Collapsible Kraft-Tex Bowl

It’s time to share our November projects. The month the color is Tangerine. This color is sooo pretty!

Have you tried kraft-tex? Kraft-tex is a vibrant paper that looks, feels and wears like leather, but sews, cuts and washes like fabric. It works perfectly on this bowl and has that awesome weathered look.

I went back and forth on what to make this month and finally landed on making this bowl. I used my collapsable fabric bowl PDF pattern and the pattern is a free download in my online store.

These bowls were created a few years ago and inspired by my travels. I used to manage a large territory and travel a lot for my job. At times, I could be gone for a week at a time, so I created this bowl to hold all my little things in my hotel room – car keys, the hotel room card, ear buds, loose change, jewelry, anything really! They are perfect for travel because they collapse. I added velcro to each corner. As you can see in the image above you just push each corner piece together and are good to go.

I have a blog post where you can find the step by step sewing tutorial for the fabric bowls. You can find it here. Over the years, I have made a bunch of these bowls. And Christmas is right around the corner, these make perfect gifts!

I made a few changes when sewing with Kraft-Tex, make note on the bullet points below if you plan to use my previous blog post and sew one with Kraft-tex:

• Eliminate using the Peltex interfacing pieces. The 2 layers of Kraft-Tex fabric was sturdy enough.
• Print 2 copies of page 2 for the bowl pattern piece. Then glue them together along the center line. Use Wonder Clips around the edges to cut and then sew the Kraft-tex together.
• Take off 1/8″ around the entire outside edge – you will not turn and sew under the outside edge seam.
• Unlike a fabric collapsible bowl, there will be no stitch lines within the bowl ( Just the outside top edge )
• It is ok to eliminate the velcro at each corner and stitch together. Remember to backstitch at each end.

Tips for using Kraft-tex:

• Backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam. This is important or your project will fall apart.
• Do not use pins – they will leave holes. Only use Wonder Clips to hold pieces together.
• Try to sew a seam only once. Make the first attempt be your first and only attempt. Otherwise you will have a nice line of holes. Think through each step before committing.
• Have fun!