Fused Fall

Welcome September!  I love this time of year!

We're back at the condo and I have a long list of things I want to get accomplished. But highest things on the list were to make a fall card to get in the mail and start getting ready for a friendly little online fusing demonstration I'm going to do with Becky and Brenda in a few days. 

This little project ticked off both boxes.

I traced a leaf I found online by holding my tracing paper right on my computer screen...it's already backlit so is a mini light box of sorts. And you can size the image easily.

Using prefused batiks I cut out the pieces leaving a little extra along the edges that would touch so I could overlap them when I put them back together.  When I do my demonstration I'll show Becky and Brenda how I add the fusible to the fabric.....but for this project I used what I had on hand already fused.

I assembled my leaf one section at a time ironing onto a piece of the release paper left over from adding the fusible to the fabric. Basically this is a glueing process....it's just that the glue is already on the back of the fabric and is heat activated when ironed.

Once it was cool, I could easily peel it off the paper giving me a whole unit.  At this point I did a little more trimming.

Next I ironed/fused it onto a piece of cardstock and could have easily left it like this....except for needing a stem.  I thought about trying to top stitch using my machine but that might have been a little tricky with those curves.

Instead I added some veining with hand stitches to give it more texture. When you stitch on fabric you can poke your needle from the back until you find the right spot...but if you did that with paper you would end up with unwanted holes.  So I poked a hole in the cardstock on the front showing me exactly where to come up from the back.

After adding a stem with another piece of prefused fabric...I sewed it onto a scrap of red cardstock.  I never trust it staying put while I sew (unless I glue it) so I cut the red AFTER I stitched it.

I pulled the threads to the back and taped them down.

Then using my quilting ruler and rotary cutter (my most used tools) I cut a perfect 1/8 inch border.

I glued that onto a piece of green card stock and added a little makeshift stand to the back.

And there you have it....a stand-up fused fall card....and a step by step on one way to use fused fabric. It's already in the mailbox and on its way.

I loved today's post from Morgan Harper Nichols and I'm sharing three parts. To view the whole poem use this link to her Instagram post and click the arrows to read through the poem.  https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmHiChA-JY/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmHiChA-JY/