Learn to make quick and easy fabric bookmarks using fabrics scraps. This tutorial walks all level of quilters through the steps to make a fabric bookmark.
Mixed media: stitch, fabric and clay
How To Make A Scrappy Tassel 3 comments crafts, decorations, fabric Share It: Before I go into how to make one of these beauties... I am going to tell you a story. Let's say my friend had a problem. We shall call her, um, Penny. Penny was a craft and DIY blogger who enjoyed things like chalk, chocolate, and the like. Penny had been working really hard at teaching herself to sew. She spent hours (and hours and hours) scouring Pinterest for simple and clear tutorials for all sorts of cute little dresses, bags, etc. But it was always the same...the directions always said something like "Finish your edges with your serger or pinking shears so the edges don't fray." Sad trombone. Penny doesn't have a serger. Penny doesn't have pinking shears. Penny spent many, many, many nights folding over hems and folding them again to hide raw edges even on dumb things. Enter Mom and Christmas and something magical and glorious happened! Penny received a brand new, big and shiny set of pinking shears! Yay for Penny's mom! Now Penny is happily pinking everything in sight! Pink all the things!! Ok, so I got carried away. But I'm seriously giddy about my pinking shears so I decided to raid my stash and whip up some DIY Valentine's decorations which left me with a heap of scraps. So not wanting to put that pretty fabric in the trash, I made some tassels. Love them. Now two things make me giddy! Pinking shears and tassels! You'll notice how all the strips are pinked. : ) This is so easy it's almost embarrassing. 1. Cut strips of fabric double the length plus more for trimming you want your final tassel to be. I cut 50 strips ( plus one more for tying it together) at about 15 inches long. I found it easiest to cut my fabric to 15 inches, fold it in half and then cut all the strips. 2. Lay your strips, right side down, in a wheel-spoke pattern making sure to try to get all the strips to lay as close to the same spot in the middle as possible. After you have all the strips placed down, lay your extra strip right side down on your workplace. 3. Slip your hand under the strips and pinch them with your thumb and fingers. Try to grab them all at once. 4. Flip them over and lay the bunch on the extra strip. 5. Tie the strips about an inch or so below the top. Double knot! Trim the bottom so that your strips are hanging nice and evenly. I slipped a small strip of fabric through one of the tied strips to create a loop with which to hang the tassel. SO cute, right? SO easy, right? I am going to make a mess of them! And don't worry, I'm guessing Penny isn't sleeping with her pinking shears next to her. That would be crazy. Right? Or maybe not? ;) Cheers! Jenny Linking up at Monday Funday, Link Party Palooza,
FREE PIECED FABRIC MAKING OK players! Got your bin of scraps? Here's a step by step of 15 minutes of play... Put those strips of fabric away and dig out all your little bits... This will be 15 minutes of sewing... They go together quickly, Don't think, just sew! I have a box under my sewing table that I put all my itty bits in that I save for making fabric. Grab a handful of various sized scraps. Sew one on, press open. This is a good place to add in angles. Is it looking to straight up and down? Lay your next piece on at an angle.... You don't have to line up your seams. I stitched a piece on at an angle, now trim off the bit that sticks out... press it open. Always press your pieces as you sew them on, this will keep your allowances smooth and flat on the back. Keep adding bits... at odd angles, you do NOT need to follow your fabric edge when you do this. THINK ANGLES at all times... sew it on, trim off the bit that sticks out... Keep adding around and trim off pieces that stick out. SAVE the BITS and add them in other places or use to start a new block. Working on any edge that you can add to, keep adding bits and pieces to your made fabric. I am NOT focused on making a SQUARE, I am focused on making a usable piece of FABRIC. Once you have a piece about 7", lay your ruler over the fabric and cut your shape. Here I just followed the size of my ruler. Makes for easy cutting! At 15 minutes, I have on my ironing board, This fun block to play with. When you cut out your squares, try to cut the blocks that will give you the most angles. Save the bits you have cut off to start your next 15 minute fabric process... If your edges get to Curvy or crazy, just trim them to a straight edge. Just don't focus on making them square. You may find you are working with a pentagon or hexagon shape or some unrecognizable shape... just keep adding where you can. If you find your piece, as you practice, does not lay flat, then cut off the wavy bit. Once you cut that wavy part off, you will find "THAT wavy SCRAP" will lay flat after you cut it off. Save it and use it on your next block. You can continue adding to your blocks with made pieces and make even bigger blocks these blocks below are 13 inches square. Often times, I had 4 bits of made fabric that I pieced together... See if you can figure out where I sewn the pieces together. this one above started with the lower right hand section, I squared it off into a pentagon shape then added the top strip, then the LEFT long strip. Use strips of made fabric... You can make strips of fabric and join them around a funky shaped piece of made fabric... Can you see how this block came together? This last one, I had two large pieces of made fabric, and one strip. I cut them on curves and joined them together, then made one more strip of fabric to go across the top... The more angles you use the more interesting your block will get... and it you've made something that you can then try a new idea with! Sometimes you find a piece that is just so perfect and you don't want to cut it down... that is were your Y seams come in... or rather, PIVOT points... If you think of Y seams as pivot point it makes them seem less scary... And it's far better to try Y seams here then on some big fancy project... See where the fabric leads you... It's a good way to practice your sewing techniques that you may otherwise avoid... or not! Like I said, CUT IT OFF, and add something else... That's what your scissors are for! :-) Have a go... Hope this helps.
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Well it's the end of a busy week! I don't know about you, but I'm pooped! But I'm pleased to say we've had some gorgeous, sunny days here in N.I. this week, and there's a lovely Autumn feel to the air! As always, the things I've been working on this week I can't show you yet (soon I promise!), so I'm going to give you a wee tute on how to use up every last wee bit of fabric shavings, you know those bits that end up all over your cutting mat after trimming blocks and hsts? We'll here's a cool way to turn them into a new type of fabric. As far as I know this product doesn't have an official name - I learnt it at college and it wasn't called anything then, but if you know the official name of this craft, please let me know. 1. Save up your fabric shavings & wee bits of offcuts that are too small to be useful (you can also cut up wee bits of fluffy wool, ribbon, sparkly threads etc.). Bigger pieces will need to be snipped down smaller. 2. Take a piece of plain sheeting/calico and lay a load of shavings on top. You can colour code your savings as I have done here, or have a multi-coloured mess! Make sure it's thick enough to cover the backing fabric, but not too thick to sew over. 3. Lay a piece of water soluble fabric over the top and pin/sew round the edges. This stuff is really cool - you can get different brands in a craft shop or online. I've used Avalon Water Soluble Embroidery Fabric by Madeira. 4. Now sew, sew, sew over the top of the w.s.fabric, either by free motion quilting or straight & wavy lines all over. Try not to leave any big gaps where the shavings can later escape from. 5. When you have stitched this to within an inch of its life, take the pins out and under a luke warm tap or in a sink/basin, allow the w.s.fabric to melt away (it goes a bit slimy as it melts off so rinse it well). 6. Give your new piece of fabric a good squeeze to get the water out and then allow it to dry on the radiator. 7. When dry, draw your desired shapes on the back and cut out. If you want to, sew more stitching on top to highlight details, for example veins in leaves, or sew on beads, sequins etc. 8. You can now use your fabric shapes to embellish/decorate cards, cushions, make letters or Christmas decorations etc. etc. The possibilities are endless! Another way to use this wonderful water soluble fabric is to roughly sketch a shape on to it & then put it into an embroidery hoop. Repeated sewing and shading with thread will close all the gaps, so that when you take the fabric off the hoop and dissolve the w.s.fabric you are left with a completely embroidered shape. Have fun & let your imagination run wild!
Handmade fabric bowls are easy to make and are perfect for gift giving. Use up that pile of scrappy fabric bits with this easy and fun idea by Kristin Peterson.
A few days ago I was trying to get some sewing done and my girls were playing on the floor behind me, rummaging around in my rubbish bin and my scraps drawer. They wanted me to sew this and pin that and I wanted them to be a bit more self sufficient. Then I had a brain wave! Last year at a craft night at Jodie's house, she gave me a packet of this stuff called Solvy. I vaguely remember her talking about it being some sort of water soluble stabiliser, but couldn't remember the exact details. After a bit of googling around they (we) got to work. We laid out a strip of Solvy on the carpet and then they rummaged around and covered it with scraps of all shapes and sizes. They tried to make sure that each bit was touching another bit, and that there weren't many gaps. Then they laid another bit of Solvy on top and made a sandwich. At this stage we pinned and pinned and pinned the layers together. And then I lowered the feed dogs on Nina Bernina and sewed and stitched and doodled and drew all over every bit of the length. They stood behind me telling me what to draw...a spiral...a flower...my name... Then they took the stitched length to the sink where they washed it. At this stage the Solvy became jelly like and then dissolved like magic. They helped it along a bit in the beginning with a paint brush but soon realised they didn't have to be so gentle. Then they squished and wrung the water onto every bit. And then we hung it on the line to dry. And admired their art work. This gorgeous scarf was made entirely from scraps! It has been worn non stop since it was dry. We have two more in various stages of completion and a couple of orders from teachers. This is such a great kiddy craft activity. I highly recommend it. What's going on in your space today? I hope your day is a happy, scrappy one!
Handmade fabric bowls are easy to make and are perfect for gift giving. Use up that pile of scrappy fabric bits with this easy and fun idea by Kristin Peterson.
I fully intended to complete and display this little table-topper and during my first-week-of-July ‘red, white & blue’ extravaganza. But reality hit and it didn’t happen. However, after having this project on my list for 2 years now, I figured I’d just go with the momentum, whether it was past the holiday or not.This was...Read More
I thought I'd try and do a post on each of the 'homemade' elements I've been working on for our new baby's nursery. I've had a TON of fun finding fantastic tutorials and being inspired by all the amazing blogs out on the Internet and put a LOT of them to use! The first 'piece' I'm going to share with you is the bedside lamp. I saw this idea on a great blog I love reading called The Pleated Poppy. Here is a link to her post: pleated poppy lampshade tutorial. And here's my version: The lamp base was $10 at WalMart (Better Homes & Gardens line) which I spray painted with Krylon Satin Catalina Mist. The lamp shade I found at Goodwill - it went with this lamp base and was in BAD shape! The base I turned into a lamp for our office/sewing room... I think I spent $3 on it? I stripped off all the fabric shade and then (my Dad) gave it a light coat of white paint. I used strips of fabric from the Riley Blake "Penny Lane" line. This fabric is the inspiration for the whole room - my wonderful Mom is making baby #2 a quilt with these fabrics so I thought it was a great starting point! Using the tips in the Pleated Poppy tutorial, I just tore a BUNCH of strips of fabric and tied in between each 'bone' of the existing lampshade.
Tiny vessels hand stitched and cut to form abstracted memories. Sizes from 3-8 cms. Loop Head stitch pots Worn and Wethered Summer Fields Autumn
My first block for the Sorbet quilt from the book 'New York Beauties and Flying Geese' by Carl Hentsch, made in Tula Pink fabrics.
It is that auspicious day! Today I must submit my entry for the all-Canadian Fabric Spot Scrap Challenge to Rachel over at Stitched in Color. And if you were wondering what mysterious thing I was making the other day, wonder no more! Here it is just under the wire… I’m going to call it “The Scrappy Lily Bowl...Read More »
Diy party decorations. Here are over 30 ideas to diy - some are super quick!
How to use scrap fabric in quilt patterns! Use these tricks to make Suzy Quilts patterns with recycled fabric and make a scrappy quilt.
using up some of the vast amounts of scrap fabric that I can never throw out! Added to that I've stitched some random flowers by machine. All great fun! :o)
This quilt has been in the works for a while, and in my head I'd deemed it our 'end of summer/early fall' quilt. It's primarily made from a charm pack of American Jane Happy Campers, and I will allow myself the disclaimer that this isn't my first choice for binding. But it's leftover from a…
detail ~ Stitch Ritual by Jane LaFazio Stitch Ritual by Jane LaFazio (60x24") This quilt truly combines my two artistic loves, dr...
The applique motif I have come up with here is taken from a pieced and appliqued quilt made by Susan McCord, an Indiana farm woman, in 1860. She appliqued her stem but I have used chain stitch and appliqued on to an old piece of crazy quilt.
Kaffe Fassett class at Amitie Feb 2011
