Today, I’m part of book tour which covers a set of Christmas craft books from StitchCraftCreate. The obvious choice would have been to pick a sewing book, but my attention was immediately drawn by the beautiful cover of a book with washi tape projects. How sweet wouldn’t it be to translate a washi project to a sewing project?
Washi Tape Christmas by Kami Bigler is filled with cute washi projects like Christmas cards, garlands, wreaths, table decorations, and tree ornaments. You can find the book in a paper and a digital version in the handmade Christmas section of the publisher.
I took my inspiration from the project on the cover. But how to turn this into a sewing project? My first thought was to use iron-on transfer vinyl (‘flockfolie’) to create washi, but I didn’t have the right colors for it. So I turned to my fabric stash, and picked out some scraps in some of my favorite colors. Below is how I made them into fabric washi.
Tutorial: Fabric washi tape
Materials:
– scrap pieces of cotton
– fusible interfacing (I used Vliesofix)
– scissors, iron
1. Take some scrap fabric, and iron pieces of fusible interfacing on the wrong side.
2. Let the pieces cool down, and then peel off the paper.
Note: it may seem more sensible to first cut the strips of washi tape (step 3), and then peel off the paper, but it is not. Firstly, it’ll take much more time to peel off the paper of each individual washi strip. Secondly, peeling off the paper is not always easy, and may cause your edges to start fraying.
3. With your fabric scissors, cut strips of washi tape out of the fabric.
4. Press the strips onto your main fabric. Double check that you are putting the sticky side down, so that your strips stick to your fabric, and not to your iron.
I chose to press the washi strips on a simple treat bag, to be filled with delicious cookies. But you can press them on whatever you like, of course. A tote bag, perhaps, or a fabric bin, maybe? You could probably even use it for clothes, though I think that multiple washes might make the edges of the washi tape fray. For clothing, transfer vinyl might be a better option.
Below I explain how I made the treat bag.
Tutorial: Simple treat bag.
Materials:
– sewing machine, scissors, pins, thread
– 1 piece of heavy-weight fabric with these dimensions:
Width: circumference of bag + (2 x seam allowance*)
Height: (depth of bag / 2) + height of bag + 3 cm (11/8“)
*Note: I stitched the sides with a French seam, so I used a seam allowance of (0,5 + 0,7)= 1,2 cm; or in inches: (1/4″ + 3/8″) = 5/8″
1. First, I stitched the side seam. I opted for a French seam, but you can also just serge the edges and then stitch with right sides together.
Here is how I made the French seam. First, I stitched the sides with wrong sides together with a 0,5 cm (1/4″) seam allowance, and pressed the seam allowance to one side.
Then, I stitched them with right sides together with a 0,7 cm (3/8″) seam allowance, and pressed.
2. Next, I folded the top edge to the wrong side by 1 cm (3/8″) and press. I again folded in by 1 cm (3/8″) an pressed. I stitched all the way around.
3. Then, I closed the bottom with a 1 cm (3/8″) seam allowance.
4. I folded one of the bottom corners in half as illustrated below, and pressed firmly with my fingers, so as to create a crease. Repeat for the other corner. These diagonal creases will be helpful in the next step.
4. I took one of the bottom corners and pulled the two layers apart a bit. I folded them flat again, this time on the diagonal seams which I made in the previous step. My bottom seam and side seam were then right on top of each other. I pressed the new folds so everything would stay in place (pinning is a good alternative).
5. Finally, I stitched a line perpendicular to the side seam. The length of this new seam should equal the depth of the treat bag. I repeated this step for the other corner. You can cut off the excess fabric and serge, but you can also just fold the ‘triangles’ towards the bottom for extra strength.
6. I turned the bag right side out and pressed everything well. I wanted the bags to have a bit of a ‘boxy’ look, so also pressed the side edges.
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