Sunday, July 5, 2009

Housewarming

My good friend Rachel just moved into a new apartment in Los Angeles. I wanted to give her a housewarming gift that would be useful, but of course I had to make it. She had mentioned the other day that she needed an apron, so I got to work. I love the combination of fabrics here. It reminds me of something from Anthropologie. The pattern is from Anna Maria Horner's "Seams to Me."



I also appliqued fabric shapes on a new set of chocolate brown towels. It's an incredibly easy process, and it makes them look so much more interesting!

Supplies:
  • Bath towels
  • Fabric
  • Interfacing (the thin kind that feels like paper, not fabric)
  • Thread in a contrasting color

The first step is to decide what shape you want to cut out of your fabric. I chose a pretty vintage Japanese print that already had little diamonds in different colors.

Using the steam setting on your iron, press the bubbly side to the wrong side of the fabric. After it cools you should feel that it thickens and stiffens the fabric. Now cut out your shape.

Note: Rather than iron on the entire interfacing (and waste fabric), I chose which colored diamonds I wanted to use, and just ironed the interfacing on those, and cut them out individually.



At this point I usually press the shapes one more time, to make sure that the interfacing has really "applied" itself. Again, let the shapes cool and peel off the interfacing. You should have a slightly sticky residue on the back of the fabric.



Place the shapes where you want them on the towel, and iron once more to set. Now they are lightly glued to the fabric, so they won't shift while you're sewing.

Play around with the zig-zag setting on your machine until you get a stitch that you like. I like to clearly see the thread, so I used a stitch width of 2 and a stitch length of 1, in a contrasting color. Work your way around the shape, and don't forget to backstitch at both ends!