Peltex

Okay, I'll admit it. I am a huge fan of Peltex, to the point where I would go into a massive depression if Pellon ever decided to discontinue it. It is like Duct Tape for the sewing world. For those of you who haven't used it before it basically REALLY heavy interfacing that is fusible on both sides. You can use it in your projects to construct many different three dimensional shapes that wouldn't be possible with fabric alone.
Yesterday we were playing with fabric flowers. (This is for a delicious project for my second fabric release for Robert Kaufman Fabrics, coming out in late fall of this year.) Our favorites were the two below:



Which do you all like better? Both use Peltex in the leaves. The flower on the right uses Peltex in the flower as well, which gives it a more defined look. We can't decide.

These are the things I learned making these flowers:
1. I am a better sewer than hot-gluer.
2. Sometimes you shouldn't skip basting (don't pretend you haven't tried this either!)
3. White hot fabric glue stuck to tips of fingernails doesn't look anything like a French manicure.

What a mess, but I do like the result! Of course, we had to make a matching barrette.



Have a lovely Memorial Day, everyone!

Amanda

Thirteen

A friend of Caitrin's from ballet turned thirteen a couple of weeks ago and we just had to make her a gift. Thirteen is a very special birthday and this is a special young lady. We made this little ballerina doll bag with a fabric yo-yo for a bun - we thought it was perfect because Caitrin's friend collects dolls.

It was inspired by the Boy Acrobat project in Omiyage, by Kumido Sudo. As you can see, we made some hairpins for her to use as well, but they don't fit inside the bag. Oh dear. We love them anyway.

Here is another hairpin we made for this lovely young lady with silk ribbon. The picture isn't as good since my camera and I weren't playing nicely. (I'm sure it was entirely my fault. Camera, I hope you are listening.)

A word about silk ribbon... Yes, it is expensive and it does fray a bit at the edges, but it takes fabric dye in a manner unlike any other material. The depth and luminosity of color in hand-dyed silk ribbon is incredible and just a small piece can make a project sing. The ribbons I used for these hairpins were from a trip to M & J Trimming in New York City a couple of years ago. They have an extensive online store - check them out!

And, since I just cannot stand to waste fabric, we used the last few scraps we had leftover from our Fabrilicious Eggs, Flower Coasters, and Yo-Yo-Pillow to make these pincushions.

The pattern comes from Anna Maria Horner's book, "Seams to Me" . They were easy to make. (I used very heavy-weight interfacing rather than posterboard for to mount the bottom circle to make for easier finishing.)

Have a great week!
Amanda