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Thursday, December 17, 2009

christmas applique tea towels

Another quick and easy neighbor or teacher gift for all you last minute crafters! I cut Christmas trees out of fabric using my Slice machine and the Fa La La design card (did you know that thing could cut fabric? Sweet!) and appliqued them on flour sack dish towels, which I found in a pack of 5 for $5.50 at WalMart. This is a fun way to use up your fabric scraps--they don't even have to be Christmas patterns. Green and red will do! Then I added a little ribbon, trim, and buttons. Seriously, the hardest part was threading the needle to sew on the buttons!






The only trick to know about cutting fabric with your Slice is that you need to iron on some Heat 'n Bond iron-on adhesive on the back first. Leave the paper on the back while you cut, then peel it off and iron your shape on your fabric. I use the Heat 'n Bond Lite so I can zig zag stitch around the shape. But if you don't own a sewing machine, you could still do this project using the no-sew Heat 'n Bond Ultrahold. They even have it in tape for the ribbon! When cutting fabric with the Slice, I think the less intricate your shape, the better. If you have a Slice, you have got to try this!

18 comments:

  1. genius, looks adorable. I have a teacher gift to make tonight. Yay!!!

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  2. Very cute!! I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
    http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-tea-towels-with-christmas-tree-appliques/2009/12/17/

    --Anne

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  3. So cute! I want to try a craft project with flour sack towels... can't believe you found them at Walmart (Amazon wanted like $12 for 2 or something insane). Were they with the other dishtowels, or in another section? Thanks!

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  4. really cute...i have 4 tea towels waiting to be made for gifts still...need to finish them up.

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  5. Final teacher gift complete (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tallynt/4194019501/) - thank you so much for getting me inspired, directions, etc.

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  6. Those are soooo cute! Love them!

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  7. I haven't done tea towels yet, but the women in my hubby's family would love them! I AM going to do initial t-shirts for each of my kids, as soon as I figure out when they won't be watching ... probably a late night for mama!

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  8. Yep, the towels are just in the regular kitchen towel aisle. And they really are the best towels for drying dishes--so absorbent!

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  9. I have a Slice waiting for me under the tree. I can't wait to try some dish towels.

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  10. I love the idea of using your Slice to cut the fabric. A tip when using those towels is that you can cut them in half and get 10 out of the pack!

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  11. These are so cute! I can imagine TONS of possabilities.

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  12. way cute!!! these would be perfect for just about any holiday!!!

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  13. I don't have a slice, but I have a Cricut and I've never tried cutting fabric with it. Do you know anything about that?

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  14. Jenna, I don't have a Cricut, but you can cut fabric the same way you do with the Slice--meaning you have to iron on some iron-on adhesive on the back first. Here's a link to some tips for using the Cricut on fabric!

    http://www.psychomoms.com/Cricut/ClassProjects/CuttingFabric/FabricTips.pdf

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