When I went to the Pinners Conference here in Utah earlier this month, I stopped by Daily Craft Vinyl‘s booth. I may or may not have an addiction to vinyl sayings on tiles and vinyl crafting in general 🙂 They said I could have some of the vinyl if I did a project with it for my blog. It took me a while to decide on what I wanted to do and I ended up visiting the booth 3 times. In the end, my favorite quote from Galaxy Quest popped into my head. Perfect! I also decided to be eco-friendly and used a tote that I was given at a conference.
How to Make Your Own Geeky Quote Tote Bag:
Materials Needed:
- Heat Tranfer Vinyl (Pictured are the silver and “Starry Night” colors from Daily Craft Vinyl)
- Tote BagÂ
- Iron
- Thin Towel
- Fabric Markers (Optional)
1. Cut Your Vinyl Pattern Out
You can either cut your words and designs out by hand or with a machine like a Cricut or Silhouette. Your cuts will be on the dull side. For this project, I also wanted to put the ship from Galaxy Quest on it too and scanned in blueprints into a computer to use with a vinyl cutting machine.
Whether you are cutting it out by machine or by hand, make sure you only cut through the vinyl and not the backing. That will make it easier to weed (remove any extra vinyl.)
Important! Since this is a heat transfer vinyl, you will need to cut it in a mirror image. You will be flipping it over to iron.
2. Weed Away the Vinyl
Next, you want to remove the extra vinyl that is around your quote and decorations, which is a process called weeding. If your letters are especially small, you may want to use a vinyl tool or sewing needle to help remove the little parts.
3. Iron Your Tote
This will help get it ready for your vinyl transfer.
4. Figure Out Tote Placement
Arrange your vinyl transfers where you wish them to go on the tote. Make sure all vinyl is touching the fabric.
5. Iron the Vinyl
Place a thin towel between the iron and the vinyl. Press down hard for the length of time indicated for your brand of vinyl. Daily Craft Vinyl’s heat transfer vinyl takes 10-15 seconds and you can peel it off hot or cold. Make sure you look over the design and go over any spots that need a little more heat.
6. Peel Away the Backing
Ta-da! You have a geeky quote tote bag that will announce your favorite fandom.
7. Optional: Outline the Vinyl
I wanted to make the ship stand out a bit more, so I used Tulip Dual-Tip Fabric Markers to go around the edges.
#DCVPINNERS
What quote would you put on this bag?
Disclosure: I received free vinyl from Daily Craft Vinyl for this project. There is also an affiliate link. Please read our Disclosure Policy.
