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Saturday, November 27, 2010

upcycled fiber coasters tutorial

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Recently I met up for a day full of fun with my friend and fellow artist Jane LaFazio. We met at Liberty Station in San Diego and visited Visions Art Museum, took lots of photos, ate a fabulous lunch and exchanged materials to create with. I gave Jane a bag full of painted canvas scraps and Jane gave me a whole bunch of denim and ribbon scraps. I knew right away I would put these scraps to use for a holiday gift tutorial- a set of fiber coasters.

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Denim is a such a great material to create with and using upcylced jeans is a great way to save money!


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Scraps of ribbon and scraps of fabric (even the tiny ones) are also great to put to use in a variety of projects.


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I started by cutting out squares from the denim.


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I cut up the scraps of ribbon and also added tiny scraps of my own fabric that I had on hand.


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I scattered the scraps onto the surface of each denim square


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and sewed them down to the surface with free motion stitching.


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I continued to sew more scraps until I was satisfied with the surface.


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Then I cut out a piece of tulle to layer over the surface of the square.


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I wanted to add another layer, additional texture and tone down the colors a little.


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I stitched the tulle over the top of everything with lots of straight stitches.


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When the surface was finished, I added another piece of denim to the back and with a zig zag stitch sew the front and back together.


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I created a set of four.


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Last, I created four little denim rolled beads that I added to ribbon that I used to tied them all together.


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VOILA! The perfect little handmade holiday gift!




P.S

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Want to see what Jane created with her bag of my painted canvas scraps and denim?

19 comments:

  1. Grâce à vous et à votre beau challenge j'ai pu admirer le travail de votre amie. Je vous remercie.
    Très astucieux et résultat concluant que ce dernier... Bises

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  2. Fabulous! this has gone on my inpiration board, I am def making these. I even have all the stuff lol

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  3. I have wanted to try your free-motion sewing for sew long- what is that foot called and where do you get one? I have looked at my local stores and never seen anything like it.

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  4. Just brilliant! Love it!

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  5. Did you do a tutorial on making the denim/fiber beads? I thought you had, but I cannot find it :/ Maybe I dreamed it. haha. I would also love a tutorial/tips on free motion sewing. I have tried it a few times, but cannot figure it out. I think my issue is the tension. You use it so beautifully. I would love tips on how you free motion sew!

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  6. Very cute. I did this this week too. I made ten coasters from colorful scraps on felt and then set laminate on top and backs sewing it all together...They were in fall colors and my company liked them on Thanksgiving!!! You can see them on my blog here:
    http://lynn-nonameblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/creative-long-weekend-i-can-craft-i-can.html

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  7. Your coasters are not only smart and creative they are unique. I especially like the bundle tied with ribbon and the little denim beads you made. Fabulous! Holly Jolly to you...

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  8. YOure an INspiration

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  9. LOVE the coasters!!! love em! gonna make some asap... thanks Alisa!

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  10. Wow- how original! I love your blog- you're so talented!

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  11. Fun!!! Artsy friends are the best friends! Yay!

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  12. I absolutely love these coasters. How totally clever! Plus I love the way you packaged them too. Pure art-y genius!

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  13. These are so cute! I have a friend that is getting married and moving into a new apartment. These would be the perfect little housewarming gift!

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  14. Such a neat idea (as always, Alisa) and it would be easy to create larger pieces such as place mats or a table runner. Thanks for sharing your project!

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  15. i'm new to sewing...how do you "free motion stitch"?

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  16. Oh my gosh those are gorgeous! What a great gift idea. Thanks so much, I'll be linking.

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  17. Anonymous5:44 PM

    А! Bon d'expédition et de ce post m'a beaucoup aidé dans mon assignement collège. Remerciements vous que vos informations.

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  18. Further to my previous comment, here is a glimpse at the place mat I am about to finish inspired by your project...

    http://gingerurchin.blogspot.com/2010/12/curious-crafts-for-cats.html

    Thank you again for sharing this idea - I really enjoyed playing with random colour :)

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  19. Love those coasters!! Gotta try that. Thanks for the inspiration.

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