The Wonderful World of Freezer Paper (tutorial)!

I love to sew. And believe it or not, I like to hand sew (I use to hate it with every fiber of my being!).

But most of the time I hand sew is small things. Those are mostly stuff made out of felt, and the ones that are not turned inside out and all the "markings" are hidden.

I will draw out what I want to make and cut out my patterns and tape them to my felt and start cutting. 

The thing about doing that is well, it sucks. The tape is too sticky and causes the felt to "fluff" and distort when I peel it off.

And if I would trace a marker around the pattern, it would show, all the edges would be a different color and, and, ...  A HUGE MESS!

Example:

SO when I read about freezer paper, I got my hopes up.

 This thing is HUGE

And now I will sing praises and do little dances to show my love for this wonderful stuff of wonders!

I thought that I would show you how awesome this stuff is.

I tried it out on my dolls.

Worked perfectly!

 First of all:

Freezer paper has two sides, a paper side and a plastic-y/waxy side. 

The latter side is the side that temporarily adheres to the fabric. 

I had a pattern ready to trace on the paper side of the freezer paper.

 Next, lay the pattern on the piece of fabric, pattern facing up with shiny side down.

 Now with a hot dry iron, press the paper to the fabric and hold for a moment. 

All of the ones that ironed, took under a minute to adhere, test it by trying to peel the paper off the fabric, if it sticks, it's ready.

 

 After I cut out my shape, the paper stayed suck to the felt.

 With almost no effort, the paper easily peeled away!

No residue, nothing!

This last picture is to show the difference between the ones I used the freezer paper and traced directly onto the felt. The top one you can tell by the orange maker left on the edges.

So I can't say enough about how happy I was with this technique. I will NEVER go back!

Wedding fever, kinda

I'm friends with a couple that are getting married in August.
Not only are my husband and I invited but they also asked me to make their cake!! I can't wait. I did a friend's wedding cake last year and it was an awesome yet stressful experience.

With that last wedding I also made my dress. So to keep up the tradition, I will make another dress!

I picked up this pattern at the only Walmart near me that still sells them and fabric.
Since it is in August and an outdoor wedding (not sure about the reception) it will be warm out.
I want to make the halter style (the white one, at the bottom). I like the kind of fabric that is white with a little black pattern to it. Now my hunt for this kind of fabric begins!

I'm also thinking of making a simple petticoat to wear under it to give it a little flare. I have a loads of light weight soft tulle. Or I could just a little tulte to the bottom of the dress. I've got a couple of options.

But I hope that finding the right shoes to match won't be to hard to find.

I can't resist a sale!

Last week Jo Ann Fabrics had all Simplicity patterns for $1
So I ran over there and picked up the pattern that I have had my eye on for years! I could never really get myself to fork over $14 on a pattern, so when I saw the sale I HAD to buy it. I have been wanting to make a corset for a few years now.


Then this week I was wondering around in Hobby Lobby and saw that they had McCall's patterns on sale for 99 cents! So I thought that I would pick up a fun one that wasn't clothing. The cakes and cupcakes look so cute! I have a lot of fabric remnants laying about so that will take care of those. :)
And last night I was at Walmart with my hubby and I picked up another pattern for a cute summer dress. I've been obsessed with light flowy dresses lately, and been wanting them badly.

I have a sewing project that I have almost done with. All that I have left is the buttons holes!


But my machine started acting up on me before I could finish the first hole! Grrr...
I WILL NOT give up! No I won't. I just needed a break before I threw it out the window.

The thing that gets me about patterns are that they are not "regular" sizes that I'm use to. If I buy a shirt off the rack its a size 6 but these patterns run small so I'm like a size 8 or 10. It drives me nuts.

I'm coming along on all my christmas gifts that I'm working for everybody. I'm almost done with one. I will post it when it's completed.