How To Make Canvas & Cotton Canvas Tote Bags

What is canvas bags?

How To Make Canvas: A thicker cotton or linen fabric. Named because it was originally used for sails. Generally, plain weave is used, and a small amount of twill weave is used. Multi-strand yarn is used for warp and weft. Canvas are usually divided into two categories: coarse canvas and fine canvae canvas warp and weft yarns are generally 2 strands No. 58 to 6 strands No. 28 (10 British cous. Coarse canvas, also known as tarpaulin, is commonly woven with No. 58 (10 British branches) 4-7 strands. The fabric is firm and resistant to folding and has good waterproof performance. It is used for automobile transportation and open-air warehouse cover and tents in the field. Finnts/2 to 21 British counts/6), which are used to make labor protection clothing and its supplies. After dyeing, it can also be used as fabrics for shoes, travel bags, backpacks, etc. In addition, there are rubber canvas, shielding canvas for fire and radiation, and canvas for paper machine.

We often see some factories do some stamped canvas work, they also often do some newspaper print canvas shopping tote, this kind of bag looks very historically valuable, this kind of bag does not have brilliant colors, but we also You can choose such colorful bags as royal blue canvas tote and royal blue tote bag. Therefore, it should be said that there are many kinds of canvas bags and other bags to meet our needs. So many fashionable decorations make us I think it’s really fashion me fabulous, but we still need to discover more beautiful things in life

Advantages of canvas

We often use a lot of bags, such as cute-looking handbag cartoons and bear joker bag, and also retro-looking canvas stamp bags, and some colorful handbags, such as royal blue canvas tote bag. And in this environmentally friendly era, we all need some eco friendly canvas messenger bags, such as the famous textroyall and aztec tote bag, it is best that we can buy and make canvas reusable sling bag and canvas tbwh bag etc.

1. Environmentally friendly
The material of the canvas bag is the same as the material of the cotton bag. Cotton is taken from natural. It is said that it is of course environmentally friendly.

2. Eco-friendly canvas bags
The biggest cost is the fabric, and some non-woven bags use eco-friendly ink, and generally won’t cut corners to save a little money (unless they are fooled by the manufacturer). It can also be called here. It’s environmentally friendly.

3. Durable and durable
Noticed that the fabric of the eco-friendly canvas bag that has been used for two years is not damaged, but the thread is opened in some places (sometimes heavy things are pressed, the manufacturer does not do it well), so the workmanship is the exquisite manufacturer Yes, this is from the publicity time.

4. Canvas eco-friendly
Canvas bags have more fabrics and more lines, most of which are fine and smooth. The printing and imaging effect is very good.

5. It is also easier to clean
There will be a little deformation after washing, because pure cotton will shrink. This is much stronger than non-woven fabrics.

Below Are The Basic Steps To Make Canvas & Cotton Canvas Tote Bags

1. Spinning

Spinning is originally a very ancient activity. Since prehistoric times, humans have known how to spin some shorter fibers into long yarns and then weave them into cloth. The so-called spinning is an act of taking animal or vegetable fibers and twisting them into a continuous and infinitely extending yarn, so as to be suitable for weaving.(As shown in the picture is ancient spinning)

The twist of the yarn itself will make the fibers naturally and tightly held together, which is very advantageous for weaving or knitting. The twist of the yarn is related to the diameter of the yarn. The measurement method is determined by the number of turns in each inch of yarn, and it is expressed as low, medium or high. Generally, the higher the twist, the more the yarn turns. Indicates that the strength of the yarn is better. The twist of the yarn is related to the diameter of the yarn. The measurement method is determined by the number of turns in each inch of yarn, and it is expressed as low, medium or high. Generally, the higher the twist, the more the yarn turns. The strength of the yarn is better. Low-twist yarns are often used to make smooth, shiny or soft and matte fabrics; on the contrary, fabrics with wrinkles or rough surfaces require high-twist yarns.(As shown in the picture is modern spinning)

2. Weaving

The original meaning of textile is taken from the general term of spinning and weaving, but with the continuous development and improvement of the textile knowledge system and discipline system, especially after the production of non-woven textile materials and three-dimensional composite weaving, it is not only traditional hand-spinning. And weaving fabrics, including non-woven fabric technology, modern three-dimensional weaving technology, modern electrostatic nano-netting technology and other clothing, industrial and decorative textiles. Therefore, modern textile refers to a multi-scale structure processing technology of fibers or fiber aggregates. The ancient Chinese textile and printing and dyeing technology has a very long history. As early as the primitive society, in order to adapt to climate changes, the ancients had learned to source materials locally, use natural resources as raw materials for weaving, printing and dyeing, and to make simple hand-made textile tools. Clothing, airbags and curtains and carpets in daily life are all products of textile and dyeing technology.

Weaving is roughly divided into two processes: spinning and weaving. According to legend, the origin of Chinese textiles began with the sericulture and smelting of silk by Lei ancestors. Archaeology found bone needles on the archaeological sites of cavemen in the Paleolithic age, which is the earliest known weaving process. From the beginning, to the Neolithic Age, the spinning wheel was invented to make silk smelting more convenient. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, primitive spinning machines appeared: spinning wheels and wheel carriages. In the Han Dynasty, the jacquard machine was invented. The Ming Dynasty Song Yingxing compiled Tiangong Kaiwu to weave. Technology is incorporated into it.(As shown in the picture is bone needles)

The most famous textile in China is silk. The trade of silk has promoted the development of cultural exchanges and communications between the East and the West, and indirectly affected the commerce and military of the West.

In the early days of the British Industrial Revolution, factories with a meticulous division of labor appeared. However, the cotton yarn produced by 6 to 8 spinners could only supply 1 weaver to weave cotton cloth, causing the so-called “yarn shortage”. In 1765, a British weaver named James Hargreaves invented a new type of spinning machine. He named this machine after his daughter, the famous Jenny spinning machine. The improvements and inventions of new spinning machines and spinning machines led to the development of the British textile industry and indirectly affected the occurrence of the Indian Gandhi uncooperative movement in the future.

3. Heat-Setting

Heat-Setting it is actually no-iron mory finishing. Iron-free finishing includes two meanings: “shrink-resistant and anti-wrinkle” or “durable pressing”. For example, trousers must not only be shrink-proof and wrinkle-resistant, but they must also be pleated after washing and drying.

Heat-Setting has two processing methods: pre-cure and post-cure. The pre-baking is the fabric open-width padding resin, and all the processes such as open-width baking are completed by the printing and dyeing factory. The process is simple and easy to process, can obtain a flat appearance and a non-ironing effect, but it brings a certain degree of difficulty to the processing of canvas tote bags or other fabric products , and it is difficult to give certain folds and clothing shapes to the clothing. Moreover, due to the different shrinkage rates of the sewing thread and the cloth during washing, the seams tend to shrink (wrinkle). This process is suitable for the finishing of thin fabrics.

The other is the post-baking method, which can be divided into grey cloth padding and clothing impregnation according to the different ways of padding resin. The former is pure cotton fabric soaked in resin in the printing and dyeing factory and dried, and the resin cross-linking reaction is left in the garment after sewing and put into the baking oven to complete. This process is mostly used for the finishing of thicker fabrics, such as custom-made canvas bags, outerwear, and trousers. The advantage is that the clothing is flatter, the size is more stable, the folds can be durable, and the stitching is very smooth. The disadvantage is that it is often difficult to control the finished fabric semi-products properly under the storage conditions in transit. If the resin is prematurely cross-linked, slightly wrinkled or poorly folded, it is difficult to correct it later.

Super soft finishing and gas phase finishing are both resin finishing. After their baking process is made into a bag, the biggest feature is that the edge of the bag or other indispensable products can be kept for a long time after the bag or other fabric is finished, and the stitching is not There will be unevenness. For example, the super soft finishing is also called SSP (Super Soft Process). The main feature is that multiple processes complement each other to achieve a perfect wearing effect. The technological process is: fabric→bleaching→liquid ammonia treatment→resin finishing→clothing→baking. Liquid ammonia is liquid ammonia, which is different from ammonia, not an aqueous solution of ammonia. The viscosity and surface tension of liquid ammonia are much lower than that of water, so liquid ammonia can easily and quickly penetrate into the cotton fiber, which changes the crystal structure of the cotton fiber. It does not damage the fiber and can come out quickly and easily. The combination of resin finishing and liquid ammonia finishing, the two functions complement each other, realizing the true anti-wrinkle and iron-free finishing of pure cotton fabrics.

Phase finishing, also known as VP (Vapour Process), is also baked after sewing into cotton canvas tote bags or canvas bags. Unlike the super soft finishing process, the cotton fabric is directly modified with formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide gas. The gas phase method is different from the general resin materials, the raw materials are cheap, the effect is good, the finished product feels soft, the moisture absorption is good, and it is durable. This process is still very suitable for shirt garments. At present, there are not many interstitial gas phase finishing processes and equipment used in China. They are generally produced in garment finished products factories. Ningbo Youngor uses this method to produce non-ironing shirts.

One is AP finishing, or Advanced Performance Finishing, which was invented and patented by BASF. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the dry and wet crosslinking process, the process adopts a simple method of dry crosslinking to achieve the same advanced finishing effect as the wet crosslinking method. The technological process is: padding resin→drying to normal moisture content (5%-8%)→baking.

In addition to continuous innovation in technology, some new technologies have also been continuously introduced into non-iron finishing. For example, nano-TiO2 is used to partially replace sodium hypophosphite. In the polyacid finishing system of maleic acid-acrylic acid-butyl acrylate, it not only reduces the environmental pollution caused by phosphorus-containing compounds, but also has a good non-ironing effect. Using citric acid and maleic anhydride mixed finishing solution to perform anti-wrinkle finishing on pure cotton fabric under the action of nano-catalyst SiO2. After finishing, the wrinkle recovery angle of the fabric is obviously increased, and the breaking strength is not reduced. Because nanomaterials have special properties such as small particles, large specific surface area, strong surface activity, and good dispersion, they will play an increasingly important role in the anti-wrinkle finishing of cotton fabrics in the future. In addition, there are foam finishing, steam flash explosion technology, radiation graft copolymerization, plasma technology, etc., which provide new ideas for the anti-wrinkle finishing of cotton fabrics.

4. Dyeing

natural colors do not need dye. Here is a very simple dyeing method in the production process of canvas bags

1. Pour the dye and 50 grams of salt into the container.

2. Dissolve with hot water and stir evenly. (The effect of adding more salt is better)

3. Remove the accessories that do not need to be dyed.

4. Immerse the canvas in the dye solution, stir frequently and keep it warm for 15-20 minutes (the water temperature is 100 boiling water is the best), it is best to soak overnight.

5. After the canvas is dyed, take it out, rinse it with clean water 2-3 times, wring it out and let it dry directly. Do not use a washing machine to dry it.

6. Finally, let it dry and it’s done.

The following introduces a large batch of canvas fabric and cotton fabric dyeing process in the factory

The dyeing of cotton fabrics is now dominated by continuous pad dyeing of long cars, and the vat dyeing is no longer the mainstream, so I will not introduce it here.

Dyeing is a simple process, because it only needs to pass through a padding car, but it is also the most difficult process, because the color control of dyeing is not only known, but there are many unknown things in it, such as dyes at different temperatures. The stability of the bottom, the control of the steam, the control of the pressure of the rolling car, etc., are very delicate activities.

The dyed long car is divided into two parts, the front car is dyed, and the rear car is fixed.

The dyeing method varies according to the different types of dyes selected. Dyes are generally reactive, Shilin, vulcanization, and coatings. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. Under normal circumstances, they depend on the color of the customer, and they cannot be replaced with each other. Among them, Shilin’s The color fastness is the best, but the price is expensive, it is not suitable for dyeing dark colors, and the light colors are not bright enough. In addition to the increased cost of dyeing dark colors, it is difficult to control the dyeing of dark colors relative to reactive dyes, and it is easy to appear on the cloth. Phenomenon. The active color fastness is worse than Shilin, but the light color is brighter, the dark color is easy to control, and the cost is relatively low. The vulcanization is the worst, the color fastness is not very good, and the ban on AZO is not up to the standard, but Now there is a kind of liquid vulcanization (also called water vulcanization) that prohibits AZO can reach the standard, but the price is close to that of Shilin, and the dyeing is not easy to control and cannot be popularized. Only a few people pursue its fading effect and use it. The coating is not comparable, and its The color fading is very serious, and it is the best choice for the pursuit of fading effect after washing. It can be used with Shilin, active and flexible to obtain different washing effects (general Shilin or active primer, paint overcoat, which can solve the whiteness of single-dye coatings. Point the problem, the cost will increase accordingly).

The reactivity, Shilin and vulcanized dyeing front car is basically the same, to say the difference is that the infrared ray pre-baked one group, two groups or not. The rear car is completely different. The active one uses salt and soda ash to fix the color, and the Shilin adopts Hydrogen peroxide reduction fixation (so Shihlin is also called vat dyes), and vulcanized products need to be steamed and fixed at high temperatures, and the water temperature must be above 95 degrees.

After the paint is dyed, it is determined whether to bake and fix the color according to the fading requirements of the color fastness. The bake temperature is about 195-210 degrees.

Dyeing is impossible to be 100% good. Color repair and peeling are inevitable. Minor adjustments such as lighter coats, darker with soda ash. If you do too dark, you only have to peel off and re-dye or back-dye black.

5. Printing

Several printing processes for canvas bags
We all know that printing patterns on canvas bags is also an important step in canvas bag making. A successful canvas bag production depends on whether the patterns are beautiful. So what kinds of print patterns are there for canvas bags? Next we briefly explain.

Screen printing
If it is a simple monochromatic pattern, no transitional color, the general printing effect can be achieved.

Thermal transfer
It is a kind of digital printing, which can print patterns with transitional colors. The effect is characterized by beautiful printing, but the price is slightly higher than that of screen printing.

Heat transfer
Heat transfer is also a kind of digital printing, in which the image is output on transfer paper, and then transferred to different materials with appropriate temperature and pressure.

Generally, screen printing and thermal transfer are commonly used, and the printed patterns are exquisite.

6. Cloth Cutting

After the fabric is selected and the materials are prepared, the next job is to cut the large roll of fabric into small pieces of fabric. Some canvas bags have a bottom and sides, which are equivalent to a pentagon, and some are bottomless and sideless, with a two-piece structure. According to the specifications, use an automatic cutting machine and a cutting machine to cut into small pieces of fabric of our required specifications

Simple patterns generally use screen printing, which has a lower cost and is widely used. It is well developed in China and various technologies are relatively mature.

If it is a complicated printing, thermal transfer printing is needed. Pay attention to the clarity and fullness of the text and pattern when printing.

The canvas bag can clearly highlight the theme and play a role in advertising.

7. Lock Side

Lock Side is a sewing method used on the edges or buttonholes of clothing, with dense stitches, diagonal or hooked stitches.

At present, there are both machine selvedge and manual selvedge, Machine seaming generally uses seaming machine

The operating method of the seaming machine:

A longitudinal slot-cutting thread-passing mechanism is adopted. When threading, the thread can be threaded to the thread clamping device by inserting the suture along the straight groove. The operation is very simple and there will be no errors.

The opening action of the thread clamping plate is linked with the lifting of the presser foot, which is convenient for threading.

The threading part of the lower looper is equipped with a lead device, so that the complicated threading action of the lower looper in the overlock sewing machine becomes easy.

The external adjustment method of the stitch length adjustment dial is adopted, and the length of the stitch length can also be adjusted from the outside during the sewing process.

Of course, there are also traditional handmade canvas seams (or overhand ).

This is a simple procedure and method for manual canvas hemming & lockrand (or picot trim).

Favorite way of stitching

1. Make a triangle base

2. The process of overlock stitch

3. Front view & back view after repeated stitches

4. Finishing the needle & Presentation Shot

8. Sewing

Sewing thread is a kind of craft name, which means a thread formed by sewing with a sewing machine. This thread is a semi-mechanized and semi-manual thread. In traditional handicrafts, that is, when the industry is not so developed, people usually make shoes and clothes by hand. The advantage of handcrafting is that it is comfortable to wear and durable. The disadvantage is that it is not easy to form large-scale production.

The above are all the steps on how to make canvas tote bags & cotton canvas tote bags In the next article I will tell you how to make a simple canvas bag of your own