Of course, I can’t leave my camera at home and so I’ve got dozens of photos of lovely plants to use as inspiration.  I find that the “macro” image is the one that interests me the most, so I rarely seem to end up with the whole flower or plant in the frame.

One game I like to play is imagining how I would interpret the photo in fabric, mixed media and fiber.  In fact, I’d like to go through with you and share some of my thoughts on how I’d create a fiber art piece.

Take a look and see how you’d interpret the same image – and please leave a comment if you’d like to share

I love the heavily mottled leaves of these plants – I’d make this one out of hand-dyed fabric and then machine embroider the veins on.  Hand-painting the fabric could be a great challenge too – how about dripping a fluid fabric paint like Dy-Na-Flo to reproduce some of the splotches and mottled colors?

This shot is actually from underneath the plant, with the sun shining from above.  I’d like to try making this one from a single piece of green fabric, but then heavily machine-embroidering all the veins and ribs of the plant on.  As an alternative, I might try using a dry brush method of fabric painting (thicker paint, used sparingly with a dry brush) get the shading and the thicker ribs.

I’ll share more photos and techniques tomorrow!

images: © C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

Interpreting Natural Textures in Fabric

My woven heart bag is a great project for kids – younger ones may need a little extra help though   I’d recommend using felt or another non-fray fabric instead of the fused cotton I used during the tutorial.

image: © C Findlay-Harder

Family Fun has a free pattern for a cute little hand-sewn heart tote.  It’s made from stiff felt (available in sheets from most craft stores) – and perfect for tucking something yummy into.

image: Family Fun

Red roses are traditional for Valentine’s day.  Kaboose recommends using foam sheets to make these easy chenille-stem roses, but felt should work as well:

image: Kaboose

Amazing Moms has come up with this cute little heart pouch necklace.  They’re small enough that your child can make them as gifts as well:

image: Amazing Moms

Happy crafting!

Post from: Blisstree

Free Valentine’s Day crafts for kids

The tutorial calls for flat, un-gathered lace, but I’d love to try it out using sheer organza ribbon or even scalloped ribbon.  Ooh… what about using variegated ribbon?  Too many ideas, not enough time

image: Martha Stewart

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Make your own “Blossoming Brooch”

I’ve been making these woven heart bags since I was child and wanted to share them.  They’re a fun way to package up little gifts and trinkets – and of course, if you change the colors, it will work for any season.  To see the whole tutorial, just click on the photo

image: © C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

tutorial of the day: woven heart bag for Valentine’s Day

Sharon has created a three-part video tutorial on how to create the perfect bound edge.  Learning how to create neat, accurate bindings can be a tricky process (talk about trial and error!) but Sharon’s method takes a lot of guess work out of the process.

Bindings aren’t just for quilters – they’re a great way to finish off all kinds of fabric projects!

Post from: Blisstree

perfect bindings for quilts, wallhangings and more

It’s the time of year again when I browse through my archives from the past year and pick out my favorite posts – as well as your favorite posts!

The all-time reader favorite post from this year has to be the free pattern to sew your own snuggie. This post has got to be one of the most popular ones I’ve ever written!

My ribbon roses tutorial is another top reader favorite – month after month, people still enjoy it… even though I wrote it in 2007!

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite posts from 2008:

• I’ve gotten a few requests for a basic, round yo-yo tutorial, and no – you don’t need any fancy gadgets to make them!
• I rescued this tutorial from a previous computer – it’s an older one, but I love to make fiber fusion and definitely wanted to share the technique with you all
• Make your own hand-fringed scarf with this tutorial – it’s really quite easy!
• Launching two new blogs this year was definitely exciting, here’s my announcement for The Doggy Blog.
• Figuring out how to make my cutting table work better for me was very useful discovery – I only wish it hadn’t taken me so long…
• Here are a few tips to make mending blue jeans a little easier.
• This is one of my favorite ways to make marking button holes an easier task.

Do you have a favorite Tangled Thread post from 2008?  Share it in the comments!

image: C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

Tangled Thread – Favorite posts of 2008

This year, I’m using felt and Bettsi McCombs’ lovely “Folk Bird” pattern to make my ornaments.   I sewed three sequins onto each wing (using my free tutorial from last week) and sewed each seam using blanket stitch.  The eyes are the same beads I used to sew the sequins on.

In one evening I sewed the complete ornament – I think I may make more now!

image: © C Findlay-Harder 

Post from: Blisstree

how-to of the day – sewing sequins onto Christmas ornaments – the finished ornament

Yes, yo-yos are fun and easy and no, you don’t need any fancy plastic tools to make them

Am I obsessed with yo-yos?  Oh yes…

I’ve got the complete tutorial here, or just click on the photo

image: © C Findlay-Harder

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how-to of the day: round yo-yo circles

As always, these are my own original patterns & designs and are not to be copied or reposted elsewhere without my permission.

Here are two more fun embroidered patterns – the first is a machine-embroidered gift card holder.  It’s a great way to play around with different stitches on your sewing machine, and make a cute Christmas gift for someone special!

 This one is for my hand-embroidery fans!  It’s a crazy quilt Christmas card that I created using little pieces of fabric, lace, ribbon, buttons and even a yo-yo.  It’s all finished with blanket and straight stitches, but you can get as fancy as you’d like with it!

 all images: © C Findlay-Harder

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More embroidered Christmas craft how-tos

I love making Christmas ornaments, and I ended up creating quite a few original Christmas ornament patterns last year.

Here are some of my favorite Christmas ornament tutorials and how-tos from last year.  As always, these are my own original patterns and are not to be copied or reposted elsewhere without my permission.

Dog paw-print ornament (part one and part two):

 Machine-embroidered Christmas tree ornament:

 Russian punch-needle or Igolochkoy ornament (part one, part two and part three):

 Yo-yo Christmas tree ornament:

 Happy Christmas crafting!

all images: © C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

Favorite Christmas tree ornament tutorials, free patterns & ideas