Sew-in magnetic snaps are a fabulous when you want a closure that is concealed! They are simply a pair of flat magnets that are enclosed inside a plastic sleeve. You can sew them in place directly onto your bag fabric, in which case your stitching is visible OR you can install them like I will show you here and make them completely invisible!
Great for all sorts of bags and super dooper in wallets too!
TIP: Remember that even though both sides of your sew in magnetic snaps may LOOK the same, they actually are not! When attaching your second magnetic snap, ensure that you have it facing so that it will be attracted to the first one you applied otherwise you could end up with them repelling each other! (I know…as I have done it! LOLLL)
An easy way to make sure this doesn’t happen to you is to pop the two snaps together, make a cross on the one facing you, turn them over and make another cross. Just as the two ‘blank’ sides attract, so too will the two ‘cross’ sides attract!
1) On the wrong side of one your fabric pieces, iron a square scrap of interfacing, slightly larger than your magnetic snap, over your magnetic snap placement mark.
2) Now take a scrap of single sided iron on peltex and stitch your magnetic snap in place to the peltex only, on the side with the Glue, using a zigzag stitch (or ordinary stitch is fine if your machine doesn’t sew zig zag) making sure you can see your cross!
3) Now position your peltex/magnetic snap, face down, in place onto the interfacing you applied in step a) and iron on.
4) Take another, larger, scrap of interfacing and iron over the top of the peltex/snap to help secure in place.
5) Repeat for the other fabric piece. Note that you can omit the interfacing in step a) if you have already interfaced your fabric!
Here is a PDF version for those for those of you who like to save the Tutorials to your harddrive!
That is a great tutorial!
Great idea. Again, it amazes me that there are so many ways to install magnetic snaps. I’ll have to add this to my list of alternative installation techniques.
Thanks!
Thank you! Where do you get these sew-in magnets?
I get them from http://www.etsy.com/shop/3Dpatternpaper They have lots of great bag suplies and no, I am not affiliated! LOL! YOu can also make your own by buying the flat magnets from a craft or hardware store and gluing/incasing them in some clear vinyl.
I have only ever seen the magnetic snaps that have prongs that you poke through the fabric. These are definitely worth thinking about.
They are very handy when you don’t want your snap to be seen!
Hi! I was very excited to find this tutorial – thanks for sharing.
I’m pretty new to sewing, so this may have an obvious answer, but: the plate under my needle is metal and the magnet doesn’t want to budge. Is there a solution for this?
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Kim,
Sew with the other side up whenever possible. If the magnetic side faces your needle plate it is going stick! 🙂
Both sides of a magnet are magnetic 🙂
Yes….both sides are magnetic BUT when you put two magnets together you need to put them together in a certain way because one side of the magnet will attract another magnet and one side will repel another magnet! Try it and see!
I would sew it by hand. Just be sure the magnets will arranged properly in the finished garment.
Thank you….yes, sewing by hand may well be a good idea depending on your project!
Great tip hadn’t thought about that happening until I read this. It does pay to read the comments !
Yes, it does! 🙂
I love your instuctions.
Thank you for explaining.
For my projects I like to use sew in magnets as well.
Thanks again.
Thank you for stopping by Sofia. 🙂