Victoria Bryant: November 2012 Archives

One of the joys of working at Fabric.com is seeing all the new products that come along. A lot of these I have never seen or heard anything about. Texture Magic falls into that category. I thought it was pretty pricey for basically a 1/2 yard of fabric that shrinks. I was asked to do some reviews on products. Since I was curious about this product , I picked Texture Magic. You can see I was someone biased against it in the first place.

After I watched the great videos at Superior Threads.com, I was intrigued. There are 22 bite sized videos for you to view. Each video leads to the next subject.  I bought some and set aside my Sunday to play with this product.

What is Texture Magic?- This is a steam activated fabric which must be sewn to your project fabric. It does feel like a cheap polyester lining fabric.  Your iron should never touch the texture magic or fabric. The steam activates the shrinking process.

What kinds of fabric can you use? For some reason I assumed that this was only used with cotton, Wrong- it can be used with minky, satin, velvets, silk and pretty much anything you want to try. In the videos, you will see it used to make a christening gown. If you have ever smocked or done heirloom sewing, you know how long that woould take under normal circumstances. This gown was faburlous.

Tips for working with Texture Magic:

1. Never touch the fabric or Texture Magic with an iron. Only use steam. Iron should be positioned above fabric and not on fabric. There is no right or wrong side to this fabric. Texture Magic is sewn to the wrong side of the fabric. 

2. This product shrinks the fabric by approximately 30% so make sure you size your fabric appropriately. There is a chart provided so you know how large to cut your fabric.

3. Light colored fabric with little design will show the texturizing much better than dark fabrics. You can still use dark fabrics but understand that the design will not be as prominent as a light colored fabric.

4. Thread- If you want to see the thread, you must use a heavier thread- a 30 weight or less.  Do not use a nylon thread that will melt.

5. You can apply a layer of fabric, batting and Texture Magic together and shrink. You have actually created a quilted block.

6. To create an applique with fabric that has been shrunk, you can draw your applique on the texture magic side. In a regular applique, you just cut the fabric in the desired shape. With Texture Magic, you need to sew around the lines of the applique. If you do not, the applique will be puckered when you sew it to your foundation.

7. Markers- You can draw a grid line on the Texture Magic to create a sewing line. You can use pencil, fabric markers, even a black sharpie pen. Normally I would never use a sharpie for fear the marks would show through the fabric. I did try it on one of the fabrics I used for my project and it did not show through to the fabric side.  

8. After you have steamed the fabric, the effect is permament. You can wash this and the fabric remains crinkled. 

I made a small baby's block from Minky using Texture Magic. I found a free pattern on line- Make-your-own-baby-stuff.com. I search my stash and found some Minky samples that I was getting ready to throw out because I could not figure out how to use them. Never throw it out- you will find a way to use them

Here are pictures of before and after I used the Texture Magic.

Even thougn I used the same grid design on 2 of the minky squares, they shrank slightly differently. As you can see from the pictures, I free formed the lines so they are not necessarily evenly spaced. On the yellow block, I used a black magic marker. When I steamed it, the marks did not show through.

Here is my finished baby block. I did 3 sides using plain minky and 3 sides using the Texture Magic.

This was a lot of fun. I have already thought of several ways to use Texture Magic. According to Superior Threads, one package is enough to do one crib size baby quilt. I am sure that someone would be delighted to receive a baby quilt done using Texture Magic.

I am really trying very hard to get ahead of the season this year. I am usually the person at the mall on the 24th trying to find that perfect gift for someone. Well I have already bought several presents for my family, I haven't wrapped them but you can't have everything. I decided this year that I will make knitted scarves for my immediate family. This will not take as long as a quilt thank goodness!

Now I come to my friends and co-workers. These, of course, should be ready by the 15th of December because people take time off for Christmas. My friends tend to fall into 2 categories- the frilly people who love perfume, bath oil, gift cards, candles, etc. or the organizers. For a long time, I have wanted to make the car organizer I saw on Sew4Home web page- Cool Car Organizer. Click on cool car organizer for complete supplies and instructions.  I can tell you that the instructions are very clear and I believe that a motivated beginner or intermediate sewer would have no problem completing this project. It took me about 2 weekends but I usually only sew a couple of hours at a time.

Supplies:

1. Sewing Machine

2. 3/4 yd. fabric for front and back of organizer- I used twill from my stash

3.  1 yard of fabric for caddy and pockets-  I used twill from my stash

4.  3/4 yard of lightweight fusible interfacing

5.  3 1/2 yards of bias binding 1/2'' to 1''. double fold, ( 2 pkgs) I used 7/8''.

6,  Dritz quick release parachute buckle.

7.  1 yard 1'' wide nylon webbing or strapping.

8.  All purpose thread to match

9.  See through ruler

10. Marking pen or chalk for marking fabric

11. Iron and ironing board

12. Scissors or rotary cutter and mat

13. Lighter to seal ends of strapping.

I did not use the grommets or the nylon cording in my project. Feel free to create the pockets the way you want them to be. I sectioned off the first pocket for a pen holder. I can never find a pen when I need it.

The project went together like a dream. In fact, I am keeping the one I made for myself, I guess that I will have to make another for my friend. I have a Honda Accord and it fits very well. I think that twill, canvas or duck are the perfect fabrics for this project.

On the left is the version from Sew4Home and the one on the right is my version. This will truly get me organized in the car at least. I can never find a pen, paper, coupons, my grocery list or tissue when I need it!