I've had this little moleskin journal floating around for while and I've been thinking about adding some strips of washi tape to add a little color. I rounded up my washi tape and then I thought of all the pretty fabric scraps that I have and started wishing I could find a quick easy way to use them instead. Hmmm? How to turn fabric into washi tape? I thought I'd seen someone online use double stick tape but of course it wasn't in my drawer. (Someone in my house loves to tape her art work up on random walls. And she's six. And the tape doesn't always make it back where it goes.)
Then I remembered that I had some adhesive in my scrapbook supplies that might work well. It's strong, double sided and also comes in rolls with different widths available.
I headed to my bowl of ticker tape scraps and then to my bowl of selvages to pull out some colorful pieces.
I peeled off one layer of the adhesive covering and arranged the scraps on two pieces.
I flipped the adhesive over, fabric side down and trimmed the scraps with a rotary cutter and ruler. I was surprised at how easily the rotary blade went through the adhesive without gumming it up. I did use the cutter reserved for paper though. I didn't want to dull my sharp fabric blade.
After I trimmed up the scraps, I played around to find a pleasing arrangement.
And played a little more to see if everything would fit. I had to do a bit more trimming.
I peeled the final layer of adhesive covering off and pressed all of the scraps into place.
And there you have it! A journal decorated with fabric scraps! Once this little journal knows what it's destined for, I'll add some words and embellishments and fill it with great things.
The stomach bug finally got me Monday afternoon. I'm just so thankful we didn't all have it at the same time and that my wonderful husband could spend some time at home Tuesday so I could recuperate. I'm finally feeling perky today and trying to get caught up on things here at home. I was really bummed to miss out on meeting with my small quilt group but we have some exciting things coming up this year.
I thought I'd share how I'm storing my "Special Scraps" at the moment. I purchased this shelf about 20 years ago and have always loved it. It was in my daughter's nursery when she was a baby and held her little board books. Her collection of books has expanded into a larger shelf in 4 years so this made it's way across the hall into my sewing room. It holds vintage bowls along with some pottery from Tennessee that I labeled with simple manila tags.
The top bowl is from Tennessee and holds Jenna's scraps that she can cut, glue, and create with. The middle bowl is from my mother-in-law's kitchen and holds scraps for a ticker tape quilt I hope to make someday. And the bottom bowl is from an antique store and holds selvages.
It's so easy to just sort these small scraps into an open container as I cut or clean up from a project. We'll see what I do when the bowls get full. I imagine I will just empty out the bowl into a larger container and keep using the bowl to collect scraps. I still have a bit of organizing to do in that closet. All in good time....
Are you collecting scraps for anything special?
to love a fabric because of the selvage?
I had a 4 year old helper at Sarah's Fabrics the other day who made her own choices in fabric.
How could I say no with such adorable selvage?
Win Win purchase!
I can't wait to see what Tula Pink's selvage for her new Parisville line will look like. My bet is on the mouse/rat in her logo.
I'd love to hear what your favorit selvage is.
And if you have a clue as to where I've misplaced my camera I'd love some hints. It's driving me insane!
