Thursday, April 3, 2014

Magnetic Snaps - A Mini-Tutorial

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I've been making these cute little quilted tool caddies for awhile now for little gifts and swaps, and every once in awhile, someone says, "Oh, I love that but I could never do those magnetic snaps."  Well, I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by magnetic snaps too - until I tried them.

They're super easy!

Here's a 7-photo tutorial of everything you need to know about adding magnetic snaps to purses, totes, or even this little quilted tool caddy.


STEP 1:  Figure out where you want your snap to go, and make a dot in the center.  In this example, the center of the tool caddy is at 4" and I want it 1" above the edge.  Can you see the dot?

By the way, this won't show, so use whatever you have at hand.  Here I used a plain old ordinary pencil.

STEP 2:  Open the package and find one of the metal templates.  Center the hole over the dot you made in STEP 1, make sure your template is straight with the bottom edge (this one is slightly crooked - sorry) and make a line in the slot on each side.

STEP 3:  With a sharp pair of embroidery scissors, cut open the fabric on the lines that you drew in STEP 2 above.  (If your fabric is thin or you are worried about it tearing loose, iron a piece of interfacing on the back or use another small piece of fabric behind it to give it strength.)

STEP 4:  From the package, remove the male or female magnetic snap and poke the legs through the holes you made so that the open legs end up on the back of your item.

STEP 5:  Place the slots in the template over the legs of the snap...

STEP 6:  Fold the legs down over the template.

STEP 7:  Turn your project over and admire your handiwork.

NOTE:  This process is the same for both the male magnetic snap (shown) and the female magnetic snap (not shown).

See?  Easy Peasy!






1 comment:

  1. I love using these! I always reinforce with interfacing, even on decent weight fabric. I've had too many of those snaps tear away over time if I don't! Recently I won a bag made by a big name bag pattern designer. She didn't reinforce the snaps and they are already pulling away!

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