Let's Not Get Into Fisticuffs!

...but we can certainly get into making a funky fabric cuff! After months of painting all kinds of folk art, primitive and cutesy girls, I had an urge to totally change directions and make an artful adornment for my arm. I did a little research and found this awesome tutorial and wanted to get started right away!

I also remembered that my lovely and talented friend Claudine Hellmuth had done a how-to video on creating a convertible brooch pendant with her StickyBack Canvas product. So I took her flower idea and used it as a jumping off point for this fabric cuff. Her technique made it super easy and fun. The base of the cuff and the flower are both made with StickyBack Canvas (oh, and I saved the extra strings to make the little nest of fibers there).

The cool thing about StickyBack is that... well... it has a sticky back! So I peeled off the backing and stuck my cuff onto a piece of muslin that was a half inch wider than the base. Just to create a little interest around the edges. Of course I'm doing things totally out of order because I was just so excited (and kind of making it up as I went along)!

And then it was time to add some accent flowers. I wanted to alternate between the stamped StickyBack Canvas and the muslin, but when it came time to add my second flower... the perfectionist side of me had a few questions. What if the placement is off? What if you come up short? Or it's not centered? So I had an idea! I took the waxy paper from the StickyBack and used it as a non-stick base for my flowers. I put down some tacky glue, made the flower the exact size I wanted it, and let it dry overnight. Peeled it off the next day and.... voilà!

A perfect flower I could place anywhere I like! Just a little Tacky Glue to affix it to the cuff... and we're on our way!

Made more flowers. Picked out some vintage baubles to accessorize. I sewed the buttons on. Oh, and I don't know how to do a button hole on my sewing machine yet, so I just cut two slits in the fabric. Hey, it works. More flowers. More fiber nest thingies...

Picking out jewels and beads to match was lots of fun. Went through like a gazillion combinations. And sewed them on very carefully. It took many decades to acquire all that junk.... ahem... I mean, jewels.

When I was done I had completely surprised myself. I thought. I searched. I gathered. I conquered. One of the things about the internet that I actually love...  You can think of something you want to do... sit in one place and do tons of research... and find what you want to create... and then get to create it right then and there! Ahhhh... impatient crafters... we are saved!

And look at all that textured goodness. Isn't it just yummy! I love the tattered and worn look this funky fabric cuff has. Combined with vintage goodies from my stash... this new accessory is going to get worn out in no time. Or is that worn in? Hmmmmm.....

Holiday Distress, Cupcakes & Knock Downs!

Boy, oh, boy... were your holidays distressing? Because mine sure were. In a good way of course! It was so nice to take some time off just to play and make things (including messes!). I spent a lot of my time working on a few rag dolls. Distressing. Stuffing. Sewing. And it was all very, very relaxing and fun. A winning combination that got me through the holiday season.

The cupcake trio turned out to be some of my favorites. Each with a different color scheme... and personality! I had to experiment a bit with the cherries on top and making them look, well... cherry-ish. I tried putting a small styrofoam ball into the doll as a rotund support system, but many of them turned out looking like baseball caps up close anyway. Tee-hee! Who ever heard of a baseball cap-wearing cupcake?

Sometimes the dolls evolve as I go along and this little red firecracker was no exception. When I first chose her monochromatic color palette and put her together, I loved the idea of her... but I wasn't in love just yet. I thought maybe after I distressed her... but no. Maybe after I stuffed  her? Well, that did bring about some changes, because I ended up turning her into a knock down doll (like my Tillies), but, still... there was something missing. So I took some extra striped fabric, ripped her some new arms and a bow for her hair, and.... voilà! She won my heart!

After all that clowning around, I feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to play lots more! I realized that I got so busy last year, I hadn't given myself enough time for fun. So for 2013, there's going to be a lot more playing going on around here. Because, well... I deserve it.

Happy New Year everybody... and Happy Making!

xoxo

Thoughtful Thursdays: Fabulous Fabric!

I'm not sure what it is about fabric... but I love it! All those amazing colors and patterns! New styles. Vintage linens. Mixing and matching swatches until my heart's content. I must confess though... I collected fabric for years before I even knew what to do with it. All I knew was that if I saw a piece of material that took my breath away... I had to own it!

I had so much fun making those rag dolls recently, that I went kinda crazy. I bought all sorts of fabric from 3 different stores... I rifled through my decades-old collection of vintage textiles... and even ripped up a few pieces of my own clothing!

My whole downstairs became a doll-making factory! The dining room table turned into a pattern station. The kitchen table became an assembly area. And when I ran out of room there, I broke out the ironing board (of course for crafts only, not for actually ironing clothes!), and turned that into a makeshift workstation.

I used combinations of fabrics that worked perfectly together and some that looked rather odd, but in a cool kinda way. I made dolls that looked like people, and turned inanimate objects into funny-faced figures as well. When all was said and done, I had made patterns and cut out pieces for more than 20 dolls!

So I guess I better get on that sewing machine and get some of these guys done lickety split! Craft Show season is soon approaching!