After I made this fabric luggage tag and attached it to my suitcase, I thought to myself one that size will never survive a trip through baggage handling because my plastic one barely does!

This is an easy project that can be made for school back packs, library totes or laptop bag for holding your fabulous business cards when you are at a blogging conference. Plus, in doing this project I realized I can make a fabric book with vinyl picture pockets for my nephew (and if I get started now, I’ll have it ready by his May birthday!).

Note, I did make the vinyl pocket over-sized because I watched this adorable young boy struggle to get his library card out of his wallet because the opening was too snug. I did not want the opening to be just the size of a business card and wanted the option of making my own contact information insert.

My supplies:
2 – 4″ x 6″ pieces of fabric (I used red gingham & old denim – using up my stash)
1 – 3″ x 4″ vinyl
1 – fusible interfacing ~3″ by 5″ (I eye-balled & measured this piece after I sewed the outer pieces)
1/4 grommet
length of ribbon
scissors
iron
sewing machine with a teflon presser foot to sew vinyl or a piece of tape on your presser foot – thanks futuregirl for the hack!

Directions (I’m not skilled at giving directions mostly because I do not know the lingo, I just figure it out and do it, so here goes):

1. With the wrong sides of the 4×6 pieces of fabric together, sew three sides – leaving the top open.
2. Trim excessive fabric at the corners, turn right side out and push out the corners (this is a part I don’t know how to explain, but you need to do so you do not have bulky corners).
3. Press with iron.
4. Eyeball/measure fusible interfacing and insert, iron.
5. Fold in and with the iron press down the top seam and sew.
6. Before attaching the vinyl this is your last chance to iron since you cannot iron vinyl.
7. Place vinyl on the side that you want to be the front (mine is the red gingham side) and tape lightly on the open side (which when finished will be the side near the grommet).
8. Make sure you are using a teflon foot or have placed transparent tape on your presser foot. Also, I sewed with the thin paper (because it came off a roll at the fabric store, that paper is used to keep it from stick to itself) side up to ensure it would not stick.
9. Sew three sides of the vinyl – by putting the tape on the open side I knew not to sew that side (these are the things I have to do to remind myself!) and back stitch at the end to secure the stitch.
10. At this point, I had to remove that paper I mentioned above.
11. Measure and cut the hole for the grommet.
12. Attach grommet and ribbon.

If my directions seem to miss a step or are unclear, please leave me a comment. Likewise, if you make a luggage tag, let me know, I’d love to see what fabrics you used!