Show Your True Colors

by Debbie Vechter

In these days of the dollar crunch all businesses and corporations
seem to be streamlining. What does streamlining mean, though? It
means at least in part, whittling down staff to the point where there
is hardly any staff that can help the customer. This is true when it
comes to airline travel, too.

Airline travel has it’s own foibles. Of course we’re all worried
about our luggage arriving at our destination and not going anywhere
around the world while we vacation without so much as our toothbrush;
but even more than losing our luggage, we face the problem of someone
else picking up our luggage accidentally off the luggage carousel.

How many of us have suitcases that are identical to what seems like
all the other suitcases on the carousel? My guess is most of us. So
the question is how do we distinguish our bags from all the others on
the carousel without first reaching for a few bags that ‘look like
ours’ only to discover that it belongs to someone else? What a waste
of time and energy (and a source of frustration).

A great number of people tie ribbons onto the handle of their
suitcase. Now, that would be a good idea except for the fact that if
you tie a red ribbon around the handle of yours, you can bet with
quite a lot of certainty that someone else will have tied a red ribbon
around the handle of their suitcase, making the ribbon solution not
quite good enough.

Here is a foolproof way to distinguish your suitcase from countless
others and to help insure that no one else picks yours up and
mistakenly takes it away. It’s a true safety precaution for guarding
your luggage. Making your own luggage tag will show your personality
and at the same time, help to safeguard your luggage and there be will
a far less of a chance that someone would dare take a piece of luggage
with a tag that will identify at a glance that the bag clearly belongs
to someone else.

When you make your luggage tags you can make them as whimsical and as
colorful as you are comfortable with; or you can make them as
practical and as subdued as you prefer. Whatever you choose will show
off your personality.

Here’s how to do it. Decide if you would like to embroider a special
design on the tag. Cut 2 rectangles the size of the luggage tag you
wish to make. A good size to consider is about 2 1/4″ X 3 1/2″. Put
the right sides together. Sew around the 3 1/2″ sides and one 2 1/l4″
end. Leave the other end open. Turn to right side out. Cut a piece
of ultra stiff stabilizer slightly smaller than the width of the tag
between the seam lines. Place the ultra stiff stabilizer inside the
luggage tag, fold the raw edge to the inside. Cut a 13″ piece of
coordinating bias tape. A nice touch is to embroider a design down the
center (the design will help keep the folded sides secure). Place the
two ends of the bias tape inside the label in the middle and sew the
opening closed with a double seam (please refer to the photos provided).

Now, what could be simpler? You will have no difficulty spotting your
luggage on the carousel amongst a bunch of bags that look exactly the
same as they journey round and round. Now you will be the one who can
pull your bags off first and be on your merry way, ready to begin your
vacation.

Have a great holiday!