Mon, 20 Mar 2023

No, I'm not sponsored by Dollar Tree. More like the other way around.

I made a nifty new type of notebook cover last week for my kid, and of course now I'm hung up on them. Never mind that I am supposed to only be wrapping up all the 2.5D animal charms and then hitting pause on everything until the move. I ended up ordering a whole box of the inserts from Dollar Tree and then, even though they haven't arrived yet, slipping into the store this evening "just to look around." They didn't have any more of the inserts (probably for the better anyway) but I did see some of the vinyl rolls I'd heard about.

This isn't cutting-machine vinyl (they have that too though), but faux-leather type vinyl. I had heard it was thinner than marine vinyl so I expected a promo-type vinyl. It's actually not that either.

I was disappointed to see it was textured; the Holy Grail of snap tab vinyl is a smooth matte pure-white vinyl that doesn't have a squishy surface. I bought some of the white (matte, not quite pure white), and some of the blue since I don't have any dark blue marine vinyl right now. There's also a "red" (it's a leather-red, so a dark red-brown) and black.

I got it home and unrolled it and... folks... it is thin. My first thought was that it had no backing, so embroidery was going to be like embroidering on iron-on vinyl: the needle slices up the vinyl so only the lightest of designs would work, and the threads would tear out if they got any wear at all. But it actually does have the lightest of polyester knit backing.

I put it to the same test I did in the Pellon Cambric vs Oly-Fun comparison: subjected it to one Karen of effort, and was able to tear it. It stretches with even less effort.

My first thought was that it would be great for lining notebooks, but then I was afraid it's going to stretch out too easily to use as the pockets. Alas. I'm going to get some of the black and try it anyway and see how it holds up, but I'm not going to recommend it for that... yet.

It's going to be great for backing snap tabs and the like, if the front is marine vinyl. It won't be under stress (except quarter keepers, so don't use it for that) and it won't add bulk, but won't look quite so "reusable shopping bag" as Oly.

I bet it cuts well with the rotary blade on a Cameo 4, but I just packed mine up so I can't tell you for sure.

It's a buck and a quarter these days, and unlike the usual 12" vinyl roll you get from Etsy sellers and whatnot, it is not the full width of the fabric - it's 11.75 x 20", so more like a "fat sixth" of a yard. Still, $9/yard is pretty cheap vinyl.