awesome tutorial. I made this but the back pocket has raw edges at the top. I can’t seem to figure out where I missed a step. Can you help me please! :)
Hi Jacquie!
I’m so glad you like the tutorial! :) It sounds like your back pocket piece got flipped in the sewing process. If you look at the 9th picture in the tutorial, you can see how to lay together the pieces before sewing. It should be the back piece, face up, the pocket piece, folded in half with the raw edges down, the clear pocket piece, with the binding up, and then the front piece, face down. All the bottom edges of the pieces should line up. That should make it so the back packet has a folded edge for the top.
I hope that helps – if not feel free to email me! [email protected] :)
oh, duh. I see, I had the 7 inch piece upside down. The second one turned out great! Thanks again! I also made the straps about 33″ so that you could wear it around your neck.
Yay! I’m so glad the second one worked out. And making the strap longer so it works like a lanyard is genius!! I love it!
I LOVE this! And I’ll need to make some of these- putting it on my short list!
Thank you for sharing this.
So glad I found your awesome tutorial! Do you use a special needle for sewing vinyl?
I love these! They are at the perfect challenge level for me. I made some last year to give my students to use as bus label tags on their backpacks. I was glad to see that they were sturdy enough to withstand the year. I’m in the process of making more this summer, and I found a couple of hacks that worked well for me. To minimize steam burns, I used a long metal skewer to hold down the thin pieces when pressing them. I also tried a hack that I found online, using clip barettes (the kind that gymnasts wear) to hold pieces together instead of pins. This worked really well after I had everything sandwiched together, and I didn’t have to put holes in the plastic. If I clipped them to the bottom of the sandwich, I could easily slip them off as they approaced the needle. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thankyou so much! This is the best tutorial ever! Just finished my first one! Turned out beautiful! Your instruction we’re clear & super easy to follow! Already cutting out a bunch more for friends!…..
My office building just instituted using badge readers to get in and out of the parking deck so I need something i can toss in the glove compartment but grab easily, thanks to the sweet handle, as I enter the garage. Thanks for sharing!