Book Wraps are great projects to make either for yourself or to give as gifts. They are easy to make and offer the perfect opportunity to express your creative self through your use of embellishment.
This project demonstrates a technique for making fabric using Decorative Stitch “Art Lace”, and then using the resulting fabric to make a Book Wrap.
Decorative Stitch “Art Lace” is made by sewing overlapping rows of decorative stitches onto a piece of water soluble stabilizer. The soft lace pieces are intended to appear haphazardly sewn with stitches gently falling away to reveal irregular shaped holes and stitch clusters, adding a very contemporary appearance to your projects.
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I love to work with my needle felting machine and incorporate machine needle felting into my projects in various ways; more often than not, in ways that often don’t even resemble needle felting.
Last year I did a number of online classes on machine needle felting – Felt-Punch-Embellish and “More” Felt-Punch-Embellish which were a lot of fun and I thought today I’d like to share one of the lessons: Texturizing Fabric. Because I work not only with textile and quilt art, but wearable art also, texturizing fabric is probably my favorite needle felting technique for creating coordinating texturized fabrics.
If you didn’t manage to catch the classes, you can still purchase Felt-Punch-Embellish and “More” Felt-Punch-Embellish on dvd.
Otherwise, enjoy the lesson on how to create texturized fabric samples, including video and samples.
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19 Sep |
Posted in
Piecing,
Tutorials |
By
LindaM
Curved inserts on your art quilts or projects add movement and interest, and curved checkerboard in particular can make a very bold statement especially if unusual color combinations are used.
Curved checkerboard may look impossibly difficult to make, but it is in fact a very simple process.
Supplies
Two pieces of fabric in contrasting colors approx 40” wide
Quilters’ ruler
Rotary cutter
“Journey” copyright Linda Matthews 2009
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12 Sep |
Posted in
Dryer Sheets,
Tutorials |
By
LindaM
Dryer Sheets are a fun and interesting way to add texture or other special effects to your art quilts and as I was preparing some dryer sheets for the upcoming Dryer Sheet mini-class being held over at the “Free Lunch Cafe” and which starts on the 1st October, I thought I’d share the tutorial with you all and also allow my students to get a head start in their preparation.
The Warning
First of all the warning.
Most dryer sheets are toxic because of all the stuff they put in the perfumes. The toxins can permeate your skin when you wear clothes that have been dried using dryer sheets, and toxic fumes can be inhaled when you iron dryer sheets.
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Talisman or amulet pouches have their origins in Africa and were typically made of leather or sometimes cloth and contained sacred prayers or written words of empowerment. The pouches were then sealed to prevent the writings from being read and giving power to the words that were written. The pouches represent both the physical (the pouch) and the spiritual (the prayer). These amulets were carried, and sometimes worn on the clothing of the Africans.
Visit Design Matters for some great video tutorials , one in particular demonstrating how to make African Talisman Pouches using a machine needle felting machine.
These little pouches are so easy to make using the needle felting machine and are the perfect project to do when your day is super busy and you only have half an hour or so to spare.
I particularly liked the black/white/red color combination that was used in the video, but I didn’t have any of those felted colors on hand so I machine needle felted some cream colored Corriedale wool, then painted some of it black and some of it red. But in the meantime while these pieces were drying I thought I’d put together a couple of pouches using colored felt scraps.
I had some scraps of hand dyed soy silk felt so I cut out the pouch pieces and a decorative shape.
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28 Jul |
Posted in
Tutorials |
By
LindaM
How many purses do you have? How many purse patterns do you have? We all love purses don’t we? Purses are a great way to make a statement on a small scale and I’m sure if you’re just like me, you have *lots* of them.
So here’s another one!
Enjoy this beautiful purse project from Thr3fold.
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When doing machine needle felting, consider layering your fabrics before needle felting for some awesome results.
Red organza/lace …
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Fabric beads are easy to make and are a great way to use up all those small scraps of fabric, fiber and other assorted leftovers.
You can use any type of fabric to make your beads however if you are using plain colored or tone-on-tone colored fabric, consider adding some decorative stitching or free motion stitching for added interest.
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I love to use water soluble stabilizer for making embellishments, and fabric pieces, and other unusual textural elements for my quilts.
Making fabric pieces is very easy; all you need to get started is some thick water soluble stabilizer, and some yarn or decorative threads.
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I love playing with the flower stitch foot. If you’ve never used this foot, I can guarantee it is way too much fun. But did you know that you can use this foot with water soluble stabilizer to create all sorts of decorative effects?
