This little lovely arrived in my mailbox for Valentine's Day,
and as soon as I opened it, I knew I had to share it with you all.
My aunt Marla made it.
A fabric valentine.
Sewn with love.
I ♥ it.
Here's the front:
Craftiness is in the genes, y'all.
I love the wording:
Let your heart guide you.
It whispers,
so listen closely.
Of course, I probed my aunt for more info, so I could pass it on to you. Here's what she had to say:
“Simple instructions. Choose your design—these just use a heart shape, obviously. . . but you could do a butterfly, a leaf, a flower, whatever.
Draw it out on white fabric (or any plain color) with disappearing fabric pen, or one that washes out with water.
Using fusible batting (there are different sizes in the packages; the smaller pieces are thinner and work for small projects), press the inked piece on one side of the batting, a print or solid on the back. Stitch the design in thread that matches the fabric (white on white, etc.) I did the hearts in a long strip, 6 per run. . . stitching in a clockwise direction works best on my sewing machine, I found! Work from the outside in—along the 3 sides, then back and forth while doing the 4th side. (Wondering if there's a pen so I can draw this on the email! I think you get what I'm talking about. . .) Then throw everything into the wash—takes out the pen marks, fluffs the batting. Iron the wrinkles out and cut apart.
(No, I don't actually use it as a mug rug. I'm too afraid of spilling coffee on it.
But it is the perfect size. And I love that swirly print!)
“First layer of acrylic paint just on the cut out design. After that dries, more acrylic swirled together (the joy of acrylic paint is that it doesn't blend immediately) and fancy the thing up. Words were written on with a fine point Sharpie.
“That's it. I do it on a much grander scale for my big projects such as this one. . . two geckos. That piece is about 2.5x4 feet. Any other questions, feel free to ask!”
Aren't those geckos amazing?
Wow.
I'm so thankful for my crafty genes.
If you have any questions about the process, feel free to leave them in the comment section or email me and I'll pass them on to Marla.
Happy weekend!
