Chalkboard Oilcloth Banner Tutorial

I got this email the other day from a very loyal blog follower and my best friend since kindergarten:

"I was wondering about that chalkboard banner that you showed on your blog. How did you finish the edges? I was thinking of making one out of some of the material that I have. Do you have like notes or a pattern that you wrote for yourself before you started? Or get me started in the right direction. I have never worked with that chalkboard fabric before, do you have to use a special thread or anything. Anything you wished you would have done different?

-Nikki

P.S. I think you are so attractive, funny and creative. I wish I could be more like you!"

So I decided to make a tutorial mostly for her but maybe for the one or two other people that might still check in on this sporadic thing I call a blog. (And fine I made that P.S. part up!)

For this project you will need:

A bunch of fabric (sorry to not be more specific but this will vary depending on what scale you chose... but you can figure it out I know you can!)

Chalkboard Oilcloth (see side not above)

A hole punch (optional)

Cardstock or paper to make a template. (Cardstock will hold up better.)

And obviously sewing and cutting tools/materials.

WHEN WORKING WITH CHALKBOARD OILCLOTH DO NOT... Iron the top/right side as it will render the chalkboard USELESS... you may quickly press the back with a low temperature iron if you have some creases you want to even out. ALSO DO NOT pin templates to the oilcloth as the holes will remain.

For my banner I decided to make it 15 spaces long. You can make it as long as short as you wish. Here are a few ideas of what 15 spaces will allow spell with letters and characters: 

LET'S BEGIN..

1.) Create a paper template. You can choose the size and scale you want for each banner piece. Here is a photo of my templates. The purple is the chalkboard and the orange is for the fabric. The second picture gives you an idea of the scale I chose to use (approx. 7"x7.5".) Please note that I added a 1/4" seam allowance when I cut the fabric back pieces out (meaning that I ended up cutting the fabric pieces larger then the actual template to account for the seams that will be lost when I sew the front and back together, hopefully this will make sense later.)

              

2.) If you want to make a scalloped edge an easy way to do this is to fold your paper in half and trace the rounded edge of something (1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon in this case) and cut out your pattern. This will make both sides even. While your paper is still folded, if you are planning on punching holes in your chalkboard edges punch holes now to serve as guides on your template.

3.) Since you CANNOT pin your template to the chalkboard oilcloth you will need to flip your oilcloth over to the wrong side and trace your pattern, including hole punch guides.

4.) You will then cut out your oilcloth and punch your holes using your guides on the back. I couldn't find the hole punch that I used for the original banner I made so I ended up using a different one for this tutorial.

5.) I used a front and a back pice of fabric in order to help finish the edges. You can cut about 4 pieces at the same time. Below I only cut out two pieces. The front facing fabric (the dark pink) and the back facing fabric (the light pink). Notice I left room to cut extra fabric around the pattern as I need to add a 1/4"seam allowance around my template. You can make your template bigger to eliminate doing that if you wish. The second picture shows my cut out fabric with extra seam allowance around the template.

6.) Next position your chalkboard oilcloth cutout on your front facing fabric. Align the oilcloth all the way to the top and centered on the sides. Now you CANNOT pin your oilcloth to this fabric but it is easy enough to hold in place while you sew... just go slow!

7.) Head to the sewing machine! Practice sewing a scrap to fabric first as you will probably need to adjust your sewing machine tension. No special thread required but polyester thread would be better than cotton. I sew close pretty close to the edge. I used white thread so you could see it in the picture. USE BLACK THREAD because your stitches are going to be kind of ugly and they won't really be noticeable in black. The second picture is a sewing close-up. There is no need to "finish" the chalkboard edges as the material won't fray.

8.) Grab your back fabric that has already been cut to size and position it on top of your front fabric that already has the oil cloth sewn to it. RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER! Head to the sewing machine and sew a 1/4" seam along the edge ( you will be sewing a "U" shape LEAVING THE TOP COMPLETELY OPEN.) It is very helpful to sew a few backstitches when you start and when you reach the end.

9.) When you are done sewing you need to clip the edges. Just cut a few tiny triangles out near your curves. Make sure not to cut into your newly sewn stitches.

10.) Now you have to turn your piece right-side out. Try to start at the bottom and evenly "roll" the piece into itself. Basically you want to avoid making any sharp creases that could damage your oilcloth.

10.) Once you have your piece turned use your fingers to help finish turning out and pressing the seams (push from the inside if necessary.) Just try to make the piece look nice and rounded. If you feel it is necessary to press your assembled piece you can use an iron on the very back on a low temperature as shown in the second picture. 

11.) Before you can write on the oilcloth you need to condition it. Take a piece of chalk turned on its side and rub it across the oilcloth. Try to avoid pressing too hard as you will create scratches as shown in the second picture. You will then wipe off the chalk with a dry towel. 

12.) Math time! This step will be similar to quilt binding. Now you need to determine how big to make your top strip of fabric that will finish your banner off and hold all your spaces together. Based on the size you chose measure one of your finished edges you will see mine is about 0.5". That means I want to make my top strip 0.5" inch finished so my banner looks even. So my top strip will be 2.5" wide unfinished (second photo). If you made yours to a different scale just multiply your edge measurement by 5. Now you need to figure out how long to make your strip (third photo) my finished piece is about 7" wide and I want to allow 0.5" of space between each space so I need to allow 8" for each space. Since my banner is 15 spaces long and I want to include 12" (1.5 times the amount top fabric I'm allowing per space) on EACH side for tails to tie/hang my banner  I will make sure I have a strip of fabric 64" long x 2.5" wide. Got it?? Good!

13.) Fold your edges into the center and press then entire length (picture one.) Then you will fold that strip in half and press one more time as shown in picture two. 

14.) Now you need to assemble your banner. Remember you need to leave 12" on each side for tails. So start your first letter 12"in OR do what I do if you are anal retentive about spacing and if you are sure your top measurements are spot on. You can fold your strip in half lengthwise to find the perfect center and start by centering your 8th space on that crease and then you work your way out to both ends leaving 0.5" between each space. Pin your spaces in place on each edge.   

15.) Off to the sewing machine yet again to sew your spaces in place. Now I didn't take a picture of the very tip of my tails but make sure you fold the fabric in the ends to create a finished edge. then sew close to the edge across the length of your banner. You are done!!! Now get writing and hanging! I don't have my banner tied to anything because there wasn't anything to tie it to in my apartment. So I chose to tie a knot on each end and hide a thumb tack near the back part of the knot and tack it to the wall, shown below. 

Finished product! 

Any questions? Hopefully it makes sense. If you don't want to make your own I'm hoping to get a couple in my etsy shop in he next week or two. 

3x6 Bee Blocks and Tutorial

I just wrapped up my first quarter in the 3x6 bee... where each 'bee hive' consists of 7 participants. Each participant chooses three colors they would like the other 6 members of their hive to use when making a block for them. Each member makes 6 blocks that are the exact same block pattern but in the varying color schemes. The group switches up hive members quarterly. Make sense? Good.

My colors were pink, yellow and white. So I will receive 6 blocks in those colors made by my fellow hive members. I made this block for myself as a test subject for this block design:

I started out by sewing 9.5" long strips of fabric together in varying widths from 1-2.5 inches. I used my 9.5" square ruler to square my sewn strips. I then used the 10" square grid in the middle of my 18x24 cutting mat to cut the diagonal lines. There are probably several ways you could do this, but this is the way it worked for me.

Above the 9.5" square ruler is positioned in the upper left hand corner of the 10" square on the cutting mat. This position will be important for how you make your diagonal cuts.

With your block positioned on your cutting mat in the upper left of the 10" square grid place your cutting ruler at the 7 on your left side of the grid and the 6 on the right side of the grid. This will be your cutting line for the top section. Repeat this at the 4 on the left side of the grid and the 3 on the right side this will be cut for your bottom section.

These two cuts should leave you with three shapes that look like this:

Between each diagonal cut I sewed a 1.5" strip (1" finished). I then used my 9.5" square ruler and trimmed the block back down. So keep in mind that if you have any images on your fabric toward the top or bottom of your strips when you begin they will get trimmed off and lost later. I then finished the block by adding 2" strips (1.5" finished) to the outer edges for a final block size of 12.5" (or 12" when finished in a quilt). I experimented with having the diagonal fabric being the same width as the final border, but decided I preferred the slightly slimmer line in the middle.

Here are all 6 in their varying color schemes:

They were for, left to right: (1) sewtakeahite (2) amuseboutique 3. fancytwo (4) mamaloves2read (5) chocolate_isthe_best_medicine (6) friedazzzzz

Can't wait for the next quarter it starts October 1. Sign-ups are still going on for the 4th quarter and she is currently taking names for the 1st quarter, 2011. I think I am going to stick with my same color choices. Even though I'm still not entirely certain with what I am doing with these blocks.

Quilting: Quilting Bee Journal

I joined another bee! This one is a different kind of bee though. It is called 'A Quilting Journey Round Robin Bee' - how it works: I make a starter block send it along with a journal to my assigned person on the mailing list and so on and so on... until this block travels around the world crossing the paths of 20 other people who will in turn make a block for me and share with me about themselves in the journal and eventually it makes its way back home to me! While my block is living it up traveling around the world on someone else's dime... I will be right here in Chicago working on blocks for everyone who is making me blocks! Each person gets to pick their own theme, I am having everyone make a block that represents where they are from in any style or colors they chose with just one stipulation the block be 12.5x12.5. My block will represent Chicago. I still have to make my block, but I have created my journal!

Several people in the bee group seemed interested in how I made my journal, so I created a tutorial. Sorry if any steps are unclear, feel free to ask questions and feel free to copy! Here it is:

You will need: cardstock, a glue stick, spray adhesive, scissors or rotary cutter, ruler, hole punch and sewing machine.

I started by folding my sheets of paper in half. Now this would have been the ideal project to use my Martha Stewart bone folder I recently acquired, but of course I couldn't find it! So a Sharpie works pretty much the same if you need some help making a nice crisp fold.

I decided I was going to leave a 2-page spread for everyone to write on and with 21 people in the group (including myself) I needed 20 interior pages, plus a front cover and back cover (22 sheets of paper total, it will make sense in a minute why I used so many sheets). I am utilizing the reverse side of each page including the front cover and the reverse side of the back cover as space for people to write, if you do not wish to set your journal up this way you can use how every many pages your want.

I then measured one inch from the crease and cut each sheet. Yes, it does leave me with some wasted paper, but if you are like me you will find a use for it in a project further down the road. Maybe a smaller journal for something else. You can chose not to waste any paper and make your journal skinnier.

The inch next to the crease in the paper is going to be where the holes are punched. I wanted to make that area stronger so I folded the paper over and used a glue stick to hold it down.

The next step is to punch holes, I decided to punch three sets of two holes each along the edge of my book. I only had a single hole punch, so I had to measure out where the holes would be and I used that sheet as a template to punch the remainder of the pages. My pages are by no means punched exact and don't line up perfectly. But they are approximate enough that once you tie the ribbon through they all line and you can't tell the holes aren't perfect, so don't sweat it too much. If you have a three hole punch then this step should be no problem.

I decided I wanted to make the book a bit more durable since it will be traveling all over. I used my machine to zig-zag sew a grouping of two pages together, so I was left with ten groups of two.

I then made the front and back covers, you can use your inside pages to determine the size. I cut two for the front and two for the back and glued them together to make the cover stronger. I did not use the fold over method for the front and back since I was gluing two pages together, it (a) wasn't necessary and (b) would have been really hard to fold over!

Next comes the fun part!!! You get to make you own journal block! It should be about 6x9 that includes the "seam allowance". I guess I didn't take a picture of my journal top by itself, but you can see it on the finished product below. The first two pictures above show you how I used the space that would normally be for the seam allowance and folded it over the edge and sewed it down to the back of the front cover page. Sew the edge that runs parallel to the holes last! And be sure as you sew toward the side with your holes that you don't sew all the way to the edge. You need to allow room to fold your rough edge under (like a hem) and sew it down as shown in the second picture. Also, I couldn't resist putting a little something on the back, so I sewed a heart with my initial to the back page. You can do something similar or you can make a block for the back as well!

Once you have your front and back pages decorated you will need to cut another page to be glued into the inside facing part of both pages to cover your edges and stitches. I used spray adhesive for the page that needed to be glued to the fabric and a glue stick for the pages that was only covering a few stitches.

Almost done! Line your pages up and weave some ribbon through, yarn will work too! When I finished weaving the ribbon through I had the two tails toward the back and I tied them off at both the top and bottom sets of holes then I continued bringing the ribbon up toward the middle set of holes and tied them together in a bow. If that isn't clear honestly you can make something up and if it feels sturdy at the end it will work just as well!

And the finished product! I hope it lasts on it's journey. It feels really sturdy and it lightweight so it shouldn't be too bad on mailing. I plan to have it travel in a ziplock in case it should encounter any inclimate weather. The front two pages are where I included a little info about me, a few pictures and explained to everyone what I would like included in their journal pages and their block. Now I better get started on my block!!

Sewing: T-Shirt Embellishment

FINISHED

I was at Old Navy the other day and I saw this cute little cardigan with these almost origami like fabric squares sewn on. I immediately decided I could do that only better. So today I succeeded in completing a similar (but better) project. I used an Old Navy v-neck t-shirt and dipped into my fabric stash and this is what I came up with:

I also photographed the process:

I used a square quilting template that was 3"x3". I used two different fabrics and a piece of fusible applique to join the two fabrics together.

Once I had my little fabric sandwich I used my iron to press the square in half and then in half again so I could easily find the center point.

Since I wanted the pink fabric to be the inside color I started with the pink side up. Just like folding origami (but with an iron) I pressed all the corners up to the center.

Then I opened the piece back up and flipped it over so I could trim off just the slightest bit of fabric from the triangle pieces I just created by folding. That way the pink can show through a little more.

Flipping the square back over to the pink side I had to refold the pieces I just unfolded to trim and gave them one more quick press. I flipped the fabric over so my print/grey side was facing up and once again folded in the corners to the center and pressed them down.

I repeated those steps two more times so I had three squares. And then because I will take any excuse to use my dress form:

I put the shirt on my dress form (or Duct Tape Lisa as I like to call her) and pinned on my fabric origami squares (finished they are 1 3/4").

Final step was to sew them to my shirt. I didn't use interfacing on the inside I just made sure the shirt was flat and not pulled too tight to stretch the fabric and sewed them down. I used a pink thread and just sewed backward/forward a few times down each spot where the pink was peaking through. This not only attached them to the shirt but it held down the folds I made.

And the finished piece you obviously saw pictured above. I am going to fabric origami everything!! It will be my new obsession... I can never have too many craft obsessions! Right? Luckily this one isn't expensive like some of my most recent obsessions... metalsmithing... quilting.