Octavia Frosted Winter Cushion Tutorial Part 1

Crikey get me posting two days in a row! As promised I'm back with a tutorial to make the cushion I showed you yesterday. I've decided to break the tutorial down into three parts due to the fact that it's quite a big project and I want to be able to give lots of hints and tips along the way. In addition I upgraded to Windows 10 and it has caused a problem with my printer which has delayed this tutorial slightly.

I've listed everything below that you need for the project, but the important things are obviously the CD or Digital Download, Reynolds Freezer Paper, Plain Fabric (I used cheap polycotton curtain lining), Bonda Web and a sewing machine or needle and thread. If you can't get the Freezer Paper you can substitute it with low tack spray glue and card but I found this didn't work as well for me. You could also use the pre prepared fabric sheets that can be bought easily online, although that would not be a cheap option.

Firstly cut a sheet of freezer paper to your required size (my printer takes A3 paper so I used that but if your printer can only do A4 that will be fine too, you'll just have to join your fabric or make a different shaped cushion).

Next take the curtain lining and press it flat, then cut so that it slightly overhangs the freezer paper. With the shiny plastic coated side of the paper facing upwards, lay the fabric over the paper and then starting from the centre of the fabric carefully rub the iron over the entire area. The fabric and paper should now be lightly bonded.

Next trim the fabric down to your paper size. I used a guillotine as it gives a nice neat edge with no frayed bits. If after trimming the fabric you have a problem with the fabric curling away on the corner re-iron that area and allow to cool. Alternatively you can use a very small piece of tape, but be aware that this area will not have any print.

It is important that there are no raggy edges as they will most likely snag in your printer. You are now ready to print onto your fabric. Place the fabric into the manual feed slot of your printer and then press print. Your print settings should be as shown in the picture below.

Once the fabric has printed you can carefully remove the paper and put it to oneside to use for the next panel (I used a single piece of freezer paper for 5 panels of fabric). Gently iron the printed fabric and then repeat the above process to create as many sheets as you need.

If you notice black smudges on the edges of your fabric, don't panic! Most of them will be removed when you cut the cushion to size and if you should happen to have any left they can easily be hidden with a bit of acrylic paint or some careful placement of lace or ribbon! We'll cover that in more depth if need in part three of this tutorial.

Hopefully I've not put you off and you'll join me for part 2 of this project where we will print and prepare the images and embellishments.

If you have any questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire x

PolkaDoodles Octavia Frosted Winter Christmas Cushion

Have you seen the latest launch from PolkaDoodles? It's an absolutely stunning collection and available as a download or on CD. I was lucky enough to be asked to make samples for the Create and Craft show, sadly I only had time to complete this project. I do however, have at least four UFO's sitting on my dining room table!

Now, I'll be honest I'm not a sewer but do have a love of fabric and textiles. I've had this idea floating around in my head for an absolute age and as soon as I spotted some of the lush papers in the collection I knew that it was time to try and make it a reality. I will have a full tutorial on my blog tomorrow showing you exactly how I made the cushion, in the meantime here's a brief description.

I printed the digital papers and images onto a piece of A3 fabric. Before attempting to cut out the images and embellishments I ironed Bonda-Web.

Next I decided that I wanted to add some texture and dimension to the cushion so I tried to print directly onto felt..... epic fail! Not to be deterred I decided to try printing onto t-shirt transfer paper and iron that onto the felt. I think it worked pretty well despite the fact that it changed the colours significantly (just to give you an idea of how much the colour changed, the flowers should be the same red as the "25")

Once I'd printed and cut out all of the elements I set about assembling the cushion. Now this is where I panicked... it all sounded really easy in my head but there was one small problem... I'm not an experienced sewer and there were sooooo many elements to this project that it completely overwhelmed me! I put it to oneside intending for it to stay as a UFO but then I thought I've spent so much time effort that it's stupid not to finish it. So with that I removed the backing from the Bonda-web and ironed and stitched my pieces into place!

I don't think I'm too unhappy with the end result - it's far from perfect but for an experiment and first attempt it's come out OK. There are things I'd do differently and definitely things that I'd be aware of (like making sure you cut the fabric with the weave going the same way) but hey it's been a good learning curve.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire x

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Octavia Frosted Winter

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Little Claire's Digi Challenge - Christmas
Creative Corner - Anything but a card
CRAFT - Christmas
Crafting By Design - Get Ready For Christmas
A Snowflakes Promise - Christmas
Not Just Cards - Anything Goes
2 Creative Chicks - Anything Goes
Altered Ecletics - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything goes
Crafty Time - Anything but a card