A Few of My Favorite Things From Attached Inc and Havel's Sewing

Finally, with all my holiday shopping completed, I am getting a chance to return to this fun piece that I had put on hold. I have been in an abstract whirlwind as the year winds down, totally unusual for me but sometimes the art just has to come out as it will. This piece is still a work in progress but I thought I might post a mini tutorial about how I used Transdoodle, Mistyfuse and Goddess Sheets to arrive at this point. These are some of my most favorite products and I thought I would share them with you. They make my life so much easier! I first began with a sketch of unusual cogs and enlarged the main pattern to the desired size. Then came the fun part of choosing fabrics. Here, I chose to pull out all the wild and playful fabrics that had managed to make their way into my stash. I proceeded to iron Mistyfuse, a lightweight fusible to the back of my fabrics using a large Goddess Sheet. Mistyfuse is my absolute favorite fusible as it does not gum up the needles when sewing and does not interfere with the hand of the fabric. The Goddess Sheet is my ultimate choice for pressing sheets. If I get fusible on the pressing sheet, it wipes right off with a kitchen scrubber. Easy to clean, gotta love that!   

Once the Mistyfuse was fused to the back of my fabrics, I transferred my design to the right side of the fabric by placing a sheet of Transdoodle, chalk paper on top of the fabric. I then placed my pattern on top of the Transdoodle and with a mechanical pencil (containing no lead), I traced over the design to transfer the chalk image onto my fabric. Basically, just applying pressure allows the image to be transferred. So easy and no need for a light table or fooling around with trying to reverse the image! Once the design was transferred to the fabric, I used my favorite Havel Scissors to cut the design out. This particular pair of scissors happens to be micro serrated and cuts so beautifully. Such a joy to work with! I am hoping that I will have some time over the holidays to finish this project. As usual, deadlines are looming and I would love to eek out one more project before the New Year arrives. Hope you enjoyed this post and I wish you all, Happy Holidays!