Craftzine.com blog: Fabric Archives

Archive: Fabric

May 14, 2012

Photo Textile Tutorial

I have a photography background, so this wearable photo DIY caught my eye. Using a special light-sensitive dye, you essentially turn your piece of fabric into one of those sun prints. If you don't have large negatives you want to use, the tutorial explains how to turn a digital photo into a negative using Photoshop and transparencies.

May 12, 2012

How-To: Mother's Day Yo-Yo Wrist Corsage

Mother's Day is tomorrow! If you're still doing some last-minute crafting, make sure you check out this Mother's Day yo-yo wrist corsage tutorial from CRAFT's own Lish Dorset. They're quick, fun, and sure to put a smile on any mom's face!

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How-To: Print Your Own Fabric

Make your own unique patterned fabrics with this fabric printing tutorial that Karina from Maple Ash and Oak shared on Poppytalk!

No need for large screens, squeegees, and emulsion. Beautiful prints can be created with simple methods and materials. Most of the supplies are household items and the rest can be found at your local art or craft store.

Who knew that printing fabric could be so easy? Head over to Poppytalk to see the full how-to!

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May 10, 2012

How-To: Fabric Pendant

Long-time friend of CRAFT, Ellen Baker of The Long Thread, has a new fabric collection for Moda Fabrics called Quilt Blocks.

Inspired by traditional quilt designs, there are nine prints in the collection in three different colorways: shade, marine and spectrum.

The prints are delightful, charming and bold, and perfect for summer sewing projects. Today, she's sharing a simple project for making a cute fabric pendant.

Fabric Pendant

by Ellen Baker

I've been loving all the fabric and embroidered jewelry that I see these days, so I decided to make my own using a bit of my new fabric collection for Moda, Quilt Blocks. The collection is inspired by the patterns of quilts, but with a modern twist. This simple necklace is easy and can truly be made in half an hour. You can find the pendant frames in various shops on Etsy by searching around. I got mine for four dollars, then used a chain that I had on hand. This would also be great with cross stitch or with a kid's stitched design.

Materials:

Pendant frame
Fabric scrap
Embroidery thread or pearl cotton
Embroidery needle
Scissors
Tape
Chain necklace Read full story »

May 7, 2012

How-To: Marimekko-Inspired Sneakers

I love how Kat of Just Crafty Enough transformed a pair of plain tennis shoes in to something so bright and cheery using only fabric markers.

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May 2, 2012

Meet Ed Emberley

How many of you learned how to draw because of Ed Emberley's books? If you're a fan, now you can enjoy Ed's illustrations on a whole new line of fabric from Cloud 9 Fabrics - Happy Drawing. The collection features eight animal prints, five "scribble" prints, and one ready-to-go panel.

Check out Cloud 9's blog to read a a few questions with Ed. He talks about his hometown, drawing inspiration, and his current favorite colors (orange, purple, and green).

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May 1, 2012

Upcycled Jewelry from Frank Ideas

I am loving the dramatic shapes and unusual pairings of Rowan Shaw's Frank Ideas jewelry line. While not all the materials are recycled, she uses paper, recycled plastics, buttons, and fabrics to amazing effect. I am totally inspired by the use of materials! (Via All Things Paper.)

April 30, 2012

How-To: Organize Fabric in a Filing Cabinet

Locked in an epic battle with your fabric stash? Check out this brilliant tutorial for filing your fabric from Karen at Sew Many Ways. Storing fabric in a filing cabinet means avoiding wrinkles, seeing your whole stash at a glance, and protecting cloth from fading and dust. I'm a total organization junky, but this sure blows my multi-box method out of the water!

How do you organize your fabric?

[Via Dollar Store Crafts]

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April 26, 2012

Amazing Ikat Time Lapse Video

I love anything that can give folks a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the process behind highly-involved forms of craft. Whitney Matalone recently posted this amazing video time lapse of the Ikat-making process. It is mesmerizing.

I practice one of the oldest and most widespread forms of textile decoration. Ikat. It is a process in which you bind and dye the warp or weft fibers to create an image.
The bindings are removed, the fibers are washed out and dried before the weaving process begins. I recorded every second of the process (about three months) and put it into this four minute video.

[via Cathy Callahan]

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April 20, 2012

Video: Liberty of London Art Fabrics

If you're a Liberty of London fan, check out this new video showing you how they created their spring fabric line.

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Via Crafty Crafty

April 19, 2012

Embroidery Tips for Tricky Fabrics

Dying to stitch on nylon, spandex, or even faux fur? Before you get started, check out these tips for embroidering on 5 types of tricky fabric—including organza, nylon, spandex, silk, and faux fur—that the folks from Embroidery Library shared on Stitch Punk!

Once a beginner has moved past the phase of embroidering each and every tea towel they come across, it might then seem time to experiment on different fabrics. Most fabrics will handle all kinds of embroidery with ease, but certain tricky fabrics have been known to cause all kinds of headaches for stitchers.
Does that mean you avoid them all together? No! You just need to know a few tips on how to deal with these tricky types, and the results are totally worth it for all the different effects these fabrics can bring to your projects.

The tips in this post are specifically geared towards machine embroiderers, but the prep methods are solid, and will definitely help hand stitchers get the most out of their specialty fabrics too.

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April 6, 2012

How-To: Fabric Peony Flowers

I've seen a million different tutorials for making fabric flowers, but these fabric peony flowers from Ez at Creature Comforts are really fantastic. Head over to her site to learn her trick for making those perfectly realistic petals!

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