... just Laura

slice - fabric cutting

i get asked a lot about cutting fabric with the making memories slice. they recently came out with the slice fabrique, which is geared towards quilters. but you'll be glad to know, that you can cut fabric using your original slice or your slice elite.

 

here's another look at some fun fabric flowers i made last year, using my slice and the spring has sprung design card.

 

if you take a minute to watch THIS VIDEO, it will show you just how easy it is to slice fabric.

 

having the right accessories makes cutting fabric much easier.

 

you'll need some fusible webbing to start out with. you iron it onto the back of your fabric, so that it stiffins up the fabric for slicing. once you slice your shape, you can peel off that fusible webbing and then iron your shape onto your project. or use it as is, which is what i did for the flowers above.

 

the hands free kit is a must, in my opinion. it's not only because of the fact that you don't have to hold the slice in place while it's doing the cutting. it's more due to the fact, that you just get more accurate cuts all around. and with fabric, it just really gives that extra hold that you need to keep the fabric from sliding around on the mat.

with that, you'll also want to be sure you have a nice, sharp blade to work with. the blade will dull a bit faster, when you're working with fabric. and have a good amount of the spray adhesive on your mat as well, since the fabric and fusible webbing are more textured than your normal paper or cardstock, and need to really stick down in place.

if you havn't tried using fabric with your slice yet, think about giving it a try. it's another really fun way to add a cool touch to your projects!

making memories slice fabrique (part 3)

how about i share the last of my slice fabrique projects with you today? i think this next one was my favorite out of all my projects. 

 

it's an art box, and i think it's just adorable! when i saw the little monster girl on one of the four new slice fabrique design cards, i just knew i had to use it on something.

 

i kept telling wendy that i was so jealous that she was working with baby clothes for the majority of her projects. they could all be sewn onto. meanwhile, i had frames, wooden boxes, and hair accesories to make. most of which could not be sewn directly onto, so i had to do some creative thinking too. i was also painting, decopauging, and using papers and ribbons. so it was sort of a mix of fabric and scrapbooking.

 

but this art box was fun to make. how could this adorable monster girl NOT be fun to work with ;) she was created with seven different cuts on the slice, and then all pieced together.

 

i also sliced the letters for "ART", and hand stitched them all before adhering them down.

 

and last, but not least, another favorite. a vase of flowers. i choose one of the flower designs, and cut that design from about 12 different fabrics. numerous times. i believe i ended up using 24 flowers total, for these 3 flowers.

 

each of the flowers had 8 seperate fabric flowers, all put together. each flower was machine stitched, thanks to my mom. i fused two flowers back to back for the center part of the flower. then i bunched up 3 flowers and stitched them together, adding a button to the centers. to put them together, i hot glued the center, and 2 bunches of flowers all together. the stems were made by twisting a pipe cleaner around a small wooden stick.  

 

and with that, i was done. 4 days later, and hours and hours of crafting. when i got that email with final approval of all my projects, and those magic words "love them. send them in", i just about screamed with excitement. lol! everything got boxed up, and sent off to the making memories office to be photographed. and then they traveled to the international quilt market, in texas, where they have spent the weekend in the making memories booth. i can't wait until they get back from the show, so we can see some photos of the booth and how all these rooms looked put together. don't forget to check out wendy's blog today, to see a few more of her projects :)

making memories slice fabrique (part 2)

i have some more projects to share that i created with the new slice fabrique, by making memories. if you're wondering what i'm talking about, check out yesterday's post. here are some more additions to the "little girl's room" section of the booth.

 

a fun headband. i've admired so many of the cute headbands, with fabric flowers on them. so here's my take on the style, complete with layered sliced flowers.

 

i covered the headband with pink ribbon, and added the flowers off to the side. i handstitched all nine flowers, and then layered them in groups of three with buttons stitched in the centers.

 

a little bumble bee hairclip. i think this bee is the cutest little thing.

 

i made him puffy too. i cut the four parts of the butterfly with my slice fabrique, and then fused them onto a piece of white fabric. then i trimmed it down, and cut another piece of white fabric to the same shape. i handstitched the two pieces together, adding a little stuffing inside each section as i went along.

 

it might be hard to tell what this one is. lol! i really wish one of the girls had been home when i made this, so that they could have modeled it for me. it's a ponytail holder. i was thinking about the ribbon ponytail holders that you see on the soccer field all the time, and thought it would be fun with the fabric.

 

i tore TONS of strips of the fabric, and tied each one onto a regular black ponytail holder. then i cut some butterflies with the slice fabrique, and hand stitched around each one. i added a button to the center of each little butterfly, and stitched them randomly onto the ends of some of the fabric strips.

 

and this one is pretty simple. just a quick and easy bracelet. i used this same green and pink ribbon throughout all my projects.

be sure to check out wendy's blog, for her second round of projects. and keep your eye out on the making memories site for more information on the slice fabrique. more projects to come tomorrow :)

making memories slice fabrique

guess where making memories is this weekend? they are at the international quilt market in houston, texas. they are there to introduce their brand new slice machine that is specifically designed for cutting fabric. the new slice fabrique, and the new slice fabrique design cards, were designed with the fabric appliqué quilters in mind. want to see this new machine? here's a photo, courtesy of making memories. 

 

the first thing i have to tell you, is that i don't sew. i don't stitch. i don't even iron. i actually do own a sewing machine, that i bought years ago, so that i could machine stitch on my layouts. never learned to use it. i LOVE the look of machine stitching. and i do LOVE fabric projects. i have done all of 2 fabric projects in the past, which were for the slice infomercial last year. but i didn't stitch on those.

so when i got asked to work on this assignment with the slice fabrique, i was a little worried as to whether i could actually pull it off. but i'm always up for any challenge that comes my way, and of course, i said "yes". i was excited to learn something new and push myself to try new things. and that's exactly what i did. for hours and hours on end. lol!

i give some major props to anyone that works with fabric. or makes quilts. or hand stitches anything. it takes patience. lots of it. it was also tons of fun. but working with fabric is an involved process. once i got started, i was fully invested in it. for 4 days straight, all day long. every waking moment. ask my family. nothing else mattered for those 4 days. lol! i felt better, knowing that my BFF wendy, was also fully into the same project. we kept each other on track, compared updates and notes, gave each other tips, asked each other opinions, laughed together, and i'm pretty sure we even cried together at one point. lol! seriously, i love when we work on things like this at the same time. we keep each other sane :)

ok, enough rambling. on with some projects. i was assigned to create some projects for one of the "rooms" in the making memories booth for the show. and my room was a little girls room.

 

first up, a lampshade. i'm sure they have a cuter lamp base at the show. this is one i found in my garage, so i could get an idea of the overall look as i worked. i was going to adhered the butterflies randomly around the frame, as if they were fluttering all over. but i'm so glad that i decided to adhered them all in a row, around the frame. i'm going to use this same idea for a lampshade in my family room, except with flowers ;)

 

how cute are these butterflies! and the fabric is just adorable. it's all from my mind's eye. i'm going to be honest on this one. my mom machine stitched the butterflies for me. i did ALL my own hand stitching, but she did help me out with the machine stitching. but i really do plan on learning how, because i love the look. and because now, i have this weird desire to make fabric stuff again ;)

 

i adhered each butterfly to the lampshade, using a glue dot in the center of the butterfly. then i used some glue dots on the outer edge of each wing (top and bottom), so that i could curl the wings slightly before adhering them down. this way, they're not totally flat on the lampshade.

 

next up was a picture frame. this picture of alyssa didn't stay in the frame. they had a little girl in mind for the booth. i just stuck this in there, so that i could take a picture of it :)

 

the new slice fabrique design cards have a fun cutting tool. most of the cards do have the mirroring and shadowing options (MS+). but the fabrique design cards allow you to cut shapes in different pieces. like this pinwheel on the frame. it has 6 pieces to the design. the 4 triangle pieces for the main part, the stem (which i left off of here), and the center of the pinwheel. and because you cut each piece individually, your shapes can end up larger than the typical 4 inch slice size. the largest choice on the pinwheel, will actually give you a 5.6 inch tall shape.

 

isn't this pinwheel so fun! i cut all the main pieces twice. so i had 8 pieces total. then i ironed 2 pieces back to back, and hand stitched them around the edges. i folded the corners over, just like the design quide showed me, and stitched that down too. i added a few fun buttons to the center, and a pipe cleaner for the stem. there's more pipe cleaners on another project, that i'll share later. so they tied together. i also sliced out the letters to spell "FUN", and hand stitched those as well. 

 

and how about a cute tote bag? giving credit and props to my mom, who machine stitched this for me too :)

 

i have to tell you, that i did fix his button eyes, after taking these photos. i have no idea why i stitched them right there, in the middle of his face. it wasn't until i was looking at some of wendy's project peeks that she shared with me, that i noticed HER frog's eyes were on the top of his head. i had to ask her about it, because i suddenly couldn't remember where a frog's eyes are. this is where the "asking each other for advice and opinions" comes in handy. lol! his button eyes are now nicely stitched where they belong.

 

another example of the pieced together cuts. the frog is actually made from 6 different cuts on the slice fabrique. his head, his body, each leg cuts seperately, his hands cut together, and his eyes cut together (i didn't use those). so it makes it really easy to cut pieces from different fabrics, and then tie them all together. the kite is made from 4 different cuts. the 3 pieces for the kite, and then the tail piece (which i cut 3 times).

 

these flowers are one of my very favorite parts out of all my projects. i LOVE these flowers! i used the largest size cut on these, so they are 4 inches wide and 5.8 inches tall. good sized flowers. each one was 4 cuts. the 3 parts of the flower, and the stem. we stitched down the outer flower, and the center of the flower. i left the middle flower as it was, so that the edges lift up and give some extra dimension to the bag. i hand stitched on the buttons to the centers of the flowers.

ok, it's almost 2:00am here. and i have to be up at 7:00am for the girls soccer games. so i'm calling it a night. i'll be back tomorrow (sunday, since it's technically saturday right now) with some more of my slice fabrique projects. and make sure and check out wendy's blog, to see her projects too. her "room" was a baby boy nursery. and she did some super, duper cute stuff. and make sure to leave her some loving comments. we both worked so hard on these, and we really hope that you like them. we both love making memories, and are so grateful to work for them. we hope that they are getting an awesome response to the new machine and the new design cards at the quilt market this weekend, and that our projects helped make their booth a little cooler and prettier :)