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Fabric Card
by Nettie Moss
I am thrilled to be on the S.S. Reflections crew, the best stamping and altered art
ezine on the internet!
For my first project, I decided to try to translate one of my card designs into fabric, roughly based on this card I did for a swap on the SSR Yahoo! Group. My card kit came from Debbie Bankston, so I used one of the card blanks as a template.
First of all I scanned the card blank, and then enlarged it slightly, printing it onto cardstock and making a template to work from. Next I selected my fabric, drew on it in ink (using the template as a guide), then I cut around it slightly larger than the drawn area, the surplus to be cut away later on. I used a waterproof marker this time, but in the future would use a special fabric marker pen where the ink gradually fades and then vanishes altogether.
I then attached the fabric to some wadding to give it some stability while sewing. I then cut out a few circles from odd scraps of complementary fabrics and attached them as I wanted to the base. It was rather like choosing my card blank and then other pieces of card for layering!
I machined around the edges with a narrow zig-zag stitch, selecting a small stitch width, to give me a satin stitch. It's a long time since I have done creative style sewing and I need to bone up on these skills, but I ventured onwards. I try not to worry too much about being perfect, the main thing is to try and keep doing, and enjoy being creative, with practice your stitching can only improve.
Next, I made some phrases in Word Art and printed them out onto ExtravOrganza fabric; it's the first time I have used this, and I'm very impressed. I cut out my chosen word and machine stitched it onto the base, using a small straight stitch. I then used a pin to tease out the edge threads to give the frayed look.
I chose a backing fabric and pinned it to the base. Be careful to pin from the centre toward the outside edge, this will keep the two fabrics as smooth as possible and avoid puckering when you stitch the “sandwich” of fabrics and wadding together.
I attached some “stitch and tear” paper to the fabric; this gives more control and more even stitches when machining. You stitch through this and then just tear to remove when finished, it does make a difference.
In the end I decided to use one of the sewing machine's programmed stitches, rather than try to follow the scalloped edge. As I don't yet have a transparent stitching foot, it's not easy following a line when you can't see it!
When you have finished edging the circle, you will need to trim as close to the stitching as you can, but be very careful to not cut into the stitches! A very sharp pair of scissors will be needed for this.
As a finishing touch, I thought I'd add a couple of paper flower embellishments. As the finished item will not need to be laundered, this will be all right. Later on I want to make some fabric flowers to appliqué to designs, but for now I thought to keep it simple.
If you prefer not to use a sewing machine, all of this could be done by hand; you could even use fabric glue to apply all the embellishments.
Thanks for joining me on my first project, why don't you give it a try and see what you can do? You may be surprised!
Till next month, sail safely!
Nettie Moss
nettiemoss@ssreflections.com
Altered Arts Deck Crewmember
Reflections Publishing Group
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