15. DIY tutorial :Transparent Studded Satchel Bag

Today's DIY is on the transparent trend!

I think this clear bag trend has grown on me a bit.
When I think of clear PVC bags I automatically think of those waterproof bags you bring to the beach or the swimming pool to carry all your shampoos and what not.

but now, after seeing some of these bags in shapes other than the boring zip up tote from brands like chanel, prada, marc jacobs, valentino....

 I think I quite like them.

They kind of remind me of xrays. (Which I totally dig.)

It was not until  when I was creeping on creepyyeha (again ) that I saw that she was making a clear studded bag.

I thought that it was GENIUS to use studs to attach pieces together and I could not wait to try and make my own.

Literally.

The next day I cut up the clear PVC Sheet that was covering my table. (sorry mom =) )

I do not have a step by step tutorial as this was my first time making a bag
so everything was pretty much trial by error

although I did use one of my bags and a guide

I will do the best to explain with detailed pictures of my inspired bag!

So, you will need ..
pvc, vinyl... any sort of clear bendable sheets you can find really..
a rotary punch..
studs..
magnetic clasp

bag hooks
buckles are optional as you can do without them


for  the construction of the bag there will be one giant rectangle and two smaller rectangles for the sides. the large rectangle will include the front, bottom, back and top covering...

and the 2 smaller rectangles will be the sides  with the additional 2 cm for the sides

make sure that when you are cutting this piece that you are calculating  the lengths of all those sections.

here is a picture of the side of my bag where you can see the smaller rectangles on the side and the giant rectangle in the front

with your large rectangle , make sure that you fold the bottom so you have an indentation of the shape of bottom of the bag as a guide for the size of your side panels 

the size of the sides will the  height of the front and back of your bag with an extra 2cm for the studding on the bottom  and the width of the bottom of the bag plus 2cms to put in the studs.

to sum things up..
side panels width = bottom of bag width + 4cm
side panel height =  front of  bag height + 2cm

basically you are just making a 3D rectangle and leaving extra space for the studs.
take a look at a bag or a box for reference if I suck too much at explaining.

OKAY. 

now make a small 2cm by 2cm cut at the edge of your side panels so that when you fold them to stud together with the sides you don not have any awkward extra pvc.

As you can hopefully see in this picture. 

now you align your side panels with the edges of your bag and make holes for your studs

this part can get a bit tricky.

the hardest part of making this bag was the fact that everything was so hard to see!

(I do not want to imagine how the invisibility cloak in Harry Potter was made. )once you got both side panels attached, you  will see the structure of your bag coming along quite nicely. 

now on to the straps

I decided to put both a shoulder strap and a hand carry strap on mine 

for the hand held strap, you just need a piece of pvc and 2 or 4 studs

I wanted to have extra support so I used 2 studs on each end but you could get away with one on each end.

make the holes pretty close to the ends of your handle and when you are making the holes on your bag to attach the handle, make sure the length between the holes from each side is shorter than the length between the holes on the strap. This ensures that you have space to put your hand through like le picture above!

for the shoulder straps...

you could just directly attach the straps to the bag but.....

I like to be fancy.

lets start with the ones attached to the bag.

start by making two holes on the side panels of the bag 

now cut out a strip and make a loop

punch two holes that mimic the holes on the bag on the edge of the loop

attach with studs

repeat with other side.

with the actual strap it is a similar process. 

I took these bag hook things from a strap of a bag that i did not use anymore but I think you can buy them separately at a fabric store. 

you take your pvc that you have cut in a long strip and put your hook through one end

enough that you have enough of the edge to fold over 

make a hole through the folded edge and the strap and put a stud through to seal it. 

if you don not have enough length to your pvc

you can use two separate strips of pvc and attach one piece on each end with the above method and the connect the top with a belt buckle in a similar fashion with the side hooks 

(a more detailed explanation on how to attach buckles in the decoration section below)

(look at a belt for reference if you have no clue what I am saying.)

above is a picture of my decorative belt buckles as a reference

if you have made it this far, you have ALMOST completed the basic parts of the bag! 

yay

now you can add  a closure to your bag!

there are many available options, like buttons or magnetic closures

you could also just leave it like this 

now all the basics are done!

ON TO THE DECORATIVE FUN 

I made an additional pocket in the inside of my bag and I used flat studs to attach them

In order to have space to put things in , I cut an isosceles trapezoid (oooo , I bet you are hating  me for the math.)

to avoid complex explainations, I present you a picture  for reference, 

okay. now image this shape upside down. 

the smaller part will be the bottom of the pocket. 

attach the edge of the bottom first. 

now take the top edge and align it  so that the top stud will be facing the bottom stud. 

Do that to the other side and then stud everything in between with the exception of the the opening of course. 

if you did it correctly,  the studs should resemble a square or rectangle depending on the size you cut the pvc. 

I also added decorative buckles on the top of my bag, 

making this is quite similar to attaching the shoulder straps

first you need a shorter strap where you will put the buckle and the loopy thing .

for this one, you need to make a hole for the buckle to go through 

when you are securing the two sides of the strap,don not forget to also attach the loop for the top strap to go through. 

of course you could also secure the buckle first and then attach the loop separately at the bottom.

for the top strap, you just need to poke some holes about one inch apart along the strap.

attach the edge of the strap to the edge of the top of the bag then loop your strap through the buckle like a belt!

I  also added metal edges to the strap ends and the corners of the top flap

the decorative brooch is to hide the clasp.  

.

AND THAT PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP EVERYTHING.

and this was so very long. 

I understand that this is probably not the easiest tutorial so if you have any questions, feel free to ask!