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.
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