Tips & tricks

Clear vinyl: reuse instead of buying, and sew it right

Sewable clear film is often already in your home: in bedding packaging, shower curtains or tablecloth protectors. How to pick the right one and sew it cleanly.

Clear bedding packaging with a zip and a press stud, a clear shower curtain on rings, an ID sleeve and a table with film over the tablecloth

For an ID pocket, a pouch with a window or a toiletry bag you need a piece of clear film, for example for the ID window of the Kirsche wallet. Most of the time you don't have to buy it. Lots of things come into the house wrapped in soft, clear film, and it would otherwise end up in the bin.

Not every film can be sewn. Some crack, some tear along the stitches. Here's where to find good film, how to test it and what to watch out for when sewing, so the seam holds and no holes are left.

What you need

Soft clear film from packaging, an old shower curtain or similar
Sewing clips or clothes pegs
Tape, e.g. masking tape
Tissue paper or thin baking paper
A new sewing machine needle
Non-stick foot or walking foot, if you have one
A heavy book to weigh it down

Step 1

Where to find sewable film

Have a look around your home before you buy anything. Good sources are:

Packaging from bed linen, pillows or blankets. The film is often soft and thick enough. Sometimes there's even a zip or press studs on it that you can reuse too.
Clear shower curtains, often made of PEVA. One old curtain is enough for lots of small windows.
Clear tablecloth protectors, the film you lay over a tablecloth.
Document wallets or ID sleeves, but only if they're soft and bend without creasing.

Step 2

Test it: fold, scratch, test seam

Left: the film is sharply creased, white and cracked at the fold, right: it bends softly without a crease

Three quick tests tell you whether a film will do:

Fold: crease a corner firmly and open it again. The film must not crack or turn white along the fold.
Scratch: run your fingernail over it. If a clear scratch shows right away, the window will soon look cloudy.
Test seam: sew a few centimetres on a scrap and gently pull across the seam. If the film tears along the stitches, it's too thin.

Hard, crinkly film that turns white when folded isn't suitable. Thin punched sheet protectors fail too: they tear along the stitches like along a perforation.

Step 3

Clean and flatten it

Left: an iron sits directly on the film, which warps and smokes, right: it lies between paper under two books

Wash the film with lukewarm water and a little washing-up liquid to remove dust and fingerprints. Hot water can warp it. Then pat it dry with a soft cloth.

Creases from the packaging are best removed with time: put the film between two sheets of paper and a heavy book on top. After a day or two it's usually flat.

Never iron film directly. It melts instantly and sticks to the iron. If you do want to try, only through paper or a cloth, on the lowest setting and without steam. It stays risky, so try it on a scrap first.

Step 4

Clips instead of pins

Left: pins in the film, with holes left where pins have been, right: clips hold the edge and a piece of tape sits outside the seam

Every pin leaves a hole in film, and it stays. So hold the layers together differently:

Put sewing clips or clothes pegs on the edge.
Stick tape outside the seam so you don't sew through it. Masking tape peels off easily.
If you must use a pin, only in the seam allowance that will be trimmed off or bound later.

To mark, draw on a strip of masking tape instead of directly on the film. Cutting works well with a rotary cutter and ruler or with sharp scissors.

Step 5

Help the foot glide

Left: the film bunches up in front of the presser foot and the stitches are uneven, right: a paper strip lies over the seam and has already been torn off at the top

Film likes to stick to the presser foot and the needle plate. Then it bunches up in front of the foot and the stitches turn out uneven. This helps:

A non-stick foot, often called a Teflon foot. Its sole is coated and slides over the film.
A walking foot. It feeds the top layer along so nothing gets stuck.
Tissue paper or thin baking paper on top, sewn along with the film. Afterwards you tear the paper off along the seam.

If the film is underneath and sticks to the needle plate, put the paper strip underneath.

Step 6

Long stitch, no backstitching, tie the threads

Left: the seam end is backstitched and the film tears along the holes, right: a seam with long stitches and tied-off threads

Every stitch is a small hole. If the holes are too close together, the film tears there like along a perforation.

Set the stitch length to 3 to 3.5 mm.
Put in a new needle. A dull one pushes the film down instead of piercing it cleanly.
Don't backstitch. Leave long threads at the start and end, pull them to one side and tie them off.
Sew slowly and evenly, without pulling.

The cut edge of the film often looks untidy. If you bind it, it's covered and becomes sturdier, see Binding edges with bias tape.