'An Old-Fashioned Christmas' Event - Week 2 - Fabric

{Visit Grace's blog here to learn more about the 'Old-Fasioned Christmas' Event!}

Note: This is week two of Grace's Old-Fashioned Christmas event, and I am excited, because this week's topic is FABRIC! I have found so many great tutorials, besides personal experiences of my own. Because uploading pictures takes time, I may be adding to this post even after the week is over. But for starters, here are some of my fabric crafting inspirations ;) !



Satin Flowers







Felt Hearts



The link I posted above is to the blog post where I found these hearts. The post had nothing about these hearts except the picture; but as soon as I saw them, I was like, "Oh my! I've got to make some of those!!" :D
So please pardon the lack of quality of my photos - I was taking them in a hurry - and hopefully you can enjoy your own jar of wonderful little felt hearts, or do like I'm going to, and drop one in a loved one's stocking with a note reminding them how much they are loved!

First select the felt you are going to use. I got this value pack at Wal*Mart, and it has a nice color variety (the colors are much more vibrant than in the photo - sorry y'all!). If you want a Christmas theme, then obviously the red and green and white would be a nice choice.



Next decide on the size heart you want, and draw out a pattern. You wouldn't believe the time it took me to get mine just right! I wanted mine a little lopsided, to give it sort of a folk-artsy look, but I didn't want it to look totally sloppy! (If you want yours shaped evenly, try folding a little piece of paper in half, then cut out half a heart on the fold. Unfold it, and you've got a perfectly shaped heart.)



Cut out two hearts from the felt you want to use.





Go through your embroidery thread stash (or if you don't have one, go to Wal*Mart or Hobby Lobby ;) ) and pick the color that you think suits your heart.



Find a needle that has a nice large eye, but that isn't too thick and chunky to go through the felt easily.



Take your embroidery thread, pick out three strands, and carefully separate it down. You want approximately 12-16 inches of the three-strand thread for one heart. I pull the strand until it has pulled from the full length of the skein. Hope that makes sense. If you want, you can just pull and cut the entire thickness of thread (six strands), then separate it and save the other three-strand section for another heart.







Put your two hearts together ...



... and start your stitching with a double-stitch to serve as a knot.











Make sense?

When you get almost around the heart, take a tiny amount of quilt batting or fiberfill, and stick inside to give the heart a little thickness. I save quilt batting trimmings from my quilting projects, and a pinch of that works perfectly.







Finish stitching around the heart, repeat the knot, pull in your tail (I use the needle, and pull it back into the heart itself), and your done!


Some more tutorials and/or resources involving fabric (Note: I cannot vouch for the appropriateness of the entire content of each site, only the pages I've linked to below):

Fabric Labels made using transfer paper:



Fabric Postcards:





Gifts:

Gift Card Cozy:



Scrappy Fabric Rose:



Ruffle Flower:



Felt Rose:



Big Felt Flower:



Cotton Flower:



Wool Flower:



Fabric Flower:



Composition Book Cover:



Thumbtacks:



Felt Toy Truck:



Toy Pasta:



Doll House Party Banner:



Ruffle Pillow:



Burp Cloths:



Embellished Knit Shirt (Applique):



Embellished Knit Shirt (Flag):



Embellished Knit Shirt (Flowers):



Ebellished Knit Shirt (Ruffled Neck):



Re-purposed Sweater Purse:



Camera Strap Cover:




Decorations:

Stocking:



Ornament:


Snowflake Pillows:



Snowflake Table Runner:



More Sewing Project Ideas!