Morgan - Duct tape bags: 40 projects for totes, clutches, messenger bags, and bowlers

Copyright 2016 by Richela Fabian Morgan

Principal photography 2016 by Stephanie Gonot

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of

the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a

registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Morgan, Richela Fabian.

Title: Duct tape bags / by Richela Fabian Morgan.

Description: First edition. | New York : Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint

of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2015027602 | ISBN 9780553448320 | ISBN 9780553448337

Subjects: LCSH: Handbags. | Tape craft. | Duct tape.

Classification: LCC TT667 .M665 2016 | DDC 745.59dc23 LC record available at

http://lccn.loc.gov/2015027602

ISBN9780553448320

eBook ISBN9780553448337

Cover design by Jess Morphew and Sonia Persad

Cover photography Stephanie Gonot

v4.1

prh

For my mom and dad: I miss you every day.

And for Ed GrandDad Morgan

INTRODUCTION

THE BEAUTY
OF DUCT TAPE

Bags are some of my favorite things. I feel that I should have the right to own as many of them as I want. Why? Because they make me happy.

To offset the cost of what can be an expensive collection, I make my own bags out of many materials. Because the closest fabric shop is at least a forty-minute drive from my house, I am more likely to search for raw materials in a grocery or hardware store. What Ive discovered is that the most versatile material for making a bag is duct tape.

When duct tape is layered together into large double-sided pieces, it can be cut like cloth. But unlike traditional fiber-based material, this duct tape fabric does not need to be sewn with a needle and thread. The seams are held together with more duct tape, which means you wont be searching for the dreaded seam ripper after belatedly discovering a mistake.

The first time I made a duct tape fabric, I used black duct tape because it was a safe choice. Black matches everything, right? The fabric also resembled black patent leather, which I did not expect. After transforming it into a simple clutch bag, I was surprised by how little it resembled duct tape. It easily became my everyday purse. It wasnt long before I began trying out other colors and patterns of duct tape and making bags of various sizes and shapes.

Speaking of colors and patterns, you have so many offerings to choose from now: fabric-inspired options like chevron, plaid, argyle, linen, denim, leopard print, and camouflage. Ive also seen tape named after wood: Brazilian rosewood, mahogany, and white oak.

Duct tape can be woven, striped, made into a faux patchwork, gathered into ruffles, or cut into fringes. It can be divided into pieces and fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. It can be made into petals, which you can use like appliqu. All of this may sound as if its delicate or intricate work, but the techniques in this book will show you how to do it all. You just need to remember that its duct tape and almost any problem can be fixed. So dont be afraid to dive right in.

The information in the . Then you are ready to start crafting any style of bag.

You can undo something in the middle of a project to change a color or a shape. You can add more duct tape fabric if you belatedly discover that your measurements are wrong. You dont have to be intimidated; you can simply begin and play.