This was written by Cherie from you & mie for the Miss Matatabi Makers series.

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This month I decided to try out some nani IRO laminated canvas. I had a completely different project in mind when I ordered my yardage, but then I realized I wasn’t taking advantage of the water repellent nature of laminated fabric and decided to make something else we really needed, which was a new portable diaper changing pad. The one that we had been using came with our diaper bag and it is of really poor quality! The binding started fraying and falling off immediately. So I thought this would be a really awesome fabric to make a new one with! And a really simple project too.

The fabric is everything you’d imagine it to be. Beautiful and sturdy, but not too thick. It’s laminated on one side. Machine washable, but easy to wipe down for quick cleaning. It really is the perfect fabric for this project, but would also be great as a bib, any pouch, lunch sack or tote bag. Fellow Miss Matatabi Maker, Leslie, used laminated double gauze to make a gorgeous laptop case.

The print is called Water Window and it’s so simple, yet stunning. And I love the watercolor details that you can appreciate close up. It’s not your typical print for a baby product, but I think that’s what Hideko and I love about it. And we’re the ones that have to carry it around and use it, so that’s all that matters right?

For the changing pad, I just cut two large rectangles of the fabric and then rounded the corners. There are 2 layers of thin batting in between and then I finished the edge with store bought bias tape. I love this color combo, it just never gets old to me! I was originally planning on attaching the whole thing by machine (top stitching one side while hopefully catching the other side underneath), but since both sides of this project were going to be very visible and I knew the “wrong” side wouldn’t look that great, especially around the corners, I decided to hand stitch the binding on. I’m so glad I did! It looks much cleaner this way.

One of my latest discoveries is magnetic snaps. I LOVE THEM. They are so easy to install and so functional and infinitely better than velcro! I used 2 layers of fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric before inserting the snaps. How did I not know about these before?

I also wanted to make a little diaper clutch to carry a couple of diapers and wipes around. Sometimes when you’re out and about, you don’t want or need to drag the whole diaper bag or backpack with you for a change. It’s nice to be able to just easily grab what you need. My diaper clutch did not come out perfect and there are some parts of it that I’m not thrilled with, but it’s definitely functional and I know we will use it!

Also a very simple project, this started out as a rectangle as well. I bound the two short edges with the same bias tape. I used magnetic snaps here as well (with interfacing to make the fabric for stable), cut out a hole for the opening of the wipes package (bonus, this fabric doesn’t really fray!) and then sewed up the sides to make little pockets.

The biggest problem here is that I didn’t have enough fabric. Like I said, I originally had a different project in mind and when I changed directions, I was determined to squeeze these two things out of what I had. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really enough, so the size and shape of the clutch is a little off. I also cut the hole for the wipes lid a little too big. Well, I cut it the exact size of the plastic lid, but since fabric stretches and it’s so close to the bottom of the clutch, it naturally gets pulled open more than I hoped. In hindsight, I should have cut the opening smaller and stretched it to fit over the lid snugly.

It’s not perfect, but we’ll get tons of use out of it. And I learned a couple of lessons here, so there’s value in that as well. Here are a couple of tips when sewing with laminated canvas!

– Use a brand new needle! You’ll need something sharp to pierce through the laminate and a new needle will make your sewing much smoother.
– Iron the wrong side on a medium/low heat setting. If you need to iron the right side, use a layer of muslin or cotton fabric in between and use a medium/low heat setting. I recommend testing it out on a small piece of scrap fabric first if you’re worried about melting or damaging the fabric.
– If you need to hold layers of fabric together, use clips instead of pins. When I was attaching my binding, instead of pinning together the two layers of laminated canvas, two layers of batting and the folded bias tape, I used clips. Pins will put holes in your fabric and just be time consuming and tiring for your hands.

That’s it! Otherwise, it really is easy to work with and fun to use!

Happy changing!

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Thank you, Cherie! Connect with Cherie on her blog, instagram, facebook, and pinterest.