In this gritty city finding frill is a little like looking in a "where's waldo" picture book. If you look really closely, that striped red tunic and tuke will glare right at you. Bless these urban artists and their creations for bringing a little bit of romance to the concrete jungle.
While, my creations may not be worthy of sidewalk art or wall murals, I like to do my part to celebrate the month of love. This year, I decided to get crafty with ric rac and ribbon and make some placemats. Frilly and functional. Again, I don't have enough photos for a full tutorial (and apologies for the iphone photos), but I found this one the other day (which I didn't use, but why reinvent the wheel when there is already a fabulous step-by-step out there?)
After pre-washing my material, 3 yards of heavy red canvas that I picked up at one of the many fabric stores in the Fashion District, and the ric-rac from my favorite (Daytonna Trimming). I used a store-bought placemat as a pattern and cut out 16 rectangles for 8 placemats, traced a bowl on the corners with tailor's chalk and then cut them into curves for added femininity. Each placemat got it's own hand-stiched, lovey-dovey message. (I also used the tailor's chalk to write the messages and pictures before I attempted to embroider.)
I didn't knot the thread so that it would lay flat, but I was worried that over time after washing the stiches might get loose. I ironed a little bit of interfacing to the back of each message to *hopefully* fix this. At least it gave me some peace of mind. Then I pinned the ric-rac between the front and the back (right sides together) and stiched around the edges, leaving about a 5 inch gap open to pull the right sides out. But don't turn it until you've notched the the seam allowance on the curves. It lays some much better if you do. And it's easier to top stiched.
Top stiching. I ran out of heavy duty red thread mid-way through. PS Fabric is my go to for this product at $1.80 a spool, so I had to wait (they aren't open on Saturdays) until after the weekend to restock and finish.
I rather like how they turned out and our table looks festive, like a handmade valentine.
1 comment:
My boys love those red heart hands! Whenever they see them when we're walking through the neighborhood, they have to stop, get their noses to the ground, and exclaim how awesome the "paw print" is.
Cute placemats!
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