Well, hello there!
Today I am thrilled to introduce our new Contributor: Gemia from Phat Quarters!
Gemia is a very talented woman and you can find amazing tutorials and reviews on her blog.
Do not forget to check one of her great posts:
Hi, I am Gemia from Phat Quarters and I am so excited to be finishing off my year with a visit to On the Cutting Floor! I hope you all are ready for a super simple, yet stunning project that you can use year after year, because that is exactly what you are going to get as you follow along with me today. We are going to create a Fabric Countdown Chain, just in time to tick away the last few hours of 2014. So let's begin by gathering up our supplies.
SUPPLIES
15" x WOF Main Fabric (I am using Metallic Confetti from Michael Miller Fabrics Glitz line)
1/2 Yard of Lightweight Fusible Interfacing
12 Pearled Snaps
a Sheet of Heat'n'Bond
Coordinating Fabric - for your numbers
**7 Yards of Pom Fringe (this is optional but looks amazing!)
The first thing we are going to do is cut out the numbers that we will adhere to the fabric chain pieces. I am doing this with the Silhouette Cameo using the same technique I used in this tutorial here. You simply adhere the coordinating fabric to the Heat'n'Bond and then use your Cameo (or scissors) to cut your desired numbers. Then peel them off your cutting mat and remove the paper backing. Now set the numbers aside until later
15" x WOF Main Fabric (I am using Metallic Confetti from Michael Miller Fabrics Glitz line)
1/2 Yard of Lightweight Fusible Interfacing
12 Pearled Snaps
a Sheet of Heat'n'Bond
Coordinating Fabric - for your numbers
**7 Yards of Pom Fringe (this is optional but looks amazing!)
The first thing we are going to do is cut out the numbers that we will adhere to the fabric chain pieces. I am doing this with the Silhouette Cameo using the same technique I used in this tutorial here. You simply adhere the coordinating fabric to the Heat'n'Bond and then use your Cameo (or scissors) to cut your desired numbers. Then peel them off your cutting mat and remove the paper backing. Now set the numbers aside until later
Next we are going to cut the Fabric Chain pieces. I am going to make a chain that contains 12 separate pieces but you can make as few or many as you want. To simplify this tutorial I am going to show you the process I took using one strip. I would suggest, however, that you work in a production line format and complete each step for all your chain pieces at once so to save yourself time. To start take you main fabric and cut a 5" x 10" strip. Repeat this same process with the interfacing but reduce your measurement to 2" x 8.5"
Now take your fabric strip and press it RST (right-sides together) to create a 2.5" x 10" strip.
Place the fusible interfacing onto the wrong side of the folded fabric strip and press with a hot iron to adhere. Now you need to grab a number that you created earlier and adhere it to the right-side of the fabric chain. To do this simply place the number in the center of the chain and using a hot iron, press the number to the fabric. If you have a large ruler you can use this to speed up your process and have a more unified placement of your numbers. Complete the chain piece by folding it RST and starting at the bottom of the long raw edge (leaving one short side open) stitch up the long side and across the top short side, starting and finishing your stitches. Now you can turn your fabric chain piece right-side out and press it. Then using the iron press the raw edges of the open side in about a 1/2" on both sides and top stitch all sides of your the chain. Once the chain piece was completed I decided that I wanted it to have a bit more pop to it. So I found this great aqua Mini Pom Fringe that matched my coordinating fabric and decided to add it to the long edges of each chain piece. However, I must now say that mini pom fringe is not for the faint of heart. I used my narrow foot and slowly attached the fringe with a top stitch. Now we are going to finish the chain piece by adding a snap. I am used a pearl snap because that is what I had on hand and it fits the feel of my chain. But you could use a plastic snap, velcro, or even a button if you wanted to. It's totally up to you. Once you have all your chains completed your just interlock them and the close the snap. |
Now comes the fun part...using it to countdown the last few hours of 2014. We have a small activity planed for every hour -IF- my kids can manage to stay awake. We also plan to attach our Fabric Countdown Chain to a bunch of helium balloons and as each hour passes we get to pop one balloon until we get to the last balloon that will be filled with a bunch of confetti and candies.
We had fun practicing and I hope you had fun following along with me today. Come follow me on my blog Phat Quarters and on Facebook so we can keep in touch.
Thanks Gemia for this awesome project!!!
New Years is one of my favorite celebrations, so I am making the countdown chain to have some fun with Owen :)
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