Using the Big Shot for Felt

Good Monday Morning!  Welcome to the Klompen Stampers Blog Tour!  If you are coming from the previous blog, Sheryl Dreyer's, that means you are going in the right direction.  I'm blog number 3 out of 11 so don't forget to click on the icon at the end of today's post to continue on to the next blog, Yvonne Newborn's.  Sorry! Link doesn't work on the icon....just click on her name at the bottom.

For today's project, I decided to try something I've never done before.  Maybe not the smartest thing to do when so many people will be stopping in that have never read me before, but, I threw caution to the wind and let the scrap fall where it landed.

Lately, I've seen really cute projects online that involve the Big Shot, fabric, and a sewing machine.  Some really talented ladies have made totes and purses and pillows and wedding dresses using our Stampin Up Dies.

And, since I have my own cute mini Janome sewing machine, I decided to try my hand at it.

I bought some Felt at a craft store and used a little photo album I've saved for a project such as this:

I knew I'd be making the covered album for my youngest's birthday so I picked bright colors that he'd appreciate.

I pulled my little sewing machine down from its high shelf and spent a few minutes admiring it.  It is so cute and always does quite well sewing through one or two layers of cardstock:

I measured the photo album and cut the felt wide enough to accomodate it in its closed position.  I was quite proud of myself for remembering to make that allowance.  I cut more felt because I knew I was going to make pockets on the ends for the album covers to slip into.  I double checked my measurements and did everything s-l-o-w-l-y because I tend, in my excitement over a fresh idea, to rush things and make mistakes.

I plugged in my cute little Janome, slid the the felt under the foot, and promptly learned you CAN NOT sew felt with the mini Janome.  It can't grab the fabric in order to push it forward.  Not believing my initial results, I tried it again and found it to be the same. 

But maybe it was just me.  Have I told you before that I am not a seamstress?  I can not sew to save my life.  If I had been Eve,  in the garden of Eden, who, after she ate the forbidden fruit and realized she was naked and needed fig leaves sewn together to cover herself, I would still be naked and ashamed.  I would have had to ask Adam to just duct tape it all together or get out his hot glue gun.  Or stapler.

Which was what I figured I'd do.  I could staple the felt together!  I reasoned that my son would not be washing this album or wearing it so what was wrong with using the stapler?? 

I remembered to staple it inside out so I could hide the staples.

There was a little piece of the middle that stuck up so I just grabbed my Stampin Up Sticky Tape and taped it down:

The next step, after turning the album cover right side out and admiring my beautiful handiwork was to pick out which dies I had that would look great on a cover for a soon to be 7 year old. 

I have the Beautiful Butterflies die, the Scallop Circle die, the Top Note, the Scalloped Envelope, and the Stars die.  I chose the stars even though any of those would work. 

Seriously, even though I am not a sewer, running that felt through the Big Shot with the die was easy and amazing!  The die cut the felt beautifully!

I decided to push the limits and see if a sizzlet die could cut felt--and it could!  Those are smaller and thinner dies but still did a fine job.  I have the cupcake sizzlets which I added to the front of the album also. 

Adhering the felt stars and cupcake to the cover was my last step.

I logged onto a craft website that showed me how to do a blanket stitch around felt shapes with embroidery floss.  Which I attempted but gave up after it took me 2 hours to just sew the cupcake on.  I glued on the stars with Stampin Up's Tombow multi purpose glue.  They stayed on just fine after it all dried.

For a little extra sparkle, I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin Up's very fine glitter) over the whole thing. 

While it's not a prize winner I'm sure, I actually enjoyed making this project and can't wait to give it to my son.  And it the mean time, I've got a lot of years till my daughter marries which gives me time to practice with my Big Shot and my cute little Janome for her wedding dress. 

http://ssc-yvonne.blogspot.com/