Tattered Scraps Key Ring

Canvas Corp like every one of us crafters like to keep and use every last scrap of paper or fabric. That’s why they provide scrap packs so we can use some of the most valuable pieces in smaller projects such as this scraps key ring.  It’ll take a couple of hours to make and you’ll need to have some basic sewing skills. I used a sewing machine to add my details but really you can hand sew it too.

This is a small collection of the scrap fabrics I have in my sewing box everything from calico, canvas, burlap and lace to bits of cord and thread.

Canvas Corp Brands scrap packs

To make this project I used: Scrap fabrics and lace, small canvas pieces,  embroidery thread, wadding, vintage buttons and a key ring.

I chose a few bits I thought I might like to put together but as the project was quite organic I added bits as I went along and a few I decided not to use in the end. I cut a couple of pieces of canvas to the size I wanted my finished keyring to be and cut hearts from some of the other fabric scraps.

The black netting was actually an offcut from some fly netting which was already on my work table so I couldn’t resist using that too.

I layered my scraps together and pinned them in place so they wouldn’t move. I’ve seen a technique before where the edges of synthetic scraps are burned to give them a distressed finish but a more controlled way of doing it is with a heat tool. I held the scraps down with the tweezers so I wouldn’t burn my fingers and used the heat tool to melt the edges until I was happy with how it looked.

With the edges of my heart nicely distressed I sewed it onto one of the canvas backing pieces using a contrasting ablack thread. I went around the edges three times to make it look more sketchy and loose and wasn’t at all concerned with neatness. If you’re at all worried about using black thread on white canvas, don’t be. The end result is supposed to be shabby and rough so go for it.

I padded out my keyring with a thin piece of cotton wadding cut just slightly smaller than the canvas. If you don’t have wadding you can also use a piece of felt or even miss that out altogether.

With the wadding in place I hand sewed some running quilting stitches across the background and again I wasn’t looking for perfection and a few of my stitches are quite wonky as you can see.

Also in my collection I’m very lucky to have some vintage buttons including a really cute one still attached to a piece of vintage cotton fabric.

I thought this would make a perfect centrepiece and after gluing it in place I used a bit more embroidery thread this time in black to add the decorative cross stitches.

With the front finished I could add the backing canvas with a strip of cotton cord doubled up and sandwiched in between. This was also a good time to add a keyring loop to it to save a bit of a fiddle later.

I machine sewed around the edges three times like before and added three vintage fabric covered buttons. I didn’t want to sew through to the back with my black thread so I cheated by tying the thread through the button holes first then glueing the buttons on after.

To finish off, I used my finger to rub a little white glue around the edges to stop them from freying any further.
You don’t need much and it dries clear anyway so you won’t see it.

I absolutely love the gorgeous textured layers and naiive embroidered details of my scraps key ring.
I may make one to hang on my bag too.

Take a look at some of your scraps and see what you can make from them.

Happy crafting!!!

Jaine

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