Showing posts with label Sizzix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sizzix. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Colorful Fabric Collage! Come play inside Sue Bleiweiss' new book!


When Sue Bleiweiss invited me to be a contributing artist in her new book I jumped at the opportunity to participate.  First, I like and respect Sue as an artist and author.  Second, I love to use fusible, and when I say fusible I am ONLY referring to Mistyfuse because it is the only kind I use!  It works beautifully on a wide variety of quilt and mixed media projects.  I love using Mistyfuse on both cloth and paper!  I work with silk organza a great deal.  Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will allow your sheers to look like they are supposed to:  transparent and with a lovely non-stiff hand, like Mistyfuse.

For my project in the book, a small piece called "Labels", I opted to use silk organza, a wool-blend felt for the substrate, and a wide variety of clothing labels.  I wanted to show how much fun it can be to work with silk organza (in this case, a piece of my hand-dyed) as the layering possibilities are endless.  I discovered how cool it is to cut two different shapes from (as it turns out) two different die cutting systems and create an entirely new look.
"Labels"


First, I pressed the felt, organza, and the clothing labels so they were as crease-free as possible.  
I applied Mistyfuse to the surface of the felt and the "wrong side" of the organza by placing a Goddess Sheet under and over the surfaces of each.  


Note:  This is one of the two places I use rechargeable electric scissors:
Cutting Mistyfuse off the roll is a breeze with these, especially when working with organza.
Organza tends to have a great deal of static electricity.






Once the felt piece was cool, I cut a second piece of Mistyfuse and overlaid it on the surface of the felt but did not fuse it.  With certain items I have discovered that a second piece fused to the first will often assist in containing things that are errant and loose, such as these wonky clothing labels.  The labels do NOT want to play nice, so the second layer of the Mistyfuse makes it mind better!

I took the organza and cut the Ricky Tims shape from my Accuquilt Go! cutter, the layered it onto the remaining uncut piece of organza.  This double layer of fused organza was then cut with the dress shape on the Big Shot cutter.  Magical!


Note:  I prefer laying the organza over the cutter so that the fusible side is facing up but it isn't 
necessary.  The main thing to remember if you are cutting more than one fused layer is to "stack" your pieces so the fusible sides are always separated.  They can get stuck together a bit and it will cause you a bit more work!





This die-cut piece is then overlaid onto the remaining piece of organza and fused.

The double-layered piece is then positioned over the dress die 
and run through the Sizzix cutter.


Yay!



I carefully placed the labels in some sort of closely organized mosaic over the surface of the felt (remember I have a loose layer of Mistyfuse there).  Once I have it the way I want it I fused it to the surface.  




Then I placed the dress in position and fused it.  One of the best parts about the organza is the layered transparency.  I love being able to see the clothing labels through the dress.  So much fun!


The original piece was very closely quilted in rows using my dual-feed on the Bernina 750QE.  






The book is available on amazon:

and here's the interweave website link:


Please be sure to stop by all the other blogs on this hop and leave a comment to be eligible for the giveaway!
May 4: Sue Bleiweiss: http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/
May 4: Jamie Fingal :http://www.jamiefingaldesigns.com/
May 5: Leslie Tucker Jenison: http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/
May 6: Terri Stegmiller : http://stegart.blogspot.com/
May 7: Deborah Boschert : http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/
May 8: Desiree Habicht : http://myclothesline.blogspot.com/
May 9: Kathy Sperino : http://finishinglinesbyksperino.blogspot.com/
May 10: Barb Forrister : http://www.barbforrister.com/blog/
May 11 Kathy York : http://www.aquamoonartquilts.blogspot.com/
May 12: Lyric Kinard : http://lyrickinard.com/lyric-kinard-blog/
  

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Spring Fling with Sizzix

Welcome to the Sizzix Spring Fling blog hop!  I love my Sizzix die cutters:  I own the Big Shot Pro and the Fabi.  The Big Shot allows me to use the really BIG dies and, while it works for all the dies, the Fabi is more portable and I use it when I travel to teach.  "Mr. Big", as I call mine, stays home for those trips!
For this project I used quite a few different dies.  You don't really need to do that, but I guess I used dies like I cook:  if I have it, I might as well add some.
The main dies used are these:
and these:  (L) Flowers and Leaves Die #658480, and (R) 3D Wrapped Flowers #657116.
I also used these:
Big Shot Pro Circle and the "D" piece from the Double Wedding Ring die!

I was interested in creating appliqué pieces from felt that would subsequently be used to adorn a throw pillow.
Here are a few wool blend sheet of felt I am considering...

as well as this crazy piece of woven end-pieces off a loom that I previously dry-felted.
They are all going to make a trip through the Sizzix machines!

First, using the large flower die, I cut the woven piece.

I love it!

Then I cut small sections of the wool felt to go through the other machine.

Here are a few of the results!  They are so gorgeous!

I wanted a larger leaf shape so I opted for this portion of the Double Wedding Ring die.  It works!

I love the blanket stitch (mirror image reversed) by my Bernina 750 QE.

I overlaid the die-cut weaving on the gray felt.

I love the way these beautiful die-cut leaves look over the weaving.


To create a dimensional look I stitched the edges slightly raised from the surface.

The combination of the 3-D flower and these open-cuts:  awesome!
So much yumminess.


I "modified" the base of my too-long zipper by cutting it, then applying some embroidery thread on the base.

Love the way my Bernina handles the uneven levels of the zipper to pillow.

Hand embroidery on the edges makes this even more special.

For the pillow background I selected these pieces.  Note that the open flower shape
on the left is actually cut from the leftover gray of the flower base.
Note my green "leaf petal" that is folded with the black leaves on top?  
There are many uses for each shape in a Sizzix die.  Think outside the box!

Pinned, then straight-stitched to the surface of a piece of yarn-dyed Kaufman Essex.

Then the main appliqué is stitched onto the surface.

The zipper installed....

And the finished pillow!  
I really love these spectacular Sizzix dies.  
They are just so darn much fun to play with.  I hope you try them!


Thanks so much for stopping by.


Be sure to visit all the artists participating in this hop:
Mon, April 6 - Jamie Fingal
Wed, April 8 -YOU ARE HERE!
Thurs, April 9 - Cindy Cooksey
Fri, April 10 - Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Sat, April 11 - Sue Bleiweiss
Sun, April 12 - Jessee Maloney
Mon, April 13 -Karin Jordan

Monday, February 16, 2015

Let's Go To The Birds With Jamie Fingal's New Fabric Line from Hoffman Fabrics!



I was delighted when my dear friend and "Dinner At Eight" partner-in-crime told me she was designing a fabric line with a "bird" theme.  I looked forward to see it and I am not disappointed!  I am a life-long "bird geek".  I grew up in a house where there were feeders outside each window & binoculars placed in strategic locations in the house for optimum viewing of birds.
I still have this habit.  Few things give me as much joy as observing birds and cultivating a habitat for them in my garden.

Jamie's new line of fabric from Hoffman is a delight for the senses.  The deep, rich colors suggest a bit of fall might be in the air, but it is not simply a fall-themed palette.  I love the addition of a few stripes, a bird journal, the bird houses, and her fun bunting in the mix.

For my project I decided to be quite free-wheeling:  I cut pieces of fabric "freehand" with my rotary cutter.  In other words, no measuring and straight edges from a ruler.  Why?  Just because!  I love the look of the more organic appearance that comes as a result of this method of cutting.

First, I cut squares from many of the fabrics, and then some strips.  The strips were pieced around the square(ish) shapes.

Using Mistyfuse I fused some small pieces, then cut bird and leaf shapes with my Sizzix  dies.  I like how they add some additional depth and movement to the blocks!
cutting the "squares"



Pre-fused fabric is run through the Sizzix Big Shot die-cutter.

the results:  two bird forms and several sizes of leaves.
The "branches" were free-cut with scissors
Since it is close to Valentine's Day I thought adding a heart was in order...

But I wanted it to look a bit like an apple...


I love the wonderful shapes and colors in the fabric.
I like that I can see the shapes of Jamie's sketch-doodles in the fabric!

It is such fun to free-motion quilt using the shapes as a guide.

I used the dual-feed feature on my Bernina 750 QE to do some of the straight quilting.
I like the wonky feel of these free-cut blocks!
I am using a double-layer of wool-blend felt from National Nonwovens as my batting.
It is great for wall-hangings because it holds a nice flat shape.
To finish the (somewhat uneven) edges I opted for a border of black and white ribbon trim.
It looks a bit like film negative edge, which seems perfect for this study in birds!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please leave a comment here to become eligible for prizes.  We are going to do a give away for a bundle of the 'Autumn is for Birds' fabric.  Hoffman Fabrics has been very generous in providing the prize!  Don't forget to check out the other stops on this multi-day hop.  

Jamie shares a link to her Twisted Sister blog talking about how the 'Autumn is for Birds' fabric line was made:  http://www.jamiefingaldesigns.com/2015/01/autumn-is-for-birds.html
Hoffman Fabrics link http://www.hoffmanfabrics.com/


The giveaway is for a bundle of the 'Autumn is for Birds' fabric.   Hoffman Fabrics has been very generous in providing the fabrics!



Feb 16 - You. Are. Here.
Feb 17 - Lisa Chin
Feb 18 - Cheryl Sleboda
Feb 19 - Stacy Hurt
Feb 20 - Candy Glendening 
Feb 21 - Sue Bleiweiss
Feb 22 - Jamie Fingal