sew trendy

hello and welcome to a project i cannot wait* to show you! it's my card for the let's get trendy now 3 workshop, and since today's trend is sewing, i went all out with my sewing machine as well as a tapestry needle and embroidery floss!

(ingredients**: pink background digi paper (printed on kodak premium photo paper) from "cherry sugar sunshine" by girl friday (which seems to have gone out of print-sorry!); leafy green may arts ribbon; cuttlebug die-cut heart from a scrap of anna griffin paper; white leaf-print mulberry paper from pearl paint; a doily from the dollar store; some polish postage stamps saved from a parcel; vintage instamatic photo sleeve from my fellow "trendy guest designer" miss kirsty; vintage zinna illustration from an old gardening book; vintage crocheted-edge seam binding from a rummage sale; dmc embroidery floss; coats and clarks extra strong upholstery thread; staples brand gluetape runner; 3m foam tape; gluedots; colorbox ink)

my favorite part of this is the hand-stitched HAPPY! it's also the "tip" i used for my part of the "let's get trendy" sewing trend post, so my apologies if you've already read it, but i think it's a pretty good idea: i used my computer to format the word (in "moderne" font) to fit my card and printed it on an inkjet transparency, which i used as a template to pierce my holes for stitching. then i threaded all 6 strands of dmc floss into a #24 tapestry needle, and backstitched across the whole word. (there's a step-by-step tutorial showing exactly how i did this, right below this post, if you need it!) 

the rest of the stitching on this card was done by machine. i went around the perimeter of the instamatic photo sleeve in order to hold the vintage zinnia illustration firmly in there, and also to add a little more interest and texture. i went around the perimeter of the card, as well, just to sort of "outline" the edge; the white thread on the grungy background really adds a lot of contrast. finally, i machine-stitched that cool vintage seambinding to the lower edge of the photo frame by slotting the paper right into the folds of the trim... exactly like you would a fabric creation! :)

here's a slightly larger pic of the collage in which you can (sort of!) see the way i've attached everything. one of my favorite collage tips (i know, i know, i'm supposed to focus on sewing, just consider this a "bonus" ok?!) is to "step back from the edge"! by which i mean: you don't need to always glue all of your layers down 100% tightly! yes, you want enough adhesive to keep everything from moving around, but sometimes you get a really COOL effect by gluing the centers of each piece, while letting the edges stay slightly loose. i especially like that for textural elements like mulberry paper and doilies.  

and now i hope you'll check out the rest of today's trendy sewing projects, as well as yesterday's incredible handmade embellishments the AMAZING sequin ones from tuesday, and the neon awesomeness that was monday! plus, remember that there will be one more trend to go live tomorrow! if you like what you see, don't forget to leave our fabulous hostesses yvonne yam, julie tucker-wolek, and amy tsuruta some love... they have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring you ALL THIS TALENT in one place! thanks, you guys, it's been sooooooooo much fun!!! ♥♥♥

*yes, the eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that i was soooooo very excited i accidentally set this up for this YESTERDAY... and then had to take it off and wait another whole day until i was actually supposed to post it!  sorry, guys!!! :0

**this is the kind of "product list" i dread because i've used almost all vintage ephemera, so you can't find EXACTLY the same stuff; on the other hand, what's great about collage is you don't NEED to find exactly the same stuff, use what YOU have and it will be both charming and ♥UNIQUE♥!!!