The Girlfriend

Here is a bag I call The Girlfriend:
It is named because it is the perfect gift to get your girl while you are shopping for Tube Heaven bags for yourself. That way she won't feel left out of your purchase.

I just had a nice couple of days off with family in upstate NY. I spent some time trying to explain the whole Tube Heaven concept to them, which was quickly resolved once they touched my wallet, my backpack, etc. I turned them into lovers of the reincarnated rubber!

My little helper

My 4 year old daughter likes to get involved in my small business as much as possible. I try to include her as safety and time permit. Today I had her help me cut some tubes that I had already sewn together. I marked lines for her to cut. She did a great job and made it more enjoyable!
Two nights ago, she helped me clean out a bag full of tubes that I cut open. She was a great scrubber! We used liquid castile soap in the bathtub.

Inspiration for sewing bike tubes

This bag sold after being listed for a few hours. I will try to post more laptop sleeves as soon as possible!

You may wonder where I got inspired to sew bike tubes together. Or where I even learned that it was possible! For a few months in the fall of 2009, I had an internship at an awesome shop called Fabric Horse here in Philadelphia. I worked under Carrie and Alex as their cutter, snap applier, and clean up girl. I learned a ton from Carrie and Alex, and Carrie eventually introduced me to the industrial walking foot machines. One of the awesome items she makes and sells are spats. They are super cool, and also have a strap made from bicycle tubes. This was the first time I had seen or heard of anyone using bike tubes. Carrie is inspiring and awesome!

How do bike tubes go from busted to bags?

 

You may wonder how I transform bike tubes into bags. The first step is acquiring blown bike tubes. My husband works in a small bicycle shop, so he is my supplier of those. When I have a large bagful of them, it is time to dissect, wash, and dry them. I slice them open, clean them in a sink full of eco-friendly suds, and then hang them to dry outside. I try to pay attention to areas of dry rot or holes and cut them out. 

Next, it is time to stitch them into stuff. I have a Consew industrial walking foot machine. It can sew through 8 layers of leather. I purchased the machine head on Craigslist and the table through my local industrial sewing shop, Keystone.

I sew with heavy duty bonded nylon thread, with a breaking strength of about 8 pounds. You can't rip this thread with your hands! I stitch a few tubes together, and from there I cut and sew whatever I want! I buy zipper in bulk, so it is actually a huge reel of zipper. I cut it to the desired length and add the zipper pulls! 

I make my own sew-in labels with my inkjet printer and printable fabric.

Inaugural Post

This is the first Tube Heaven post. I want to show where I come from, what I do, why I do it, and how I do it. Here is a little of where, North Philly. These are some walls behind my house: