Saturday, April 9, 2011

Tutorial - An easy way to create fabric letters for applique


A friends little boy has a birthday coming up very soon, and he needs a new pencilcase.


I really wanted to personalise it with his name, but I also wanted to use my favourite font, so I came up with this super simple solution.

Download the PDF Tutorial 

You will need the following:

A sheet of A4 sized Freezer Paper
Inkjet printer
A piece of fabric large enough for your printed letters
A piece of fusible webbing the same size as your fabric (I use applifix)
Sharp scissors
Iron


Step 1:

Create your chosen letters using Microsoft Word (or any other such program). Place the sheet of A4 freezer paper in your inkjet printer, taking care to ensure that the print will end up on the paper side (not the waxy coated side).

Print the letters onto the freezer paper.


Step 2:

Cut your piece of freezer paper down to an appropriate size.
Cut your chosen fabric so that it's a bit larger than your freezer paper.
Cut your piece of fusible webbing the same size as your fabric.



Step 3:

Place your fusible webbing onto the back of your fabric (making sure the fluffy gluey side is touching the back of the fabric), and iron into place.

Leave the backing paper intact.


Step 4:

Place the freezer paper on top of the fabric and iron into place (waxy coated side faces the fabric).
I used a rajah cloth on top to protect my iron from the ink.

There will now be a paper layer on both sides of the fabric.


Step 5:

Using a very sharp pair of scissors, cut the letters out.


Step 6:

Peel the backing paper from the fusible webbing and place your letters onto the piece of fabric which will be appliqued, and iron into place.

It's best to use a rajah cloth or scrap of fabric to protect your iron from the ink.

Follow the correct manufacturers instructions for the brand of fusible webbing that you're using.


Step 7:

Once cooled, carefully peel off the freezer paper.


Step 8:

Now you can choose to do whatever you wish - machine stitch, hand stitch, straight, blanket, zig-zag.... whatever takes your fancy!


 
I used the Zippered Pouch project from Nikki's book, You Sew Girl to create this fully lined pencilcase using my Dragster Dominoes Fabric and the appliqued fabric letters.

Now I just have to wrap it up for the birthday boy!

29 comments:

Tania said...

Blooming brilliance, Cam. Thank you!

willywagtail said...

That is super clever. thankyou for sharing. Cherrie

yardage girl said...

Good one - I hadn't thought of using freezer paper - I just pin mine to the interfaced fabric. Where do you get freezer paper?

Unknown said...

Great pencil case and great easy tutorial ! Thanks very much , by the way loooove your fabric !

Tas said...

Thank you for the tute Cam. It will come in handy. I really love that pencil case- it looks so cool and the project is so suited to your fabric! I'll bet that a little boy will love it!

Jennie said...

Are freezer paper and fusible webbing the two greatest contributors to modern craft? I really must get me some freezer paper one of these days.

CraftyMummy said...

Fabulous tutorial! I'll be trying your technique soon.

Is it ok to feature your post on my blog? I'd just use one picture and link back to the tutorial. Would love to share it with my readers.

Anna Bartlett said...

Love it! How great is that?! I have a roll of freezer paper here that I haven't even opened, and now I have a real reason to. Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

That's great ;-))dee x

Kate said...

Great tutorial Cam - freezer paper is such a good invention.

Nikki said...

I love both of those products and I love your font-trick!! (Good to see the book is useful, too!!)

Vireya said...

An extra tip - if you want to save on ink (a very expensive commodity) go to Format Font, and change it to "Outline". Then when you print it, you get the same shape, but with just a thin outline rather than a filled-in letter.

CurlyPops said...

Thanks for the tip Vireya. I didn't know you could do that!

Unknown said...

Great Tutorial Thanks for the heads up...
cheers

Unknown said...

Fantabulous tute, Cam! Perfect timing, as I want to make some bunting with words on, and wanted a different font, so now I don't need to figure out how to do it, I'll use your tute. Thanks heaps!

Cat from Raspberry Rainbow said...

Fantabulous tute, Cam! Perfect timing, as I want to make some bunting with words on, and wanted a different font, so now I don't need to figure out how to do it, I'll use your tute. Thanks heaps!
(haha, just left the previous comment under hubsands profile!)

ejorpin said...

This is so very cool! Bookmarking for future reference, thanks for sharing :)

Love the end result too - looks fab!

Julia said...

What a great idea! Thanks!

Jennifer Rose said...

very helpful, thanks :D

Cass said...

Looks fantastic Cam

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is great - thanks for sharing!

EdgyK said...

I also found a way to not use so much ink when you print chunky fonts. Go to Format, then Font, then click on Outline. This will only print the outline of the font. So there's a handy hint.

EdgyK said...

oops just saw that someone posted the same comment. ha ha

Melly said...

thank you, thank you, thank you!! i am working on banners today and would have spent oodles of time on the letters. you just made me the happiest girl around!! pure brilliance!!

lj dunn said...

hi, this pecil case is so very cute, and i am not sure how dumb i am being today but what is freezer paper? (have heard the term before) and where does one purchase it from.

CurlyPops said...

Hi Lj, you can buy freezer paper from the Haby Goddess - http://thehabygoddess.bigcartel.com/product/reynolds-freezer-paper-roll-13-3-yd-or-12-1-m
It's similar to baking paper but it has a waxy layer which allows it to adhere to fabric when ironed on. Then it just peels off when it's cool.

Lisa said...

I buy freezer paper in the grocery store, and it is called just that freezer paper. I love using freezer paper it makes most things I sew that much easier and you can usually re iron the pattern a few times.

Conchi said...

Hola,vengo del blog de María enredos.Menudo tutorial más esplicito ,no falta nada ,hasta a mi que no se me da muy bien lo de coser ,creo que sería capaz de hacer alguna de estas cosas.
Me hago seguidora para no perderme nada de nada.
Cuando tengas un ratito te invito a ver mi blog.Un saludo de Conchi de Dale Al Pincel.

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