Mel Designs

Fabric Scrap Bookmarks

In my never ending quest to deplete my fabric stash, I was inspired to create these Fabric Scrap Bookmarks. I guess one of the best things about using your fabric scraps is that you don't feel quite as guilty about buying even more fabric! 

Materials for Fabric Scrap Bookmarks

• Assorted coordinating fabric scraps
• Smooth Fusible Fabric Foundation
• Stick Fusible Fabric Foundation (fusible webbing)
• Crafter's Choice Poly-fil Polyester Fiberfill
• Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac
• White wool felt 
• Cotton muslin scraps 
• Tiny alphabet rubber stamps and black pigment ink
• Black cording
• Embellishments of choice
• Sewing machine and thread
• Rotary cutter and self healing cutting mat
• Scissors
• Sewing machine and thread

 First of all, gather up your fabrics, 

 

 Then, start sewing thes fabric scraps together patchwork style, uisng a 1/4" seam allowance. Use an iron and pressing surface to steam the seams open on the wrong side. I chose to patchwork my fabic scraps together at an angle. 

 Keep going until you have a piece of fabric that is large enough to cut several 2 1/4" x 7 1/2" bookmarks from. I cut four bookmarks from a piece of 14" x 12" patchworked fabrics. 

Use the rotary cutter and mat to cut strips of Smooth and white wool felt into 2 1/4" x 7 1/2" strips.  

 

Now it's time to make the heart "charm." To make the stuffed heart, trace a heart shape on the wrong side of the fabric. Double the fabric over and cut two shapes out at once. Sew the shapes together with the sewing machine and thread leaving a 1/2" open for stuffing. Lightly stuff the heart with polyfil and sew the heart shape closed.  

 Use a needle and thread to sew a 5" piece of black cord to the center. Use the fabric glue to adhere an embellishment to the center "front" of the heart. 

 Fuse a 5" square of muslin to the Stick fusible webbing. Cut out into 2" sqaures. Use the alphabet stamps and ink to stamp sentiments to each square. Use the iron and pressing surface to adhere the sqaure to the bookmark.This will also heat set the ink. Now it's time to assemble the bookmark. First, sew the edges of the stamped square to the bookmark to secure. Sandwhich the Smooth in between the fabric strip and wool felt. Sew the edges together.  Then, sew the end of the cord to the bookmark as shown with several stitches. 

 

These bookmarks can be used a great small gifts for neighbors, friends. co-workers, teachers. Use them for quilt guild swaps or anytime you need a great creative gift! 

I hope I inspired you to try to create them! 

Live Life Creatively, 

 

 

Fat Quarter Stuffed Trees

It's the most wonderful time of the year- ALMOST. Why not celebrate by making a fat quarter friendly project? I am participating in a Fat Quarter challenge sponsoring by Fairfield World and Robert Kaufman. I got a great fat quarter bundle of Robert Kaufman's Winter's Grandeur Fabrics in a black and gold colorway. There so many great prints to choose from. I couldn't decidebetween them. The answer- patchwork!!

Materials for Fat Quarter Stuffed Trees

Robert Kaufman's Winter's Grandeur Fabrics

Fairfield World- Crafter's Choice Poly-fil stuffing

Wood pieces- 1" dowel, wood circles

DecoArt Americana Acrylics Paints- Lamp Black, Golden Straw

Embellishments of choice

Recycled glass jars

Small glass ornaments, ribbons

Glue gun and glue sticks

Paint brushes, rotary cutter and self healing mat

Sewing machine and thread 

I started by cutting the fat quarters into jelly roll sized strips (2 1/2") uisng the rotary cutter and mat. 

 I love using selvages so I cut them out and sewed them to the centers of some of the strips. 

Then I  sewed the strips together patchwork style until I had two rectangles measuring 14" x 16." 

Then I cut two tree shapes for the back and the front of the stuffies. I sewed them together, leaving about 5" open for stuffing. 

Insert a painted dowel and adorn your trees with wood shapes. As a base, I inserted my dowel in a recycled glass jar filled with glass ornaments and ribbons.

This project is part of a challenge I'm participating in as a member of Fairfield World's Design Team.

Check out the other entries below, and vote for *your* favorite project!  You can also enter to win your own Robert Kaufman fabric!  Vote by clicking on the heart in the corner of your favorite project, and enter to win by leaving a comment at FairField World's blog.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO ENTER THE ROBERT KAUFMAN & FAIRFIELD CONTEST:

1. Click on the little heart in the top right hand corner of your 2 favorite projects below.

2. Jump over to the Fairfield World Blog and leave a comment about what you would make if you won. (Two randomly selected winners will receive a Fat Quarter Bundle and choice of a bag of Poly-fil batting or Poly-fil Fiberfill)

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by!

Live Life Creatively, 

 

PatchWork Advent Calendar

If you like to sew or quilt, you will love making this Christmas in July Advent Calendar. Grab your fabric scrap stash, embellishments and poly-fil and join me in this fun tutorial. You are on your way to making your own Patchwork Advent Calendar.

How to Make a Patchwork Advent Calendar

First you will need to select your fabrics. This is the fun part for me. For this version I chose non-traditional prints and threw in a little white muslin and red solids. It’s a good idea to use solids along with prints so the prints don’t get overwhelmingly busy. But other than that, the sky is the limit when choosing your fabrics.

I tore my fabric into strips that measured about 2 ½” x 10-12.” So pre cut’s like jelly rolls could be used for this. I know a lot of you like jelly rolls since some of you do not feel comfortable mixing prints. Also, they are convenient since they have been cut for you.

Next, sew all of the strips together. Now if you are not an experienced sewer or quilter, this step can be tricky. Start by placing two of the strips together with right sides facing and sew the long edges of the wrong sides together leaving a ½” seam allowance. Steam the seams open. Repeat this until all of your strips have been sewn together. This is what your fabric will look like on the other side.

When I was done sewing my strips together, I used Staz-on ink and some rubber stamps to stamp sentiments with on the white muslin. You can heat set this with an iron to prevent smudges.

I ended up with a piece of fabric that was about 14” x 20.” This was large enough for me to cut 25 3” and 2 ½” squares from which is the next step. Use a fabric marker and template to trace the squares. I traced twelve 3” square shapes and thirteen 2 ½” squares from the sewn fabrics for the pockets.

So here are my cut squares of fabric. You can see that I used the sewing machine and black thread to free form stitch across the squares and around the edges.

I used wool felt in green to cut tiny Christmas tree shapes from. I sewed the trees to a few of the larger squares leaving a 1 1/2 opening. I then stuffed the trees with poly-fil and continued sewing to create some dimensional applique.

And if you want, you can decorate your little trees with tiny crystals.

Ok, so now its time to add numbers. I used a Sizzix Die Cutting machine and number dies with some black canvas to make mine. I first fused webbing to one side of my black canvas (felt would work nicely here too) and then cut numbers with the canvas paper side up so that the numbers would be in the correct orientation once they were fused to the squares. Cut a set of number 1-25. Lay the squares out onto the surface of whatever you will be using as a backing. I used a white flour sack towel, purchased in a pack of three for about $3.50. This step is so that you can decide which numbers to fuse to which squares. I didn’t use numbers for the squares with the poly-fil trees.

Once your numbers are fused. Use the sewing machine to secure the numbers to the fabric. Place them on the flour sack again and use straight pins to hold them in place this time. Now you can sew them to the towel, leaving the top open to create little pockets. Finally its time to embellish your little heart away! I used bling (of course) and a few other trinkets and treasures from my stash.

Perfect! And there you have it- your very own patchwork advent calendar!

Live Life Creatively,

Melony

Scrappy Snowman Pillow

Since making my first handmade pillow cover years ago, I still cannot stop making them! I bet if I stopped and thought about it, I would figure out that I've made at least 100 pillows since creating that very first one. I had some long Home Elegance pillow forms on hand, so I made this fun Scrappy Snowman Pillow. This is a super fun and easy Christmas in July project that has no rules!

How to Make a Scrappy Snowman Pillow

This pillow was made to look particularly scrappy, so I am not going to give you a detailed step by step instructions. Instead, I will point out the various techniques that I used to make my version. I used a Home Elegance pillow form, my favorite, in a 12" x 16" size.

 

Home Elegance pillow forms are exceptionally plush and a great down-alternative pillow form. I use the squares sizes quite a bit so I wanted to change it up and use a long pillow form to accommodate my snowman design. 

I started out by choosing my fabrics. I chose wool felt for the background and snowman shapes, beige muslin and some handdyed fabric strips I already had on hand. Then I cut the turquoise wool felt to create the pillow back and front- 13" x 17." And cut white wool felt and the muslin slightly smaller to create frames for the pillow front.

Next, I sewed the frames to the pillow front using free motion stitching, a sewing machine and black thread for contrast. I used the dyed fabric strips to frame the edges of the muslin and white wool felt to create a layered effect.

 

I fused webbing to the back of white wool felt and cut out three circles for the snowman. Then I stitched around the circles free-motion style.

 

I used this and that to embellish the snowman, including bits of fabric, tulle, some bling and leftover embellishments I had on hand.

Seriously, there are no rules when it comes to making your own version of this scrappy snowman pillow. I think my favorite part of this is the stamped and sewn sentiments I added. I chose french translations of snow and snow related words - "neige" white, etc.

Hopefully you will be inspired to make your own Scrappy Snowman Pillow.

Live Life Creatively,

Melony

 

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Gift Tags Made with Fabric Selvages

For years I have been saving my fabric scraps, at least those that are 3" squares and larger. But lately, Ive been finding myself cutting the selvages off my fabrics and saving them as well. I have been very inspired by all the clever fabric selvage projects I have been noticing. So I decided to create these gift tags made with fabric selvages. 

After deciding on a pink and orange color palette for this project, I tore some fabric scraps into strips, roughly 1 1/2" wide. Some of the strips I sewed knife pleats in using a sewing machine and black thread. 

I painted the shipping tags with Decoart Americana acrylic paints in Razzleberry, Baby Pink, Snow White and Bright on both sides of the tags. After they were dry, I arranged various bits of fabric pieces on them and sewed them to the tags. 

I also added a sewn black straight stitch to the border to frame each design out. 

Adding bits of layered tulle add to the gift tags, as does some strips of bling here and there. 

I plan to use my gift tags for special occasions such as birthdays, hostess gifts, wedding gifts, etc. But I couldnt resist adding in some holiday themed motifs such as this simple Christmas tree. 

 

The orange and pink colors made these especially feminine. These might be good even for a baby girl gift. Changing the colors to a turquiose and lime green and choosing different fabric scraps, such as polka dots and stripes would result in tags that would be good for a little boys birthday gift or to welcome a baby boy. 

But no matter what colors and patterns you use, pairing fabric scraps and selvages with painted and sewn paper results in a project that is fun, easy and somewhat addictive! 

Do you create with fabric selvages? I would love to see what youv'e made! 

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Beaded and Sewn Christmas Ornaments

My tree is up, adorned with lights and ornaments. After the Christmas table celebration, I often find myself more in the Christmas spirit than ever and itching to create something that captures that feeling with my hands. So this year I decided to make these beaded and sewn Christmas ornaments to give away as gifts for next year.

Beaded and Sewn Christmas Ornaments

I started out selecting fabrics and wool felt for my project. The fabric is from Fabric.com (see ad on sidebar) and the wool felt is from National Nonwovens.

To create my beaded and sewn Christmas ornaments, I started out by cutting two 3" squares for each ornament (front and back) and some simple motifs- a snowman, a stocking and a tree. I ironed a 1/4" seam allowance on all four sides of the fabric, which was cut into a 3" square.

I used three strands of black embroidery floss and a blanket stitch to sew the fabric to the wool felt.

Then I blanket stitched the stocking on, leaving the top open so that I could stuff it with goodies! I used a blanket stitch for this as well, but sewed 6/0 red pebble beads to the stocking before attaching it to the squares. Then I cut the borders of both felt squares with scalloped edged scissors and sewed beads to the borders.

I left the top open so I could stuff it with poly-fil fiber. I added a jute hanger with a little glue to the top.

Creating these fun sewn and beaded ornaments over the Christmas holidays will keep my hand busy while we watch "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours! I will be happy thinking that I am getting a good start for Christmas 2014.

What will you be creating this Christmas once the packages are opened and dinner is served?

Live Life Creatively,

 

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Halloween Drink Strirrers

Welcome to the Sticky Sticks Blog Hop hosted by the Designer Craft Connection. If you are hopping through the projects you've probably seen some really inspiring ideas for Halloween or other special occasions using Sticky Sitcks! Thanks for allowing me to share my idea for Halloween Drink Stirrers that morph into brooches.

Materials and Tools for Halloween Drink Stirrers:

Sticky Sticks

Fabric and black wool felt scraps

Buttons Galore and More Buttons (flat backed)

Laser Cut Wood Bird Shapes

Black acrylic paint

Pin backs

Inkjet fabric sheets

Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac

Tracing pencil (white), fabric marking pen, sewing machine and thread, hand sewing needle, paintbrushes, computer and printer, scalloped edged scissors

To create your own Halloween Drink Stirrers, use a circle and square template and the fabric marker to trace shapes measuring approximately 2 1/2" to the wrong side of the fabric. Cut out the shapes with scissors.

Trace 3" shapes onto the black wool felt with the white tracing pencil. Cut the circles and squares out with the smooth edged or scalloped edged scissors. You will need two of each shape for each Halloween Drink Stirrer you want to make.

Pin the shapes together. Use the sewing machine and thread to sew the shapes together.

Now comes the fun part! Embellishing your Halloween Drink Stirrers. I used inkjet fabric sheet to print out various Halloween sentiments.

Cut the sentiments out and fork the ends, then glue them under a button sewn or glued to the center of the shapes.

As an option, machine stitch the edges of your fabric sentiment. Embellish the shapes for the Halloween Drink Stirrers with painted black laser cut bird shapes and more buttons.

To create a Halloween Drink Stirrer that becomes a brooch, sew a bar pin to the backside of the embellished shape.

Now add the second un-embellished shape you cut from the black wool felt to the sticky stick.

Sticky Sticks are jumbo sized self adhesive craft sticks. This is a particularly great kids product because glue is not required. Just peel off the adhesive film to reveal the sticky part.

So I adhere my second wool felt shape to the stick and pin the embellished shape to that shape.

These Halloween Drink Stirrers that become brooches guests can take home as party favors will delight your guests!

Enjoy hopping along, just use the Designer Craft Connection gadget in the right sidebar of this blog to hop forward or back!

Happy Haunting,

Live Life Creatively,

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Handmade Aprons Free Ebook

Are you a big fan of handmade aprons? Then you might want to take a good look at this adorable new free ebook sponsored by Craft, Chat, Eat.  I ♥ Aprons features 10 "Make It Pretty"Sew & No Sew Apron Projects all FREE in this charming free ebook when you sign up for Craft. Chat. Eat.'s e-newsletter. You will receive a link to I {Heart} Aprons™ in your confirmation e-mail. (make sure you check your spam folder for the confirmation email).

Craft Craft Eat launches in late 2013 with five (5) original, long-form crafts, DIY, and cooking lifestyle online video series. You'll meet people who dare to live a creative life. Some will be entrepreneurs. Some will be passionate about food. Some will build (or rebuild) things. As creator Judith Norman explains "It' won't be your grandma's craft TV." 

Earlier this year, I was invited to design and submit a handdyed apron that incorporates hand dyed shibori indigo fabric scraps, red ticking strips and burlap. The result, a rustic country half apron with heart motifs and down home sentiments.  

This is just one many free handmade aprons featured in this free ebook from Craft Chat Eat. There are ten delicious aprons featured in the ebook with free downloadable patterns, helpful illustrations and three FREE video tutorials. The photography is downright charming as is the beautifully designed aprons from some very talented artists.

Creating an apron can be a fun, satisfying project for beginning sewers and non-sewers alike. Whether you like rustic country, sophisticated or patchwork, I ♥ Aprons is sure to inspire you.

Don't miss you chance to download this free ebook. Visit Craft, Chat, Eat today.

Live Life Creatively,

 

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Handmade Pillow from Fabric Scraps and Buttons

In an effort to scale down my fabric scrap stash so I will not feel guilty about buying more, I have been creating lots of fabric scrap projects. I got the idea for this pillow after seeing a similar one being sold for $100 from a pricey boutique.

I immediately knew I had all the materials I needed to make a similar one, including a cloudy and rainy but open Sunday afternoon that would allow me the time I needed to make the pillow from start to finish. 

I started by deciding how large my circles needed to be, then making some card stock patterns that I could use over and over again to trace the circles from the fabric and felt. This part is easy, either grab some food cans, use the bottom of cups and glasses from your kitchen, etc. and trace them on card stock with a pencil. If you are more technical by nature, use your computer to draw circles to your exact needed size and then print them out on card stock. Trim them out with a pair of scissors.

Next, use an iron and pressing surface to fuse Lite Steam a Seam by The Warm Company to your fabric scraps.

Trace the circles on your felt and fabric scraps with a pencil and a fabric marking pen. I opted for felt for my larger circles and fabric for the center of each felt circle since felt has finished edges.

I like to use wool felt by National Nonwovens. For this project I used whatever bright cheerful felt scraps I had leftover from previous projects. Peel off the paper backing from the fused fabric scraps, and use the iron to fuse the fabric to the felt circle.

As you can see, I opted for a cheerful colorful palette, but you can change up the scraps you use and match your own individual taste and decor. I had a blast using my sewing machine to free form stitch the felt and fabric scrap circles. There are several stitch options I have not tried before on my machine. Experimenting with the different types of stitches was fun.

If your machine is more basic, as my last one previously was, a straight stitch and zigzag used alternately will still produce a fun look.

Next, use a rotary cutter and self healing cutting pad to cut two pieces of felt for the pillow front and back. To do this, add a 1/2" seam allowance to the dimensions of your pillow. So, I used Fairfield Processing Corporation's Home Elegance pillow form in a 12" x 16" size. I cut my two 13"x 17" felt rectangles, using National Nonwovens "Haybale" colored felt.

Next, grab some colorful buttons and sew them to the center of each of the circles. I used Laura Kelly's Hand dyed Buttons from Buttons Galore and More in Candy Apple, Sunshine Yellow and Outrageous Orange.

I considered using a fabric glue to attach the sewn buttoned circles to the pillow front but decided to take the extra time and sew them on using a hand sewing needle and black sewing thread. Arrange your felt and fabric scrap circles to the pillow cover first, noting how many rows will cover the pillow from left to right, then top to bottom. (remember your 1/2" seam allowance). I needed about eight circles across and five circles down for mine.

This pillow was so much fun to make, I am going to make one for Mother's Day and another for my neices birthday to match her room.

Happy Scraping!

Live Life Creatively,

 

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Sewn Damasked Burlap Office Supplies; Handmade organization

Sewn Damasked Burlap Office Supplies; Handmade organization

When I visit my local Joann's or Michaels Crafts Stores, I take the time to scour each department. You would be amazed at what materials you might find in the most unlikely departments. As manufacturer's strive to offer unique materials to scrapbook artists, beaders and sewing enthusiasts, you find more and more cross promotion of materials than ever before.

When I ran into this 12 x 12 sheet of "paper," in the scrapbooking materials section. I was amazed to discover that it was not in fact paper at all, but burlap, printed with a damask motif. I was immediately inspired and bought not one but two sheets. Wondering what to do with it, I decided to cover a favorite hard bound journal that looked a little worse for wear.

I determined the size I needed and trimmed the sheet with a rotary cutter and self healing cutting mat. I pressed 1/2" seams with my iron and pinned them in place before sewing them down with my sewing machine. To keep the burlap from unraveling. I sewed a zig zag stitch all along the edges of the sheet.

The fun part? Coming up with a design for the cover. I decided that this damask journal cover would be perfect for applique. I doubled the cover and drew a 4" circle on the front, which I cut out with scissors.

I fused some black canvas to my favorite fusible webbing, lite steam and seam and die cut the motif out using my Sizzix Bigshot die cutting machine and die.

I then sewed a 5" square of natural canvas to the back inside of the journal cover to create a sort of reverse applique.

To embellish the cover, I decided to embroider the flower and details by adding this silver braided thread from Kreniek.

I used sewing thread to couch down the embroidery thread.

I continued until I was satisfied with the design.

Here is the sewn damask journal cover in progress.

I added a vintage brooch from Melissa Francis which I purchased at Scrapbook.com. I also added some stamped sentiments and these buttons by Buttons Galore and More from The Haberdashery Collection.

The perfect companion to my burlap damask journal cover. A pencil case with embellished pencils.

I used a fabric marking pencil to measure a 2" x 8" strip from the natural canvas. I doubled the fabric and cut the strip out.

I then cut 1 1/2" squares from the burlap damask and black canvas and sewed them to one side of the strip.Before sewing together, I added The Haberdashery buttons to the top.

I sewed the strip together with the right sides in on the left, bottom and right, leaving the top open for turning and insertion of the pencils.

I painted the pencils black and added buttons tied with hemp to each of them.

I stamped sentiments to regular typing paper cut them out and decoupaged them to the pencils.

These pencils are the perfect companions to my my sewn damask burlap office journal cover.

While I was drafting this post, I ran into this project from The Dairy of A Natural Girl. She also found the same printed damask burlap and made these super cool candles with the material.

And the morale of the story, the next time you are in your favorite craft store, don't just pass up on the beading section just because your not a beader. Look around, you might find something that inspires you to use in new and different ways!

Live Life Creatively,

 

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