"E" is for Embroidery that's Melted into a Valentine

Now this book has got some wild stuff in it!

Designer Machine Embroidery and Textile Decoration

Creating Accessories for Your Body and Sole

By

Elli Woodsford

Anyone with a basic sewing machine and lots of enthusiasm can create the stunning clothing and accessories shown in this book. Readers will develop their fabric decoration skills as they learn to create embellished fabrics that can be used to make beautiful clothing and accessories.

Covering a wide range of machine embroidery and textile decoration techniques, this book will show machine embroiderers and those with an interest in fashion and accessories how to apply exciting and innovative techniques to their work.

From coloring, painting, dyeing, and printing fabrics to a wide range of decorative stitching techniques, talented fabric artist and instructor Elli Woodsford shows how the simplest methods can be combined to create astonishing fabric surfaces. Each topic includes step-by-step illustrated instructions, as well as project ideas for making jackets, bags, shoes, hats, corsets, jewelry and more.

Elli Woodsford is a textile designer/maker and teaches machine embroidery and textile decoration. Her recent work is featured in a traveling exhibition at the Hayloft Gallery in Christchurch and at Wheelwrights in Abbotsbury, Dorset. The author resides in New Milton. Hampshire, UK.

I just had to try this painting, embroidering and melting of Kunin felt technique.

Click on image to enlarge to read the directions.

Here is what I did:

First I needed stamps to make my images, so I made them. How?

For one I used a Marvy Uchida large heart punch, a foam sheet and a plastic box lid. I punched the heart out. A note here, the punch has a bit of plastic at the top so I had to trim the foam sheet down so I could slide it in sideways. I then cut the zig zag down the center of the heart. Then glued it to the plastic lid with glue stick.

 

For the second stamp I used the Sizzix Big Shot Machine to die cut a small flower from the foam and glued the little flower onto the bottom of the plastic box.

 

I then went to town stamping with acrylic paint on the Kunin felt. I wanted to have a bunch to work with (and play with) same thing I guess!

Here's another shot of it so you can see the free motion embroidery. Instead of how Elli Woodsford in

Designer Machine Embroidery and Textile Decoration

Creating Accessories for Your Body and Sole

used the same color thread as the paint I went with a contrast thread.

 

Now onto the exciting melting part! I can not tell you how cool I think this is!

Following the directions from the book I melted the Kunin felt away:

 

I mounted my melted broken heart onto a card that I cut a window out of with the technique of two crossed colored staples I picked up doing Jen Mason's heart card last week at CHA.

 

I wanted to store my card in my altered book for now so to temporarily keep it in there I cut a slit down a page as tall as the card. I have a tiny cutting mat that fits easily into the book that works great for this.

 

I then needed to reinforce the page a bit so I used some decorative felt elements from Chatter Box. And there it will stay until the day it gets called into service.

So today's question is:

Have you melted anything and used it in a project, design or art?

Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a free book!

Comments

[Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor]

What a simple and very clever idea for making a rubber stamp! Thanks!

[Janet]

Melted some plastic wine glasses with ephemera inside in the oven. The plastic melted and built an enclosure around the ephemera. Would love to learn about other melting techniques.

[Wil]

I have not yet melted felt, but I have zapped tyvek, lutrador and cellophane more than once :-). I just love the effect it gives.

[BrendaLea]

I've never melted anything as of yet. But I have been holding onto some tyvek, and various plastics that I want to melt as well as come records that I want to break into pieces and melt and use in an art project.

Love the way you created your card!!!

[wendy m.]

Your project turned out great - love how the felt behaves!
I've melted Tyvek to make funky beads (rolled the paper into beads and then melted it), and I've used beeswax.

[Elizabeth]

I love torturing felt- actually distressing is a nicer term. you can also emboss with embossing powder and this will protect the felt from the melt!! Love the tutorial and this looks like a great book!!
Elizabeth

[stef]

ohhhhh what a great idea about embossing felt I will have to try that! Thanks Elizabeth!

[MonkeyGurrl]

Gorgeous card. The only things I've melted have been unintentional. And smelly.

[anne]

I have randomly stitched with nylonish thread, and melted it down to get cool puckers and textures in the fabric.I will try to apply heat to almost anything...

[Buy Pastry Shoes]

at first I thought that stitching and handicrafts are a monotonous task but now I'm starting to love it..