For a number of years, crafters have been busy dressing up not only the tree and the house with their crafting, but themselves, as well. Big favorites have been sweatshirts with many ironed-on and painted-on decorations and embellishments. This year, I finally got around to trying my hand at a sweatshirt, but it's only temporary. You can do the same.
With all of the holiday patterns available in fabrics, it should not be difficult to find one with some prints that please you. There are those with all-over prints, such as poinsettias, Santas, teddy bears dressed for the holidays, etc., as well as special prints that are made to be cut out and permanently secured with fusible webbing. If you use Stick & Hold, you can adhere the cut-outs to the shirt and remove them when the holidays are over. Store them on sheets of waxed paper, and they should have enough adhesive remaining on the back to use again next year. I don't think it makes any difference whether you use the Stick & Hold that is recommended for crafts or fabric, but DON'T iron the cut-outs or they will then be attached for all time.
After removing the cut-outs, your sweatshirt does not need to go naked for the rest of the year. There are fabrics with designs for Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, the 4th of July, etc. With such a variety of images, you need only one shirt because it can be redecorated according to the holiday. A white, black or dark green shirt will work for almost any season's cut-outs.
Materials:
holiday patterned fabric
Stick & Hold - discontinued
sweatshirt
scissors
Steps:
- Cut out the figure or design from the fabric, leaving a 1/2-inch border or so around all sides. Apply to one side of a piece of Stick & Hold.
- Trim design and remove backing from the Stick & Hold. It helps to first score the backing with the point of a pin, then fold away from the scored line. You should be able to then separate the backing from the adhesive.
- Press cut-out to fabric. If it is necessary to launder the item, remove the fabric press-on.
Decorative Vinyl Table CoversAnother easy decorate-it-yourself idea for the holidays was one given to us by Teri Daniels of JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts. In fact, Teri lent us her Christmas tablecloth as an example. A piece of clear, uncolored vinyl was cut long enough to cover a table and it was then decorated with many stars, swirls, and zigzag lines made with gold and silver metallic dimensional paint. Some of the stars and other designs were filled in with silver and gold glitter, too.
With the exception of a few stars and swirls drawn on the center portion of the "cloth," most were made on the overhang. The color depended on what plain cloth was placed underneath. We used green; red would have been even more colorful. For New Year's Eve, a black or white cloth underneath would be very festive, even formal. The whole look is very versatile.
To further enhance the appearance, Teri cut out large star-shaped pieces of the vinyl and bordered them with sliver glitter paint. These served as place mats. Napkin rings could have been made, too, as Teri did for a birthday party on another show.
Resources fabric
Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts / Jo-Ann Etc.
Website:
www.joann.com
adhesive sheets - Instant Stick & Hold -- discontinued
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