Project Runway helped us get the sewing machines out of our closets or into our shopping carts by inspiring us to sew again as we witnessed the creative spirits of designers show off their skills, creativity and talent for the world to see. They made it look a tad easy and gave us the feeling that we could do it too.
So we started out sewing and working with fabric in an age when we used machines like this old Singer.
We progressed big time in the mid-century.
Today’s sewing machines are almost like rocket ships with so many bells and whistles.
We are not saying you have to start stitching away, but we can say we are excited that with the sewing machine movement. New and exciting fabrics are emerging everywhere. From designer fabrics like these fantastic prints by Tim Holtz or these fashion Halloween prints. While many of these prints are designed and printed for thin cotton fabric that is perfect for quilting, clothing and home projects, others are printed on heavy duty fabrics, even indoor/outdoor.
Canvas Corp fabrics are all about the basics from solid burlap and canvas in a full rainbow of colors, to a variety of printed burlap and canvas basic prints and finally with the introduction of Printed Fabric Panels that feature fun DIY lifestyle themes that make them fun to work with. Just like Canvas Corp Papers, we love how well they work with other collections and papers on the market, we love that our basic fabrics are perfect companions for a wide range of papers, fabrics and embellishments. We are also excited to release our newest basic fabric, Printed Ticking Fabric.
We still get a lot of questions about working with fabric, so we challenged our Creative Crew to share with us some fun ideas where they incorporated fabric into their projects. Here are just a few projects and below. You will find a link up to view projects on many of our crew member blogs for more inspiration.
1. Paper & Fabric – they play so well together, no sewing required or test your sewing skills with a straight stitch or little zig zag. You will not do any harm to your sewing machine when stitching the two together, just make sure you don’t have any wet glue or adhesive as that is not great for the machine. This fun project is simply a 7gypsies Starter Journal covered with a cut of the Beans & Bags Fabric Panel and papers from the Beans & Bags Collection. You can create simple journals like this for wedding guest books, daily journal, baby shower gift notes or the start of a daily agenda.
2. Sew a little or Glue a little – when working with fabrics, you might have to put your favorite tape runner aside and find a favorite glue such as Beacon’s Fabri-tac or 3 in 1 glues. These glues are great when glueing fabric to fabric, fabric to paper, fabric to wood, fabric to metal, fabric to just about anything. Solid burlap fabrics can be cut, chopped and stripped to create your own design such as that great striped stocking. You can also sew paper or fabric to home decor pieces such as these Jester stockings. Holding simple burlap ruffles in place is also really easy with just a few dabs of glue. Get the look either with our without that sewing machine!!!
3. Paint it – when buying printed fabrics filled with lots of color, you have to use that color palette. Choosing basic printed fabrics gives you the flexibility to make them your own and choose your own color palette. Misting with Glimmer Mist or Simply Sheer on the Halloween fabric, Haunt It Fabric Panel with a solid color transformed it from canvas to a vibrant orange and gave it just the right pop of Halloween color. You can make fabric to match papers you love in your stash too.
4. All of our fabrics are 10 ounce or heavier and have great body to them, making them perfect to cut our and make appliqués, ornaments, embellishments and more. Simply fussy cut them, add a touch of color and glue or sew them where you want them to go. Tonya shows us how to make these great ornaments in a future blog post.
5. Wrap it – fabric is more flexible than paper and adds just the right texture to your craft projects. This denim sheet is ripped and torn to look like an old pair of blue jeans and helps transform this tray into a patriotic work of art. Canvas Corp and 7gypsies offer a range of Denim and Dungaree items or get thrift and tear apart an old pair of blue jeans and create with them, what fun. The tray is embellished with pieces from 7gypsies American Vintage Collection.
6. Stamp on it – you can stamp on canvas or burlap with ease. We recommend your favorite pigment ink in any color. While virtually any size or scale stamp is perfect for canvas, you might want to choose a bigger scale stamp for burlap. Misty created this fun Multi-pocket Apron where you stamped her own design directly onto the apron and then created ruffles with the Canvas Chevron 12×12. Decide if a light weight fabric or a heavy duty will work best. This apron is 100% glued and looks like million bucks. What a great gift, art piece for the kitchen or your studio.
7. Mixed Media it – add fabric to your mini book projects – the touch of texture gives them a very handmade, home-grown feel. Dana using touches in this party guest book we featured on the blog for a Newsies Party.
8. Replace the ribbon – ribbon can add a great touch, but we choose a frayed piece of burlap over a stark piece of ribbon any day. Make a fun drink sign for your water, lemonade, punch or adult beverage (Beverage Tags) and add with a piece of hemp and add to the buffet.
9. Walk on it – you can buy a pre-made red carpet or aisle runner or you can make your own with your choice of burlap color. Natural tends to be the go to color, but try red, purple or lime green and stand out.
10. Stamp It – you can’t get much better than the texture of fabric when you are looking for a great surface for your Mixed Media creations. The inks, stamps and mediums look great when applied. To see all the details for this retro personal journal, jump over its blog page.
11. Cover it – flat paper and boxes are pretty boringm but when covered with fabric they look amazing. Blending fabric style paper prints and actual fabric is also a great touch.
12. Craft it up – blend lace, burlap ticking and some hand-picked or flowers that look real to create these fun cones. Under the fabric, you will find paper cones to help create the structure of the cone and let you create with softer materials like lace and fabric.
The rolls come in and pretty totes, packages of fabric, flowers, fringe, aprons and more come out….. So don’t be afraid to craft with fabric and expand you creative world.
We welcome the blogs of our crew members for more fabric inspiration. Stop by and see what they have created and leave them a little note!!!
