BIG scrappy painting

I have been in the midst of organizing and cleaning my studio (its been a while and desperately needs to be done!) and after lots of work I ended up with a GIGANTIC pile of fabric scraps. While I am pretty organized with all of my scraps- I tend to keep just about everything that is fabric and it was time to scale it down a little. I had the idea to use all those scraps to create wall art inspired by the vibe of my new book- Sew Wild so I made a BIG painting full of all my leftover scraps that had the look of a quilt but without the sewing.

I painted over an old painting that I had created a while ago on a huge piece of wood. Side note- I love painting on wood almost as much as I love painting on canvas.

Instead of using glue or gel medium (which definitely could be used) I actually used paint as my binder. This is something that I have been doing since college when I wanted to add collage elements to my paintings.

I covered my surface with a nice generous layer of white house paint and then stuck my fabric to it.

If you don't sew or don't have the time to sew this is a great way to create quilt inspired art without pulling the sewing machine out.

I used all kinds of scraps in different colors and patterns, scraps of my handmade fabric, leftover scraps from my latest book project, scraps of painted canvas, scraps of recycled fabric...scraps, scraps, lots and lots of fabric scraps (at least they are not taking up space in my studio).

Once the surface was completely covered I add swipes of white paint and some drizzles and drips here and there.

Why? Just because I love to add a little element of messy and because it felt like the right thing to do :)

The end result is a huge piece of art that looks like fiber.

Of course, once again this guy just couldn't stay out of a photo!

scrappy pillow

Using stamps to create your very own fabric is easy and a perfect way to make yardage of fabric with unique pattern to use in a multitude of projects. Since I love creating pillows (it is the easiest way to change things up) I set out to create a neutral/brown pillow for the couch with lots of texture and scraps of hand stamped fabric.

I always make my own stamps or find something unique to stamp with. Typically I use craft foam and cut out shapes and carve into the foam with a wood burning tool. I have found that craft foam is cheap, durable and really great to use with fabric ink and paint. In addition I always try and find unique object or simple things that I can use as a stamps to repeat pattern across the surface of fabric.

For my neutral pillow I started by creating a few different stamps- the first was large chevron inspired pattern.

For my background fabric I picked up a set of really soft linen napkins in a natural beige- I really like stamping on linen.

When I am creating fabric that will get washed I typically use screen printing ink or fabric paint that can be heat set and made washable. I used the screen printing ink to "ink up" my stamp by applying paint to the surface with a brush.

And then started stamping onto the linen surface- note it can be challenging to get a stamped pattern perfect and often I personally am not going for perfect (I like when areas are faded or there are little drops of paint).

I added gold to the surface, again with fabric paint (Jacquard- Lumiere) made to be heat set.

I created more stamps and made another surface of pattern again with fabric paint.

After my fabric was dry and heat set, I dove into my scrap bin which consists of scraps of my painted fabric and scraps of recycled fabric and I picked out additional pieces that were in the neutral and brown family.

I cut up my scraps into all sorts of different sizes and pinned then to the surface of quilt batting.

Now, this is where I am different from other sewers and quilters out there- I sew and quilt everything on the outside with all of my stitching. WHY? I actually love the way it looks- stitching is just another way to add more texture. I love the look of stitching so much that I often say that if I could wear my clothes inside out to show the stitched seams I would!

Soon, very soon (like in August!) in you will be able to read about this process in full detail in my new book- Sew Wild.

But basically I pin everything down and then go to town free motion sewing on top of everything- sewing it all to the surface of the batting.

I used this piece of quilted and stitched scraps to create the front to a simple pillow, using another linen napkin for the backing, I stuffed it and added it to my pillow collection :)

Altered Flip Flops Tutorial

While I live in Southern California, I am not much of a stereotypical "California girl"- I have short black hair, fair skin, I can't get tan (unless my millions of freckles blend together one day) and I don't run around in a bikini and short shorts. But I do love my flip flops and living in California, I have developed quite the collection- and because it is 75 degrees year round- I wear them every single day!

These are my favorite pair. My husband got them for me when he spied them in a local surf shop and thought they looked like something I would make (messy and colorful). They are Sanuks and while they were not cheap (yes $32 is a lot for flip flops in my world!) they were SO worth it because they are just about the most comfy pair of sandals I have ever owned.

p.s. I think Target has knock offs for cheaper :)

While I love my Sanuks, I am not spending $32 on more colors- so I was inspired to alter some cheap - $5.00- pair of flip flops with a similar look that made use of my fabric scraps.

FYI-I hear that Old Navy is having a sale on flip flops this Sat- $1.00 a pair- how can you beat that!?

I used small pieces of my own hand dyed fabric and recycled fabric scraps in colors that would compliment the sandals.

I cut them into 1/2"- 1 " strips and lined them up in row.

I sewed them together with lots and lots of messy stitches.

I made two strips- one for each sandal- long and wide enough to use.

I cut a small strip, wide enough to wrap around the toe piece.

I wrapped it around,

and used embroidery thread to sew it together (as tight as possible).

I did the same thing for each of the straps- I wrapped the fabric around the sandal and hand sewed the top of the strip to the fabric on the toe piece and then made my way down the entire strap with colorful thread.

I made sure it was VERY messy and NOT perfect :)

I am BEYOND thrilled with the result- they are actually more comfy with the fabric, very secure (they made it through a scary hike down rocky trails to the beach) AND SUPER cute :)

I liked the first pair so much that I made another pair in neutral colors (these are my favorite!)