Archive for the ‘sew it’ Category

I’ve hardly gotten out of bed this past week thanks to my bad cold.  I’m still a little loopy today, but I finally got my traced template scanned to share with anyone interested in making a Christmas garland.

My traced letter template can be downloaded by clicking here.  The template is in a very rough state, just my pencil tracing, but it’s the best I could do this week.  And it’s certainly functional, since it’s exactly what I used.  The letters for the template are not reversed since I used freezer paper to make my templates, and freezer paper can be ironed to the front side of your felt without leaving a mark on the fabric.

To cut out my letters, I traced my template letters onto freezer paper.  Simply iron the freezer paper template, waxy side down onto the felt.  For the red lettering I cut with my pinking scissors on the outside of the line.  I used one template to cut letters like M or S for the multiple letters needed in the garland.  Just be sure to cut out all the red letters first.

Once cut, I peeled away the template and saved it to reuse for the cream letters.  I love that freezer paper templates can be reused more than once.

Cut on the inside of the line to cut the cream letters.

I stitched the red lettering to the ribbon, then glued the cream lettering to the red, using fabric glue.  I didn’t like the idea of stitching on my cream lettering.

Here is something very fun.  A Make it Do reader, Katharina from Germany was inspired by my post about my grandmother’s garland.  She used Ariel Narrow font to make her own templates to create a garland.  She was able to find wonderful sequins!  I love how her garland turned out.

I love how blogging connects us together.  Thank you so much Katharina for sharing your lovely garland with me!

This past weekend I got started on my Christmas Garland.

While I haven’t found holiday sequins, I already love making this project. It’s so fun to feel like I’m stitching in my grandmother’s footsteps.  After playing with lots of fonts in Illustrator, I opted for tracing my grandmother’s garland by hand rather than using a new font.  It is perfectly narrow and proportioned for the garland.

Since I love simplicity, I kind of like the very subtle look of the sequin I’ve got here.  I’m going to sew a few on with beads and see if I am happy with the result.

I will post a downloadable template for the garland as soon as I’m able to scan the letters and make them presentable.

I was able to get my pinking shears with a 40% off coupon from JoAnns bringing them to around $12.  They are Fiskars Pinking Shears and I am pleased at how well they cut- nice and sharp.

Already the shears are worth their weight in gold as I started another project this weekend with them….

I started making new Christmas stockings.  They are very similar to the garland as they are inspired by the 1950’s style of felt and sequins.

I love all the scope for the imagination with a project like this.  I have felt snowflakes still to cut out and I love the addition of sequins.   I’m still not sure about the pompoms…  I also know this project won’t be complete without some embroidery to make the face and buttons and even some additional snowflakes.

I’ve designed a gingerbread man and candy stocking and an angel with a candle (still in the rough stages of design.)

I ask myself… why didn’t I start these projects in July?  Someday when I’m wiser I will, but for now, better late than never.