rubber stamps and embroidery?

Did you know that the rubber stamp & scrapbooking aisles at your local craft store can hold all sorts of treasures for embroidery & fiber people?

I’m making a memory box and wanted to have a ribbon wrapped around it.  I’ve got some luscious chocolate-brown dupioni silk that’s the perfect color.  But, it’s a little plain still…

I then found some great butterfly rubber stamps

By the way, I find that foam stamps, rather than the harder rubber ones, work the best on fabric.  The lines are simpler & you usually get a clearer impression.

I started off by cutting a rough rectangle of fabric approximately 6 inches high and 24 inches long (or long enough to wrap around your project)

Fuse a heavyweight interfacing to the wrong side:

These are the stamps I’m using:

I’m using opaque acrylic craft paint for this project.  If I were planning on washing the embroidery I would use a good quality fabric paint (or mix a fabric paint medium into the acrylic paint)  But, because this is going on a box and not being washed, I’m using regular craft paint.  If you are using a dark colored fabric, make sure your paint is marked “opaque” – it won’t show up if you use translucent paint on dark fabric!

I’ve squirted a dab of paint out onto a plastic surface and am dabbing it onto the stamp, using a brush.  Foam brushes also work well for this.  Make sure to use an even coat and work quickly, you don’t want the paint to start drying on the stamp!

Now the fun part!

Start stamping   Press the painted stamp down onto the fabric and gently press down evenly across the entire back of the stamp.  Don’t move it around or else you can get smeared lines.  Put fresh paint on everytime you stamp.  Wash the paintbrush & stamp off between color changes and when you finish stamping.

If you’re concerned about being really accurate, use a quilting ruler to mark off where the stamps should go.  I just stamped free-hand for this project.  I like the contrast with using different colors & different stamps – but play around & have fun!

Let the stamps dry thoroughly overnight.  Tomorrow we embroider!