Felt: January 2013 Archives
Materials
Eco-Felt (about 1/8 to ¼ of a yard depending on the size of you bib)
Lace (scrape piece, you can even use several pieces)
A piece of Organza at least 20'' long and 3'' wide for ruffle
Floral Stones (available in most big box stores like Target, Wal-mart, Garden Ridge, maybe even the Dollar Store)
One Chain (You can recycle an old or broken necklace like I did)
Glue Gun
Instructions:
Fold a sheet of paper in half and draw out half of your necklace shape on the fold of the paper. I used the bottoms of various glasses to create my 3 circular shapes. Once you have a shape that you dig cut it out on the fold and open it up. That is your pattern for your felt.
Trace your pattern onto your felt and cut out 2 pieces. Set one aside. Fold your ruffle in half and on your remaining piece of felt pin your ruffle onto the wrong side of your felt. I placed mine in a very loose fashion, just sort of tucking here and smoothing there. It is not gathered just sort of tucked in places especially where 2 circles meet. It doesn't need to be perfect. Stitch in place
Add your piece of lace over the right side of your felt and stitch around the edge of your felt using a thread that matches your lace (then if your stitches are off it won't be noticeable). Trim your lace to the edge of the felt; it will curl up a bit making your felt visible.
Next, layout your stones in a pattern you like. You can experiment here with different colors and designs. These stones really catch the light, add color and weight to help your necklace hang well (if it is too light it will flop around and look unfinished). Once you have your pattern glue down your stones using your glue gun (Don't worry about glue strings you can pick them off later).
Figure out the length of chain you need (I pinned my chain onto my second piece of felt and slipped it on and then adjust the length). Hand tack the chain onto your felt and then glue your 2 pieces of felt together, sandwiching your chain and ruffle in the middle.
This necklace looks great with a blazer or over a casual sweater. I love it with my little black dress and a plain white tee. It is my new go-to accessory.
Now that I have kids I have embraced a new love for appliqués. I used to think of them as cute little additions to bags or pillows but now I know them for disguising stains (or worse bleach marks), holes in play clothes or to cover up old and ugly appliqués on otherwise cute clothing gifted by grandmothers, cousins or random ladies that my mom knows from work whose daughter hasn't had kids yet so they have no other outlet for their baby clothes indulgences. I love appliqués and probably sew about 3 a week onto various garments. Last month my daughter's tricycle seat kept snagging her knit pants so I used some cute handprint appliqués over the holes. For Christmas she was given a few plain t-shirts so I added a snowflake (project below) and dinosaur appliqué to jazz them up. And don't get me started on all the plain white onesies I have for my new addition. Appliqués are part of my daily life so I was very excited to write about our Janome Appliqué foot.
The Janome Appliqué Foot is a clear sewing foot attachment that has a wide opening for your needle to accommodate zig zag stitches off all sizes. The clear foot lets you see your path and helps with steering. My appliqué world just opened up when I started using this foot. It was like taking a ride on a glass bottom boat. I could see my path before me and a little bit behind which is important for making sure your stitches are even. My stitch path has greatly improved and my stitches look more finished though it does take some getting used to.
Snowflake Appliqué
Print out the Snowflake Appliqués downloaded here: Snowflake Applique1.pdf *Fold a sheet of 8.5 by 11'' piece of Heat n Bond 3 times into a triangle and trace the large appliqué onto the wrong side your folded Heat n Bond. Apply Heat n Bond to the wrong side of your fabric according to the directions and cut out. Center your appliqué on one of your t-shirts side seams and iron in place. Install your appliqué foot and coordinating thread into your sewing machine and using a medium stitch length zig zag stitch around the snowflake. Repeat the above from the * for the inner appliqué using either white felt or other fabric you prefer for your snowflake.
