Fabric Luggage Tags

Late last summer I was contacted by a Bride-to-be about making fabric luggage tags for her wedding table favors, and since she also happens to be a friend of my SIL, I agreed.

The Bride shared links to luggage tags she had seen and liked on Etsy - and all of the examples she selected were made using the same pattern from Studio Cherie! After buying the pattern, I made several samples so that I could prepare an accurate estimate of fabric and supplies needed to make about 100 tags. I don't think I shared them on the blog last year, so here's a photo of my samples:

I changed up the instructions a little bit - instead of using Peltex two sided fusible interfacing, I used regular Peltex for the frame and backing of the tags, and applied fusible Steam-a-Seam 2 to the fabric. It just made more sense to me that way.

Our Bride purchased two different fabrics - a pink/ecru/brown print for the ladies and brown tonal print for the men - and mailed them to me around September of last year, and little by little I bought the rest of the supplies whenever I could find them on sale.

I planned to break up the task of getting through 100 tags by making them in batches of ten at a time, spread out over several months. But then I got busy in my shop, and with holiday sewing, and the next thing I knew, it was late January and I'd only prepped the fabric.

With a deadline of early March, I really wanted to finish by the end of February ... and I almost made it.

I prepped the Peltex for all 100 tags in one loooong afternoon, first cutting long strips, and then sub-cutting the frame and base pieces, and last cutting out the windows and the angled top edges of the base. At the beginning of each batch of 10, I cut and applied fusible to the fabric strips, and then cut clear vinyl for the windows.

Each batch of 10 was a two day job - one day for cutting and fusing fabric to Peltex, the next day for sewing the pieces together. Some days I worked on 15 tags at a time, to stay on target for my deadline. I worked on a few other projects and listings for my shop a few days each week, too.

It was very satisfying to finish a stack of tags!

Eventually, all 100 tags were complete, except for adding eyelets; here's a sample photo of one in each fabric:

Installing all 100 eyelets was another day's work, and finally they were finished! I meant to take a photo of them all stacked up and ready to be mailed back to the Bride, but all thoughts of photography were forgotten in my haste to get the package mailed out on time.

The wedding was in mid-May and by all accounts it was a lovely day. I'm happy to have played a small part in it.

*****

As I am writing this blog entry, I have been watching the Mets-Cardinals game on SNY.  Tonight, Johan Santana has pitched a complete game shut-out, and the first no-hitter in the 50+ year history of the Mets! Game #8020 - It's a great night to be a Mets fan!!!!

edited:
Dec-17-2018 Replaced SewAmazin Flickr photos with Google photos; edited links