DEADPOOL - Straps and Pouches

DEADPOOL has a lot of pouches and straps, and they need to be made out of vinyl/faux leather/pleather. Of course, real leather would be super nice, too ... I kind of did them factory style.

Here are all the pieces with a little bit of sewing. You can see I put all the Velcro pieces on before doing anything else. These are going to be functional pouches.

This is much, much, much stiffer vinyl than I prefer working with, but it had the best color, so I had to make it work. You can see how my sewing machine skipped around a bit (not enough to matter) And see the distinct "V" clips I put in the corners, so the flaps would have smooth rounded corners.

PLEASE NOTE, WHEN SEWING VINYL, PLEATHER OR REAL LEATHER, USE A LONGER STITCH LENGTH THAN YOU WOULD WITH REGULAR FABRIC.
TOO MANY CLOSE TOGETHER HOLES CAN MAKE THIS KIND OF FABRIC RIP.

I'm using the upholstery weight vinyl on one side and felt on the other. The only way to make this lie flat is to edge stitch, again with my life saving Teflon foot.

A simple 1/4" hem along the top edge with with Teflon foot.

I sew it all in a string, then cut apart. I think this is even faster than using the automatic cutter built into the machine. Plus it looks cool ... like I'm a factory.

Now the flaps can be attached to the other side of each pouch.

Plenty of Partially comPleted Pouches ... Perfectly Pleasing!

I made the pattern for these pouches really simple for two reasons. First there are so many to make and second, vinyl can be a pain ... depending on the kind you end up using. The fewer seams the better.

So. now the sides are sewn up.

And the squared off bottom is simply created with a fold and short cross seams at each corner.

Here is what it looks like from the outside.

Neat bottom.

Functional Flap.

And slits in the back for the straps which is what I will talk about next.

Here they are ... a lot ... 

This vinyl is much nicer and softer than the other, but STILL any vinyl is somewhat stiff and sticky, so these straps are made with topstitching from the outside, instead of sewing inside out and then turning.

Vinyl CAN be ironed. But do some testing on scraps to be sure of how hot to make the iron and to determine if a pressing cloth is needed.

A pressing cloth is usually a good idea. Vinyl can melt onto an iron if you are not careful.

When I make topstitched straps I always stitch the middle, simple folded side first. Then the open double folded side.

If I feel the layers are slipping which will make the strap twisted, I will use strategically place pins and the point of a seam ripper to help guide all the layers evenly under the presser foot.

Hope gives you some ideas of how to handle sewing with pleater and real leather.