Those of you who frequent my blog often might be surprised to know that I love to sew. There is something very satisfying about creating something out of fabric. Quilting baby blankets and pillows are some of my favorite projects. Sewing is something that I have done since I was very young but has taken a back seat to my paper crafting pursuits in the last couple of years.
My renewed interest in sewing is due to a couple of different things, but the most signifigant one is the trend of Scrapbook manufacturers and designers releasing their paper collections as fabric collections. Riley Blake Fabrics seems to be the biggest leader in this trend, with big names such as Lori Whitlock, Carina Gardner, Deena Rutter, Doodlebug, Bella Blvd, Samantha Walker, Zoe Pearn, and Bo Bunny, to name just a few. I don't know what's better, working with paper or fabric from these fabulous designers.
So, the reason for my project is double fold. First, when I was traveling during Christmas, I found some beautiful and sweet fabric called Vintage Baby by Lori Whitlock and so I wanted to share a project using it. But I also wanted to show how you can use your die cutting machine and SVG files to cut fabric to be used on sewing projects.
Cutting fabric on your die cut machine is very easy. You just need to know one major thing. Fabric will not stick to the cutting mat. So to get the fabric to stick to the mat you need to use some fusible interfacing. I like to use Heat N Bond Ultra Bond. One side of the Heat N Bond will get ironed onto your piece of fabric. The other side is the paper backing. The paper backing is what will stick to the mat. It's really easy peasy!!
So to create my little pillow, I first choose the shape that I wanted to cut. I just wanted something simple so I chose the Lori's little 2 layer bird. I had to change a few things on the file so that I was able to cut out heart tail on the bird in a different colored fabric. When I have a little more time I will come back with specific directions on how to do that.
I first ironed by Heat N Bond onto my pink fabric. Make sure to cut your Heat N Bond just slightly smaller than your fabric piece. Then paper side down, place it on your cutting mat. Burnish it on the mat so that it sticks really well. Cut out your shape using the Fabric Cotton print setting. If you are using a heavier fabric than cotton, you might want to do a double cut just to catch all of the fibers.
Take your cut fabric off the mat and peal of the backing. Place the fabric down on the surface you want to sew it to and iron it on. Continue with these step for all of the pieces. At this point use could choose to finish up your pillow without sewing the pieces on because the bond is permanent even through washing but I wanted to get it that applique look so I sewed around the edges of each fabric piece and then quilted the pillow top with long straight lines of stitching.
You have to try it to see how easy it really is. I actually think it is easier than vinyl because you don't have to worry about bubbles when placing the shape on to your surface. Have fun and let me know how you do.
Such a great tutorial Christine! I would have completely forgot the step about the Heat N Bond so that was really a helpful tip. This is so darling I would have trouble giving it away as a gift. ;)
Posted by: Mendi Yoshikawa | January 22, 2013 at 11:15 AM