Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Making Your Own Fabric Labels

Fabric labels are a great addition to clothing, accessories, or even a fabric-based art piece. I always think a label makes something look just a little more professional and special. I've never tried labeling my items, however, so I am excited to try out this week's tutorials!

Thank you to Bekah, aka Beetastic, for the idea for this week's post, and the link to the first tutorial!

Making Labels Using Twill Tape and Iron-On Transfers : With this method, you print the text onto the iron-on transfers (which you can purchase at stores like Wal-Mart or Michael's), apply the transfer to ribbon or twill tape, and then apply the tape or ribbon to the item that you want to label.

Video: Using Freezer Paper and Normal Computer Paper : With this method, you use your ink jet printer to print the text directly onto the fabric, then cut the fabric and apply it to the item you want to label. This method is going to be cheaper, but has more room for error since not all ink jet printer ink is going to be permanent even when heat set.

Making Labels for Clothing Using Your Printer: This method discusses pre-treating your fabric to make it "take" the ink more easily.

If you have a typewriter, try these Typed Labels. This method is quick, easy, and has a cool retro feel to it. These make me want a typewriter!

Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Huck or Swedish Embroidery

One of my favorite retro embroidery styles is Swedish embroidery, often referred to as huck embroidery since it often uses huck toweling. (Monk's cloth is another popular base for this style, especially when creating hand embroidered afghans.) It is also referred to as Swedish weaving since it alternates the threads of the embroidery floss with the threads of the toweling.

Coats and Clark offers a free PDF on their website that includes patterns for Swedish embroidery. Check it out here.

This popular booklet by Coats and Clark has been reprinted several times (I own one and I love the patterns). It features Swedish weaving along with other types of needlework.

Avery Hill also provides free instructions. These appear to be vintage, but the age isn't indicated.

One word of warning... I've heard people say that they have trouble finding the huck toweling or monk's cloth needed for these projects. My local Jo-Ann Fabrics sells it, but you may have to look online!

Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Mounting Your Work

I spent this weekend visiting Houston, TX for my cousin's wedding, so today's post is going to be short and sweet as I continue to play catch-up! (It's amazing what being gone for three days will do to your schedule.)

Today's featured tutorial is by our team captain, Gretchen aka JuneAtNoon.

Gretchen has an excellent tutorial on her blog about mounting an embroidered fabric piece using the lacing method:

http://www.juneatnoon.com/2009/10/lacing-an-embroidery/

Definitely worth a look, if for no other reason than her pictures are great!

Needle N' Thread also has a tutorial about lacing and framing an finished piece:

http://www.needlenthread.com/2007/12/finish-work-how-to-frame-piece-of.html

Polka and Bloom (who sells lovely embroidery patterns, by the way) has a tutorial about how to frame embroidery using a hoop, which is very popular on Etsy:

http://blog.polkaandbloom.com/2010/06/embroidery-hoop-framing-tutorial.html

That's all for this week! Happy stitching!

Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Stitching on Dark Fabrics

Today I'm going to share a few different tutorials for hand stitching on dark fabrics.

Pillow by Melysbaby

My tutorial, written last August. I wrote a tutorial while working on a large pr

oject that involved lots of stitching on black fabric. I still haven't tried Jenny Hart's transfer paper, but I am actually planning to buy some soon. Sullivan's stopped making their version and I can't find any more closeout packages!

Jenny Hart also recently posted a tutorial about stitching on dark fabrics. Her technique is the same as mine, but her pictures are much better... MUCH.

Bookmark by GwynandAvaQuilted

I found this tutorial by Pin Tangle that talks about a product called "Transdoodle", but the only places I found Transdoodle online were out of stock or very pricey. I'd be interested to hear if any "NEATers" have tried Transdoodle.

This tutorial by Kristy doesn't use transfer paper. Instead, she transfers the design to a water soluble plastic (basically water soluble stabilizer-- it's the same stuff) and stitches through the stabilizer and the fabric.

What have you stitched on dark fabrics?

Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Needle Felting

Every Tuesday, Katie Moore of MutantAngel will bring you Tips and Tricks related to the Needle Arts and Etsy.

Needle felting seems a little bit like magic, doesn't it? A ball of what looks like useless fluff somehow turns into a tiny bird or a beautiful piece of jewelry. I've seen needle felting demonstrations at the North Carolina State Fair, and even tried the art for a few minutes, but it still amazes me. I decided to do some research to see how it's done.

Needle felting is unlike other types of felting because you don't need soap and water. You use a special type of needle with a barb on the end and repeatedly push it in and out of a piece of wool roving. It sounds simple, but the trick is shaping the wool into something other than a weird little knot. The use of templates or wire "skeletons" helps crafters create unique shapes and creatures.

(What is "wool roving", you ask? My layman's understanding is that it is basically cleaned wool that has been threshed and/or dyed. Basically, wool that's not straight-off-the-sheep, but not made into anything yet either.)

Several places mention to be VERY CAREFUL with felting needles... Apparently they are much longer than normal needles and since you're quickly jabbing them in an up-and-down motion one can easily injure a finger! This is not a craft for unsupervised children.

The SilverPenny outlines the basics on its website, including videos and step-by-step instructions.

Craftster has an excellent tutorial with lots of pictures.

Nicole Hindes tutorial is easy to read and follow.

Make a Needle Felted GNOME -- I'll admit I'm not "into" gnomes, but this is just too cute and actually seems do-able.

Etsy seller FancyTiger sells several tutorials for needle felted pieces -- The "T-Bone" is my favorite.

If you're like me and love the look of needle felted pieces but are already "taken" by another type of Needle Art, why not purchase a needle felted piece from one of out EtsyNEAT artists, WoolyfeltCreations?