Hello Crafters!

The best thing about being a crafter is that you can turn literally anything into a crafting oppourtunity. As soon as I plan an activity or start a new hobby I instantly start thinking of exciting DIY projects that I can make for it. My sister and I just booked a trip to England for the fall. 🙂

As soon as my flight was booked I wanted to make something for the trip and realised it was time to get cracking. Shortly after that I realised that the trip is almost a year away and I was getting way too excited. Oh well! Here is my first travel DIY project that I want to share with you, my embroidered luggage tag 🙂

This tutorial shows how to assemble the luggage tag but it doesn’t show you how to make the embroidery part. Use your creativity to make any image you want! I don’t know much about embroidery but I drew my image out on fabric and just filled it in with thread 🙂

Supplies you will need to make your luggage tag

• Piece of embroidery
• Craft felt in complimentary colour (or boring black like I used 🙁 )
• Embroidery thread
• Index card
• Packing tape
• Button

Cutting felt and fabric to size

Start by measuring a small border around your embroidered image. I made a 5mm border. Then get your felt and mark out a section that is the exact same size as your embroidered fabric. I use chalk to mark on dark surfaces like this black felt and you can just wipe it away after.

You will need two pieces of felt that are the same size. So repeat the above step. Cut out your felt shapes.

One of your felt pieces will be the back of your tag. Cut a window out of one felt piece. This window will be where your information card will be inserted.

You want the window to be slightly smaller than your information card so that the edges of the card will be held in by the felt. I traced my card onto the felt and then just cut the hole a few mm smaller than the rectangle I traced.

Sewing edges

Now you need to layer together the whole tag and hold it in place so you can sew it. (I used paperclips!) But any pins would work.

Layer like so: embroidery / solid felt / felt with window

Sew around the two long edges and one of the short edges. I just used a wraparound stitch. A sewing machine would be a lot more effective but since I don’t have one 🙁 I sewed by hand!

Finishing touches

To work the last edge you will be attaching the button flap while leaving the end open so you can insert and replace the information card.

To measure the correct size for the button flap I lined up the button with a small piece of felt.

Then fold the felt around to the front and cut it to size. You want the edge of the felt to come just to the edge of where your sewn border will be.

On the final edge use the same edging technique that you used for the other three sides but instead of going through all of the layers you will only sew through the embroidery layer and the first layer of felt. Once you get to the part where your button flap will be attached sew through the flap as well.

Once you have completed all of your edges you will attach your button to the back of your tag and cut a button hole in the felt flap. I simply marked where the button would be with a bit of chalk and then cut a small slit in the felt.

The final step is to write your information on your card and insert it into your tag! I covered my card with packing tape so it won’t get damaged during travel.

There you have it! A totally unique luggage tag that will really make your luggage pop 🙂

As always please leave any questions or comments in the comment section below! Or email me at Mataya@matayamade.com I always love to hear from my fellow crafters 🙂

Happy crafting!