The decidedly 70’s vibe corduroy Vanja bag has gotten a 60’s style cousin. This time I wanted a practical tote that could withstand both rain and snow as well as internal assaults from things like leaking ball point pens and melting chocolate. Therefore this Vanja version is nothing but plastic fantastic. The outside is faux leather remains from the Stoff och Stil bag I did last year and the lining is made from a vinyl table cloth scrap that I found in a department store sales bin.
Sewing with faux leather is both easy and difficult. Easy because the fabric is very stable and easy to sew on a regular sewing machine with a leather needle. Difficult because it’s stiff and doesn’t hold a press well, so it’s almost impossible to fold faux leather. I had to use a combination of glue and gentle ironing to keep the straps folded long enough so that I could top stitch them.
The closure is magnetic snaps, which is my new favorite thing – it’s incredibly practical. Although I got a bit nervous about them last week when I read about a women who had bought a diaper bag with magnetic closures that had demagnetized her credit card! Then she got a new bag from the manufacturer and the same thing happened again! It’s the first time I heard about it though, so hopefully that diaper bag closure was unusually strong.
