Machine Embroidery ITH (In The Hoop) Supplies: Fabric! Marine VInyl, Cork, Chalkboard Fabric, & more

[Music] good morning good afternoon good evening or good night depending on where you are when you're watching this video my name is melissa and i'm the digitizer behind designs by little b today i'm going to do what i hope is a quick video on some of the materials that we use to make a lot of our favorite in the hoop projects and specifically today i'm going to focus on the fabrics now when i talk about in the hoop projects i'm talking about some of our favorites like hand sanitizer cases lip balm holders as well as just your general snap tabs eyelet fobs i'm also going to talk a little bit about zipper bags even though that's not something that i make a lot but i hope that you can get a little information from some of my tips that will help you now the first material i'm going to talk about is marine vinyl and it is called such because guess what it's used on boats so you can imagine how durable this fabric is i usually find mine at joann they carry a limited selection of colors like white red they used to carry yellow i think they've discontinued it from what i've heard um i haven't been in a long time because i tend to stock up and then i i get a lot with a coupon and then i don't need to go back very often but you can find marine vinyl at most joanne locations if you don't have one near you search for joanne fabrics online and you can order it online you know they're always sending out coupon codes whether it's to use in the store to use online for free shipping for cheap shipping i know it looks expensive per yard but you have to remember that the marine vinyl is very long i want to say it's 54 inches long i'm not sure i always pick it up and throw it over my shoulder and take it to the cutting counter and they have to use a special little rollie thing to cut it because it's so long so remember that it is long on the bolt and also you don't need a lot to make these little projects even the ones that are two-sided you don't need a lot of fabric to make this so when i go especially if i'm getting something that i might not use a lot i'll get half a yard or even sometimes a third of a yard if it's a really specialty color or print or something that i know i'm not going to use a lot of don't forget to use your coupon you can get it super cheap i mean it's ridiculous like five dollars um for a yar a half a yard which is going to last you a while now when we talk about marine vinyl this is kind of the gold standard in what you're going to use for your in the hoop projects i want you to pay special attention you notice it's nice and smooth i know that key fobs get a lot of wear and tear this is very durable like i said it's used for upholstery on boats so it's used to being stepped on and and pushed and kicked and touched and cleaned and wiped down and gotten wet and all that stuff so the front is very kind of slick feeling it's very sturdy and thick and on the back you'll notice let's see if i can i'll get it to focus you see these um like diagonal lines that are going on the back marine vinyl that i get at joanne specifically always has those crisscross lines i don't know if that's something with all marine vinyl like they just make it that way so you know that you can use it on a boat i have no idea or if it's just something they do it joanne or this one brand i have no idea but you can see that it is not a woven like knit fabric like cotton that's going to fray when you cut marine vinyl it just cuts it's not going to i mean i could rip it like you could probably rip any fabric but it's not going to easily tear it's not going to fray that's why we love marine vinyl this is a lime green that i got at joanne probably a couple of years ago and i'm down to like scraps of it now i'm sorry but i'm not sure if they still carry this color but you can go online and look it up in a jiffy so this is an example of marine vinyl this key fob that i made it's a um hand sanitizer holder this blue in the background it's an applique piece but this blue in the background that is marine vinyl and i love using it because it's sturdy and it's not going to fray and it's easy to clean because you know keys get used a lot they get dirty and this is easy to wipe off and easy to clean the next product i want to talk about is it used to be we used to call it like canvas um vinyl canvas embroidery canvas it's very similar to marine vinyl in it like it doesn't fray easily at the edges but it's not as thick and it has a more papery or canvassy feel on the back and when i say it doesn't fray i feel i don't want to turn this one around because it i got it for free and it's got some copyright design on the back and i don't sell it or use it to sell so um but this is the only side you need to see anyway it's like a canvassy feel on the back and so i've used it for applique because it's great because it's thin but it's kind of but it's a little more durable than like cotton but with heavy use i don't know if it would kind of fray at the edges if you use it for the front or the backing of a key fob i'm really not sure that's kind of a your mileage may vary thing i've used it a ton um but i don't sell to the public so i don't have experience with customers telling me this is fraying or i don't like it i've used it for myself and from ikea fobs and i like it it's a great thing to try you can find it on etsy sometimes or from folks who sell vinyl and embroidery fabric these days it's called usually called like embroidery canvas or you know vinyl canvas or something just pay close attention to what you're getting when you are talking about the difference between a true vinyl like marine vinyl like it's real sturdy and thick and when you're talking about the canvas style both have their uses it's just a difference of supply so just make sure that before you shell out money you're paying attention to what you're buying the next fabric i'm going to mention that is super useful and i keep yards and yards of this stuff and it's cheap i keep them around all the time is called chalkboard fabric this is something i found at joann on a tip from someone else it's really popular in making little key fobs i even have like an oversized key fob in on my website that you can make and you could put it on like your child's keychain or something and you use this chalkboard fabric and you have to kind of condition it first by like the instructions come with the fabric you have to like wet it first and then wipe it down or something i don't remember anyway then you can use it like a little chalkboard and you can write a note to your kid or write their school bus number on it or whatever anyway so that's what it's really for but i love this stuff for in the hoop projects because it's nice and durable the back is it's sturdy the back is not the type that's woven or knit that's going to fray on you like a cotton fabric would but it's really thin and flexible so you know how you're making a lip balm holder or hand sanitizer case that requires or suggests three layers you've got the front you've got the backing which is this which is like what goes behind your item and then you've got the pocket we all know that when you're making a three layered embroidery design this can get hard to cut around it can also get hard to use like when you're folding it if you use three layers of marine vinyl on that it's going to be kind of hard to fold and snap it's also going to be hard to cut especially for those of us who have kind of like smaller and or weaker hands and you already have a problem cutting three layers of marine vinyl is not going to help you out at all so what i like to do is grab this chalkboard fabric i keep a ton of it it's last time i checked it was i think 4.99 a yard at joann on a regular sized bolt it's in the utility fabrics and i use a coupon and i get like a five yard cut and use a coupon on it and you know you only use small pieces like this big so it lasts forever i mean i'll have one cut of chalkboard fabric for six months that you know i use all the time so here's what i do for this example here's the front of your hand sanitizer case this is this will be sitting on your hoop like this when it calls for the backing to seal in that ugly stitches on the back i slap my chalkboard fabric up under the hoop it stitches around it then i slap my pocket stitch around that and you're done and this gives a nice finished look i mean i like the black on the inside it doesn't take away from the coolness of the outside of the design on either side doesn't fray nice and flexible i've seen this at joann you can get it online at joann and i'm sure it's other places as well similar to chalkboard fabric is something i've never actually used and i meant to get some so i could use it as a sample in the video and i totally forgot it's called oli fun o l y f u n i've heard customers talk about buying it at joann basically it's kind of like chalkboard fabric in consistency but it's almost like a little meshy fabric it's something that won't fray at the edges it's nice and thin and flexible for use as i said on the backing of items so that you can still easily cut around it and fold it it's called oli fun o l y f u n the last fabric i'm going to talk about in this quick run through of the ones i use most often is cork fabric now i showed this fabric in the group in my facebook group facebook.com groups slash designed by littlebee group or you can just look up designs by little b on facebook and several results um including the public page and the group will populate i saw this or something not this exact one but i saw regular cork fabric like this at walmart just the other day and i had no idea their care they carried it i usually get mine from amazon i've gotten it from some smaller independent vinyl sellers it sometimes it's hard to find but you're welcome to ask in my group where to find it we can all share tips now the thing about cork fabric as someone pointed out in my group when i shared that picture is that it's pretty thin it's very flexible but that does make it perfect for using as the backing piece on a key fob using for the front just making sure that you have a sturdier backing like chalkboard fabric or you can even use marine vinyl so you're like swapping up the marine vinyl front and cork inside if you want that it's a really cool detail to use inside some of these things so when you open it up it's like oh there's cork on the inside it looks really cool i've used cork a bunch for hand sanitizer cases on the outside and then i use a piece of marine vinyl or something else like uh chalkboard fabric for the inside and that way you get the cool detail of the cork but it's still nice and sturdy and reliable all right i know that was a lot to take in as i ran through those common materials pretty quickly but now i do want to go back and focus a little more on the vinyl aspect of it now when we talk about vinyl of course i told you about marine final i told you where to get it joanne or online at joann there's also different upholstery shops and places you can go to get that i will tell you that i've seen a lot of people post in groups and talk about going to a local upholstery store or upholstery shop and ask for their scraps and offer to like pay for them and sometimes they'll come away with like a bunch of leather some marine vinyl different fabrics that we would love to experiment and play with when using our in the hoop items and a lot of times they'll give it to them for free so check out a local upholstery store and see if anybody else has thought of that yet and just it never hurts to ask if you can buy their scraps or even just have their scraps now i feel like every time i go to a retail establishment that carries fabric i'm always looking for new or different fabrics that i can use for my in-the-hoop items here are some of the kind of off-the-wall things that i found i will tell you where i got each one and i will tell you that your mileage may vary you may not like to use this material you may find that it's not as durable as you'd hoped you may want to experiment with it personally before you go selling items made with it so to each their own these are just things that i've used in the past first of all oh and you can find a lot of these in the remnant bin because they're cheap and it's small pieces that you can use for great small in the hoop projects so first of all i've had this one forever this is like a um it's got ridges i think it's supposed to be like a picnic table fabric or something you would use to cover a picnic table or something you would use for upholstery of some sort it's very plasticky like vinyl but it's got ridges hear that now on the back this one is fuzzy fuzzy okay now it's still not going to fray like a cotton or knit fabric would but some people don't like like the fuzz on the back of it i don't know why it's not super fuzzy in my opinion it's not gonna uh change the the project at all i still like to use it you might not so always look at the front and the back when you're searching for a fabric also at joann in their upholstery section i have found fabrics like this it is an embossed fabric very nice color nice embossing real textured i really like to use it i used it for the pocket on this cowboy boot lip balm holder it's really nice really sturdy and pretty it also has the fuzzy-ish backing i don't care i really like it and i use it for a lot of personal projects also at joanne i found this i don't know what this is either exactly what it's called but it was in the upholstery section look at that cool pattern and on the back you'll notice that it's got that diagonal backing that i told you about that i saw on marine vinyl now it's not slick and smooth like marine vinyl is it's got a texture to it almost like a basket woven uh texture to it i really love it and i use it on a lot of small projects for like the pocket or just for a little detail so it seems like every time i go to joanne to get anything i sneak over to the upholstery section and just check out what they have because you never know what unique pattern or print you can get now one time a year or two ago i went to walmart and in their fabric section i found this awesome it was called faux leather and it is very um it's not quite as slick it's not quite as sturdy or thick as marine vinyl but it's called faux leather beautiful color i will tell you one thing about this stuff the backing is not as sturdy as like a marine vinyl and i have found that when i'm using it it tears kind of easily so i only use this i don't use it for projects that i'm making a pocket like hand sanitizer cases or lip balm holders because i'm afraid it will tear with a lot of use i do use it often for passport holders checkbook holders plain snap tabs and eyelet fobs where you're not going to be pulling on it it's just either going to open and close or you're going to have it hanging from your keys i wouldn't use it as like the pocket fabric this is something you really want to check out when you're browsing new fabrics you want to think to yourself what kind of projects would this be good for is it going to tear is it something i can use for a pocket or something i need to use just as a flat project here is an example that was upside down of using that raspberry colored faux leather that i got from walmart this is actually my real passport case that i use it's a scalloped passport case this is my little tiny embroidered bee add-on and you can see that it fits nicely in there i use it for the pocket too but since this is the kind of thing that you're not going to be taking out and putting back in i felt totally comfortable using that fabric for the outside and the inside of this passport case so it's just the kind of thing that it has pros and cons and you just need to think to yourself as a crafter as you would do with anything else what type of project would this be best for and don't use it for something that would cause you heartache down the road now i just found in my little box of goodies that i was going to talk about a good example of using cork for a lining you see how i used marine vinyl on the front and back of this hand sanitizer case however for the backing instead of my usual chalkboard fabric i put some cork in there i just thought it was a nice little surprise when you open it up it just looks a little different from the plain white or black or something else that we would use so just to go back to that real quick now on the subject of fabrics that tear you want to be careful where you're buying your vinyl because some of the vinyl sellers that go in and out of business in my experience lately order their vinyl embroidery fabric from overseas which is fine as long as you know that's what you're getting unfortunately a lot of them especially the ones that have um artwork that you know is a cartoon character or a company that you may or may not think you're supposed to be selling a lot of them have if you look at the backing it looks like pressed fabric it's like a a pressed type of material like it's not woven it's almost like uh that crappy pressed wood that you see that you use like on the back of a bookcase that'll never be seen and it's just not as sturdy as like real wood okay this is the same thing but in fabric form and if you look at it and you use it you'll notice that it tears just like that did you see that i hardly even had to do anything with it i mean it just tears like paper it's almost like pressed paper like pulp and not a real fabric weird huh so you gotta look out for that and i've seen pictures posted in groups and i printed one out to show you let me find it this was posted in my group of a lip balm holder and the wonderful group member set you can see that it's torn right there and our wonderful group member said why did that lip balm holder tear like i'm afraid for these projects that i've sold to my customers guess why it tore there are a lot of comments on that picture uh being she cut too close to the stitches that just the stitches aren't long enough and that it perforated the vinyl good suggestions and good things to look out for but wrong the reason that that particular material tore was because it tears just like that so if you're using something where you're going to be opening up and removing something often guess what's gonna happen she's gonna tear right off because it's basically thick paper so one good reason not to buy that product that you see a second good reason and i'll just throw this out there if you are interested it's your business for um how you use this information those companies from overseas that sell that vinyl to the sellers that we buy from here often often they are using stolen artwork from independent artists that is artists that sell their prints online artists that do that make their own custom printed fabric i've been told several times back when i used to sell vinyl that that product that i was getting and selling was someone's original artwork that they had custom printed on fabric and people clamored for this stuff and this company from way over there just said oh we like these pictures we're going to use them to print on our vinyl and sell now what the subject matter of those fab fabrics is that those artists drew is not my business if you want to say well they shouldn't be making those prints with ears you know on them and so it's okay if someone steals it i'm not getting into that the point is that they're independent artists that make their own work and make money off of that and support their families with that and not only is this an unreliable product it also could be making money off of someone else's artwork so use that for what you will so how do you know that you're buying vinyl or leather or whatever that is uh sturdy and is not going to fray and is not going to tear easily like that well of course the easiest way to say that is to buy it in person if you're out somewhere where you really don't have anything nearby then i suggest buying online asking in a group who they would recommend there are also small independent vinyl sellers that do sell reliable sturdy vinyl glitter vinyl and even some printed vinyl that is not going to do you like that on your embroidery projects as promised a quick bit on zipper bags and the vinyl to use for zipper bags now when you're making a zipper bag you definitely don't want to use the stuff that tears easily right imagine going through all that work and then it just pulls apart at the seams what a nightmare so i recommend of course the same thing i've been talking about the sturdy marine vinyl i used to have this really buttery soft uh vinyl slash leather type fabric oh i got it from a website i will share the link below if they still sell it but this is a good example of a fabric that you would want to use this is super sturdy now when you're making a zipper bag using vinyl or leather or a similar thick fabric some people skip the inner lining steps where you don't line it with cotton for many reasons maybe they just want to save time maybe they don't feel like turning a zipper bag from the turning place in the bottom that has all these layers in it including the vinyl and the cotton totally understand that i've made those before but if you want to use if you really want to go through that struggle you can make one and use the vinyl just the same as you would a cotton you see this one i did a really cute pink polka dot on the inside of that one this was a terrible bear to turn inside out but look at the result it was so worth it and this is one of my favorite little bags that i've ever made to date so it was worth it to go through the trouble and spend probably i think 10 minutes turning this bag now if you are using vinyl and you're not using a lining step all you need to do is well you can always ask in my group or in another facebook group how to do it there you use the same design you just skip the steps that you use for the lining and you may need to rearrange the steps if you've added a design or something like that it's super easy you can use any design that is fully lined you can use it for vinyl too that's the great thing about embroidery designs is that you buy them sure you can follow the instructions the digitizer gave but if you find a way to do it that suits your materials and your needs and your time frame better you can do that i think that about covers the materials that we use as far as fabrics go for most of our in the hoop items i will drop links below this video to some of the shops that i like to use most often my best advice to you other than using the links that i specifically post is just to visit fabric stores get over to the specialty sections and touch the fabric and see what you think would be best for your certain purposes uh whether it's sales or you're just doing this as a hobby if you're in a major store like joanne or hobby lobby make sure that you're using your coupon to save money and also frequent some of our small businesses that i'm gonna post below and keep them running because a lot of them do some great work so until next time i will see you in the next video and i'll chat with you in the group bye

Channel: DesignsByLittleBee

Views: 12,836

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Id: SlyoG7C9dqs

Length: 26min 20sec (1580 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 29 2020