Making Vinyl, Plastic, and Rubber Handbags: Sewing Stylish Projects from Unusual Materials [Paperback]

Ellen Goldstein-Lynch (Author), Nicole Malone (Author), Sarah Mullins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

The "green" way to make gorgeous handbags using recycled materials

There has been a movement throughout the fashion industry over the past ten years towards new types of materials to replace leather. Companies like Kate Spade have been in the forefront, using vinyl, rubber, and micro fibers for their expensive, fashionable, sought-after products. Kenneth Cole, Prada and Coach have also been experimenting with micro-fibers, rubber, and combinations of distinctive materials for their latest trendy products as well.

This book explores how these different types of materials can be used to create one-of-a-kind trendy items for the home sewer. The projects cater to all ages and degrees of difficulty, and materials are easy to find at traditional fabric stores, as well as places like Wal-Mart, Target, Staples, and home box stores.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ellen Goldstein-Lynch is the Chairperson of the Accessories Design Department of at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She has been involved in the accessories field for over 25 years, serving as Public Relations Director for the National Fashion Accessories Association for 10 years. She is an authority on handbags and accessories, and has been featured on national television and in print

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Quarry Books (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592533159
• ISBN-13: 978-1592533152
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has a lot of potential but lacking much needed pictures, April 10, 2007

By 

Island-Princess (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Vinyl, Plastic, and Rubber Handbags: Sewing Stylish Projects from Unusual Materials (Paperback)

I would admit the photography is beautiful and the bags are great. There are a couple of messenger bags, a wallet etc. Bags with a lot of potential. However, this book is certainly not for a beginner. The difference in this book vesus the handbag book and leather bags book is that there are several instuctions that do not have accompanying diagrams.

At first I thought I had a bad copy but the other copies I looked at are all the same. The beginning starts of well with each instuction having a diagram but as you continue to flip through and more advance bags are introduced the diagrams are seriously lacking. As a result, if you never made a bag or understand the principles of handbag making and construction-you could end up even more confused by trying to form your own picture of an instuction that isn't there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love This Book!, July 29, 2008

By 

Maria Del Pinto "Repurposing Junkie" (Huntington Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Vinyl, Plastic, and Rubber Handbags: Sewing Stylish Projects from Unusual Materials (Paperback)

I loved this book. I have made a few knitted and crocheted bags but wanted to start to make bags out of unusual materials and this book fit the bill by providing projects made with things like auto tire inner tubes and diamond plate matting. I found that the techniques needed to work with the materials that the project called for.....were fully explained in the beginning of the book. I quickly developed the skills needed to work successfully with these new materials. The styles of the bags were fun and trendy! The gallery really showed even more inspiration for putting my own creative touch to the included patterns.