Chemistry Couture

Fabric Covered Letters: A Tutorial

This post could also be titled "How to spoil your niece."  That is, after all, one of my new goals in life. 

 

I made these for my niece over the weekend and figured I would take pictures along the way so I could show you how I did it.  Not that it was hard, but sometimes even the easiest projects can be a little overwhelming if you don't know where to begin.  So here we go.

Supplies you will need:

• Glue (I like fabric glue, white glue will work too, are they the same thing?)
• Fabric
• Scissors
• Letters (I am using cardboard/paper mache, but just about anything will do)
• A paper towel on which to wipe your glue covered fingers

I picked these letters up at Hobby Lobby.  I usually can't stand to go into Hobby Lobby, theres just so much STUFF in that place, but I was on a mission to buy pillow forms on sale and found these by accident.  They were probably about $2 a piece.  Not bad.  So here we go.

Step 1:  Pick out your fabrics.  This is the most important part and perhaps the most stressful if you are one of those people who worries about getting the colors and patterns just right.  I'm one of those people.  I feel your pain.  Get past this step and you are pretty much home free.

Step 2:  Apply glue to the front of the letter.  This is the part everyone will see, so we want it to look pretty and smooth.  Don't go overboard with the glue, just a very light coating will do.  And don't worry about getting the entire thing covered.  You only want enough glue so that your fabric will smoothly stick to the letter. (I use a toothpick to smooth out my glue, but you can use a sponge brush, a "craft stick" aka popscicle  stick, your finger, whatever, just make sure to keep those fingers clean!)

  
 

 Step 3:  Place your fabric wrong side up on a flat surface and gently smoosh the glue-covered front of the letter onto the fabric. 

 

Step 4:  Flip your letter over and use your *clean* fingers (this is where the paper towel comes in hand,y we don't want any smudges on our pretty fabric) to lightly rub the fabric covered face of the letter to make sure the fabric is smooth and in full contact with the letter.

Step 5:  You can either make all of your cuts now or cut as you go, but you will need to cut at every corner of the letter so you can fold the fabric over.  You can decide how you want to do this, there really is no wrong way.  It's kind of like wrapping a present.  You can see more in the pictures below.

Step 6:  Start folding the fabric up around the edges.  I apply a little glue on the side first, fold the fabric up and press to adhere, then apply a little glue to the back and press. 

Step 7:  Some of your pieces will have overhangs,  you can cut these flush with the letter or, as I have done, fold them over and glue them down.  If you are using thicker fabric, cutting flush might be a good idea, otherwise folding doesn't add any bulk.

 

Step 8:  If you have inside corners, as in the inside coners of this E, or the inside of an A or a P (or if you have a curved letter), you might not have enough fabric to cover the side of the letter (if it is 3D, as mine is).  In this case, just cut a strip of your fabric and glue it to the inside before folding the edges of your main fabric over.  Don't worry about cutting the strip perfectly, you can trim it down after it is glued.

Step 9:  Once you have your fabric all cut and folded and glued, and your letter is covered, use a little bit of glue to finish any raw edges or any corners that don't lie totally flat or might unravel.  It's an extra step, but it really makes the letter look polished and complete.

Step 10:  Repeat steps 1-9 until all of you've covered all of your letters.  And don't worry if they aren't perfect!  That's the beauty of handmade things.  If you wanted them to be perfect you would have forked up $40 a letter at a store or in a magazine.  But not you, crafty lady (or lad), you went and made your own!  Good for you :)

These will be hung on the wall in my niece's bedroom.  My sister has plaster walls so we'll be using some 3M sticky hanging things (the letters are very lightweight, no worries about them falling).  It would be really easy to attach a hanging bracket to the back of each letter, or just line them up on a shelf.

Some other great ideas you might want to try:

• make patchwork panels instead of using a single piece of fabric.
• add embroidery to your fabric before gluing it down.
• use different sizes and styles of letters

I'm sure you guys can come up with your own brilliant ideas.  Hope this has been helpful. Let me know if you make some fabric covered letters so I can see!

 

The Bean Quilt

It is finally done.  After months and months of making thousads of tiny stitches, the Bean Quilt is complete!  This is probably the most beautiful quilt I have ever made, and I am so proud to be giving it to my little niece.

 

As soon as I found out that my sister was expecting her first child, I knew I wanted to make a tree quilt.  I don't really remember what started it all, but that was the plan from the start.  The tree itself was inspired by an oak tree that grew across the street from the Starbucks that Randy and I frequented in Austin, TX.  I took a picture of it with my cell phone on the afternoon that Randy passed his defense and became Dr. Randy, Ph.D.  I sketched the tree trunk and branches on swedish tracing paper and then used that as a template for the brown fabric. 

 

I made templates for three different sized leaves out of scrap cardboard and used it to trace and cut out leaf shapes on three different green fabrics and then some random pretty fabrics from my stash (the colors used were picked from a comforter that my sister had in her home.  My mom sent me paint chips that matched the colors in the bed spread).  I tried to keep the ratio at 50:50 green fabrics to colored fabrics because I didn't want it to become too overwhelming or cartoony.  I wanted it to be colorful but still look like a tree!

And then I appliqued it all down using the pin turning method.  The tree trunk was first.  Then I layed out all of the leaves and pinned them down once I liked the look of it, and then appliqued them one by one as well.  When all of that was done (it took a few months . . . really . . .) I cut away the backing fabric beneath the appliques so I ended up with one single layer of fabric. 

I added on the green patchwork border and then made my samwich and started quilting.  I stitched around the outside and inside of all of the leaves, and then stitched rib lines within the leaves so they have a little dimension.  For the tree trunk I stitched around the inside and outside and then added a wood grain pattern, free style.  For the rest of the blue background I stitched some freehand curvy lines and just blended them into the leafy area.  The whole thing was finished off with brown binding.

The back of the quilt is really nice because you can see the outline of the tree and leaves.  The back almost looks as pretty as the front.  The only thing that is missing is the tag I am making with my niece's name and date of birth.  I'm stitching it onto a piece of linen and I'll stitch it down in a back corner as soon as I am done.  The quilt is also unwashed.  I'm going to let my sister wash it in her special baby detergent.

And in case you are wondering, that little patch on the back is a gnome sitting on a toadstool.  I had to add him because I found a little tear in the backing fabric.  I didn't mind at all.  This quilt is meant to be loved and used and patched and frayed and fixed.  It will only add to its beauty and uniqueness.  Homemade quilts get even better with age.  I can't wait until The Bean is old enough to see all the fabrics, and point out the animals and flowers, and tell me which ones she likes best.  In the meantime, though, I'm SO glad to be done with it!

It's a Girl!

After the most hectic winter break I've ever had  I got to sit down and hold my newborn niece.  She was born January 4th, the day I interviewed and got my new job.  The day after I finished moving all of the boxes into our new super-cool, big and affordable loft apartment (did I mention we are the first people to ever live in this unit?  Bonus points).  I mean really, her timing was perfect.  I got to the hospital just in time to see my beautifuls sister for five minutes before they kicked me out of the room.  And then she was there!  And she has auburn colored hair and big almond shaped eyes and she is perfect.  Also, for the record, my sister and brother-in-law are at the top of my list of people who have accomplished amazing things and earned my full respect.  But maybe I'm a little biased.

The Bean came home to a whole lot of brightly colored onesies (she actually wears them all the time, I am so proud!) and a crib that the other babies will be jealous of.  Part of the reason for why the winter break was so hectic (aside from grading finals, packing, moving twice, and starting a new job) was that I was in a mad rush to finish up the crib bedding.  My sister bought this beautiful Echino fabric from Purl and sent it to me in Austin, and though it took me longer than I would have liked, I think it looks pretty darned cute.  What do you think?

  
 
The inside and outside part of the bumper are made of two different patterns found on the same fabric (each edge had a different border), and the binding is a matching green stripe Echino fabric.

 
The ties on the outsides were made from some leftover scraps I had, and they are all different colors.  I originally had the ties on the other side, but decided to switch them so the animals would be on the inside and the trees on the outside.

 
The skirt (Momma helped with the skirt!)  Is made of the green stripe fabric with a border of the middle part of the bumper fabric.  The border is simply basted on so that when it comes time to lower the crib mattress my sister can just remove the border and not have to cut the fabric or hem it or anything. 

So there you go.  I am now officially Auntie Lulu, and just as proud as I can be.  I'm sorry I've been away so long, but things are getting settled now so I'll be posting more often.  Especially now that I have to get busy making summer dresses for Bean!

And we were so sure she would be a boy!