How to Make your own Vinyl Bag Handles

If you're joining me from Mrs. H's blog for the Companion Carpet Bag sew-along, welcome! As mentioned over there, here's my tutorial to make your own vinyl handles. I've found a few tutorials on Pinterest, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for, so I decided to experiment a bit and come up with something on my own. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and I think you'll be pleased with your own pair too! They came together quite quickly and easily too! Please read all the way through before you try it yourself. If you have any questions, I'm happy to help as best I can, just send me a message through my contact page.

Supplies

You'll need vinyl of course. I used marine vinyl, but this same method should work with other vinyls. You'll also need:

• 16/32" cording - I don't know they don't just call it 1/2" haha!
• leather sewing machine needle
• fusible web tape (like wondertape) - this is optional but very helpful
• wonder clips, or similar - pins won't work, since they'll leave holes in the vinyl
• zipper foot
• 4 x 1.5" O-rings or rectangle rings
• fabric glue (like Beacon's fabritac)
• Fabric paint to match your vinyl (like Tulip soft fabric paint in matte - don't use "puffy" paint)
• small paint brush
• rivets and punch (optional)
• scotch tape
• thread to match vinyl 
• sewing machine and basic supplies

This sounds like a big list, but don't let it intimidate you, many items you'll already have, and others you can use with other projects.

Getting Started

Note: The size I'm using is just a personal preference. Please feel free to experiment with what you like best. I found that cutting the vinyl 6" longer than the cording yields the best result. 


Cut 2 12" pieces of cording and wrap up each end with scotch tape.

Cut 2 strips of vinyl measuring 4" x 18" and place a strip of wonder tape about 1/4" away from one long edge of vinyl, then fold vinyl, matching long edges, with cording centred vertically inside. Use wonder clips to secure edges together. Repeat with remaining vinyl and cording for second handle.

Sorry! This picture doesn't show the wonder tape. I didn't think about that step until after I took my pictures, but I tried it on another handle, and I loved the result.

Now bring your handles over to the machine, and, using your zipper foot with the needle position to the left, sew along the vinyl lengthwise as close to the cording as possible, starting at one end of the cording and stopping at the other end. Don't forget to backstitch a bit and start and stop too. Also, a longer stitch length is better with vinyl; I used 3.4 for for mine. Depending on your vinyl, you may have troubles with your foot sticking to the vinyl. My regular zipper foot had no problem, but if yours sticks, try laying wax paper over top of the vinyl and rip it away when you're finished. I'm not sure if you can get a teflon zipper foot, but if you can, it should work too!

It should look like this now, with loose, unsewn ends beyond the cording.

Now you can trim the excess long edges, leaving a scant 1/4" beyond the stitching. You may want to trim more, this part is just personal preference.

This part is tricky to explain so I hope I do an ok job: You will need to trim the loose ends of the handles, along a tapered curve for about 1.5", then straight for the last part of the loose end. I found it easier to put a wonder clip at the very end, to keep my pieces folded nicely and so my cutting was symmetrical. If you're using 1.5" rectangle rings, you'll want the folded end to be just under 3/4" wide (folded). It may be easier to cut 3/4" away from fold, for 1.5", then curve out toward the cording. Once you have that cut out, make the end slightly curved. Your piece should look like this pictured below. Repeat for remaining 3 ends (other end of this handle, and 2 on the other handle).

Now we feed the end through the ring, fold down and fit into open end at cording, this step is just a practice, to see if it fits, or needs additional trimming. The end should now look like this:

Once you have a good fit, lift up the end and stick some glue under there, and fold it back and secure with a wonder clip until the glue dries. Repeat until both ends are done on each handle.  At this point, you can add your rivets if you choose to use them.  Once the glue dries, bring the handle back to the machine, with the zipper foot still in place and continue the line of stitching as far as you can to the end, being careful not to hit the ring with your needle.

 The final step is painting the raw edges of the cut vinyl. It doesn't fray, but most of the vinyls have a backing that shows when it's cut. If you look closely at store bought vinyl handles, you'll notice they're painted too! I used Tulip matte finish fabric paint. I couldn't find a colour to match, so I mixed some and I'm pretty pleased with how well my first attempt matches! I bought the cheapest set of paint brushes I could find and they worked just fine for this job. The trickiest part to paint is around the ring, so you may actually decide to paint that part before you glue and sew it up. I didn't want to risk it because I knew my mixed colour would dry up, and I didn't think I'd get a perfect match a second time! If you get it on the vinyl, just wipe it while it's wet. If you choose to do a second coat, make sure the first coat is fully dry first.

My haphazard attempt at mixing these colours paid off!

Once the paint is dry, curve your handles and store them that way to help form the curve of how they'll be on your completed bag. Now you're done! 

If you follow this tutorial, I'd love to see your handles! Upload your picture at my contact form, and I'll share them here!