Fabric Garlard Tutorial

I was asked to create a display around a piece in my thesis fashion line in the building where my apparel classes are held. I wanted to create a Spring Party Atmosphere so I created a sketch of what I was hoping to achieve:

I was hoping for a garland of some sort and large tissue paper "puff ball" flowers to create a lovely springtime feeling. This is how it turned out! Making the garland and the "puffs" was super fun - although transporting them in the rain was not such a fun thing... :D

Today I want to teach you how to make your own "fabric scrap" garland:

Materials:

• Scrap/Leftover Fabric (Focal Fabric)


• Other Leftover/Scrap Fabric (Complementary Fabric) This can be tulle, lace, sheer fabrics, or anything else you desire in your garland.


• Ribbon The length is your choice, depending on how long you want you end product to be.


• Fray Check


• Complementary Thread


• Scissors


• Pins


• Safety Pin

I found this to be the most fun part. Take your miscellaneous fabric scraps and work them into desirable shapes. Triangles and rectangles were the easiest to work with for me, as all of my scraps seemed to be large triangles or squares.

Pin the sides of all of your garland pieces in order to prepare them to run through the sewing machine. I pinned on all 4 sides, if there was one side that had a fold, I left 1/4" beneath that to create a space for the ribbon to go through. If there was no fold I sewed a channel along what I wanted to be the top of the garland piece.

The fabric pieces were the easiest to run through the machine, as I didn't have to be very delicate with them. Most of my fabric pieces also were created on a fold and I didn't have to sew along the top and then 1/4" down to create space for the ribbon to be strung through.

Sewing through tulle and lighter weight fabrics was a bit difficult. My best advice: GO SLOW!

Here are all of my fabulous garland pieces of all shapes and sizes. I loved adding the lace and tulle because of the texture it gave to the final product.

I used this Fray Check to prep the ends of the ribbon before I strung the flags, in order to keep the ribbon from shredding.

After the fray check dried I place the safety pin on the end of the ribbon and began to string the flag onto the ribbon in no particular order. At the end of the ribbons I used extra scrap fabric to knot around the ends in order to keep the flags the slipping off. I also through that fabric knots could aid in holding the flags in place if you were having a problem with them all pooling at the lowest point.

Here is my finished display again with a fabulous fabric garland!

This was such a great way to use those little fabric scraps that I just didn't seem to have the heart to part with... Don't kid yourself - you know you have some of those too!

A side view - not a very deep case, but still a fun space to work with.

The hallway has pretty terrible lighting, so it was quite difficult to get a picture that didn't have strange reflections of lights and an exit sign...

Bet you'll never guess what the next tutorial is going to be! :D

Here's to a great week!

Crazy Week

It's only Wednesday night and I feel like I am going to drop.

Here is the much anticipated photo of my new recycling center:

It is working very well. I have labeled which items can go into each little bag. When I want to take the recycling to the center I just unvelcro them and pick them up by their handy little handles! Then it's off to one of my most favorite places... THE RECYCLING CENTER! I just love going there. The highlight of my trip is most def. when people leave all of their colored wine bottles around the glass bin. I just LOVE blue wine bottles! I even have people who send me with a list of what type of bottles they would like. I only wish it wasn't a dumpster full of glass, I would certainly jump in if I wasn't afraid of being cut to bits.

Today in my computer class we learned how to open the Paint program... This may be one of the longest summers ever!

3-D art brought along the birth of my wallaby sculpture... There will most def. be pictures of my progress tomorrow evening. I am so proud... Currently he stands about 3 ft high and is about 3
.5 feet long... I have no idea what I'll do with it once it's finished... ha ha!

Today it was 87*... with a great breeze. I love warmth!

I went to dinner with a girl who has slowly turned into one of my very best friends. It was just lovely, we went to Bravo's and the food was amazing. So excited for those leftovers in my lunch tomorrow!

My boyfriend is off to Vegas for Memorial Weekend... I am off to the cottage on Friday for a loonng weekend of sleep. Yay!

Hope everyone had a great day!

First Day of Summer Clases!

Today at 8 am I started my summer classes! A 2 hour computer class followed shortly after by a 3 hours 3D art class.

Catching up to fulfill the requirements for my second major is going to make it one long summer! It's just going to be so hard having to be inside when it is so beautiful outside...

Was locked out today so took time to catch up with a friend. Sometimes I need to remind myself that it's ok to just sit around and enjoy the outdoors. I watched a pair of robins gather food for their babies and soaked in the sun.

I set up new recycle bins today... pictures will be coming up shortly. I detailed what could go in each bin with colorful note cards, hopefully this will get through to roommates and boyfriends!

This weekend was spent with my family at the Yoder auction in Clare County. It is a quilt auction, where quilts made by Amish from all over the country are auctioned off. There are also about a million rows of flea market and crafting finds. I had such a great time searching for treasure despite the wind and the rain! Photos of my finds will be posted tomorrow!

Here is my most recent Etsy listing, Enjoy! Hope you had a great Monday!