Click the image for the complete tutorial:

Fiber fusion is a great way to use up little scraps of yarn, thread trimmings – or even scraps of fabric left over from fussy-cutting motifs.  You can make fiber art, wall hangings – even clothing or jewelry with it!

image: © C Findlay-Harder

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how-to of the day: fiber fusion with fabric, yarn and silk – how yummy!

Now that the fringe is all tied, we need to trim it so that the ends are nice and even.  I prefer to drape the scarf over a surface like a door and trim the fringe free-hand.  Now if you’d prefer to not do that, you can lay the fringe flat onto a cutting mat and use a rotary cutter & ruler to make sure it’s even.

I have to admit that I don’t get too fussy about the ends being perfectly even – but you can be as accurate as you’d like

Here’s the finished scarf, with me wearing it – in my somewhat dirty bathroom mirror LOL:

image: © C Findlay-Harder

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how-to of the day: making a fringed fabric scarf – part three

I’m showing you the quick ‘n dirty way to create a fringe – I’ll explain a second method at the end of the post

To begin, you need to figure out how long you want your fringe to be.  I’m going with a big, long one, so I’m wrapping my yarn around the long side of a standard shoe box lid.  You could use a book, a piece of sturdy cardboard… Just combine the yarn you want to use and start wrapping away.

How many times you ask?  Well… the short answer is – it depends!

Each full wrap (all the way around the lid, once) makes one hank of fringe.  You could measure and figure out how many fringes you want per inch or you could do what I’m doing and just wrap until it looks good

Here’s where I decided to stop wrapping:

 Now you need to cut one end of the yarn wrap – very slowly and carefully, making sure to hold onto the strands.  They’ll spring out and land everywhere otherwise!

I love how the cut yarn looks on the fabric already:

 Now we need to get our yarn attached to our scarf (which has been finished off with a simple rolled hem on all four edges).

Using very sharp scissors, poke a small hole in the very edge of the scarf – just big enough to squeeze your crochet hook into:

 Now take one hank of yarn (I’m using a blend of five yarns, so one strand of each color equals one hank for me) and fold it in half.  Place the folded end on the crochet hook, like this:

 Gently pull it through the fabric and use the crochet hook to grab the loose ends of the yarn:

 Now pull the loose ends of the yarn through the loop and pull gently to close the loop.  It should look like this:

 Don’t pull it too tightly, or you’ll deform the bottom edge of the shawl.

I’ve decided to add an extra knot for a little extra security.  It’s just a simple knot, but you could add beads or charms to it as well:

Now keep on fringing!  It took me under an hour to tie the fringe on the top and bottom of my 15″ wide scarf.

If you want to be a little more organized and neater when you’re making your fringe, cut a piece of cardboard – as wide as you want your fringe.  Cut little notches into the top and bottom of the cardboard – approximately every 1/4″.  Wrap your yarn onto the cardboard, catching the yarn in the notches.  It will make it easier to keep everything from springing everywhere after you cut the yarn.

I’ll share the finished scarf with you tomorrow

all images: © C Findlay-Harder

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how-to of the day: making a fringed fabric scarf – part two

 I bought it as a “mixed fiber” bolt end – it’s only about 14 inches wide and 44 inches long.  It feels like a rayon or acetate blend and I love the flowers and burnout detailing.

It’s one of those little pieces of fabric that tends to accumulate in stashes – I bought it because it was pretty, not because I had a plan for it – oops!   It’s too small for a tank top or camisole and too lightweight for a purse.

I think it would make a pretty scarf – but it’s a just a little short for my taste.  I think a fringe would finish off the ends nicely – but I don’t really want to have to go out and buy a pre-made fringe.

What’s a fiber-aholic to do?

Go diving for yarn of course

I pulled these out of my stash and quite like the effect. They pull out the accent colors from the fabric, but I don’t think they’ll overwhelm the delicate print and fabric.

I’ll show the next step tomorrow

images: C Findlay-Harder

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how-to of the day: making a fringed scarf

I’ve dyed quite a bit of fabric over the years, but I’ve never attempted to dye my own floss. This video from Melanie Testa makes it look quite do-able:

Ah, one more project to add to my list

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video of the day – dyeing your own embroidery floss

My name is Kelly Saunders and I write with my best friend, Karen, over at Thrifty Mommy. Our goals are to save you time and money in your everyday lives. Recently, I have begun a quilt. It was the biggest mistake I could have ever done because it is very addictive. I love to sit down and relax with my handwork. But I hated it when my thread would get tangled up and I would get so frustrated.

Then a co-worker told me about Thread Heaven. You guys might already know about it but it is a wonderful tool. It is just a simple little box of wax that you press your thread into and it keeps your thread from breaking and tangling. It has been a God Send for me. Hope this helps your sewing. It sure has helped my quilting.

image: Stock.xchg

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Thread Heaven for peaceful sewing

Good – let’s get sewing

To begin, we need to interface the back of the fabric with a heavy-weight interfacing.  I find it’s easiest to cut a square of fabric out with the motif in the center, rather than trying to fussy cut the fabric.

 Interface the backing fabric:

 Now fuse a lightweight fusible webbing (I’m using Heat N Bond Lite for this) onto the wrong side of the backing fabric, according to the webbing package directions.  Fuse the backing fabric and the front fabric motif together.

Let cool and then cut out the motif:

 We need to finish the edges, so I’m using a satin stitch (a tightly-packed zig-zag) around the edges.  I’d recommend doing some test stitches first, just to make sure you’ve got the right stitch width and density:

 Here’s the butterfly with the satin stitch all completed around the edges & accent lines around the inner wings:

 But I don’t think it’s quite done – I think a little more stitching would be good…

 I’ve used a hot pink metallic thread (remember to go much slower than normal when you’re working with metallics) to stitch over some of the accent lines on the wing.

Hand-stitch a safety pin or brooch back to the wrong side of the pin.  Gently bend the wings to add some dimension (you can also use fabric stiffener, but I don’t think this one really needs it).

Wear and enjoy!

all images: C Findlay-Harder

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how-to of the day – 3-D pins or brooches from fabric motifs

Despite my best efforts to keep everything tidied away – I don’t… I’m a very visual person and love to see how fabrics look next to each other, what happens if you put that trim or lace on them. That just seems to mean that my fabric spends a lot of time hanging around, looking pretty

This video has some great ideas for keeping your studio or sewing room organized and neat – now I just need the time to reorganize everything…

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organzing your sewing room

Is that not a luscious photo?  Those are some of the colors that The Silk Tree in British Columbia carries.   You can also buy it at The Silk Weaving Studio if you’re going to be in Granville Island (Vancouver) BC.

They do mail orders in Canada & the USA… I’m sorry – I’m such a bad influence

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silk floss

There are Finca Perle Cotton in solids & variegated.   El Molino rayon floss & La Paleta machine embroidery rayon thread.

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yummy threads on sale