Laundry bag....more grown up than pirates!

[Apple Tree Crafts]

Finished this one just now, and I quite like it. I've got the 'undies' fabric in cream & blue too...might do one each of those.

Jules

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87/appletreecrafts/DSC01987.jpg

[Seahorse]

hehe, youd have to put 'bigs' on mine.

[indri]

Your laundry bags are really good - I still prefer the pirate one though!

[swirlyarts]

I like those - have you though of doing small travel sized ones?? I've seen them for sale in Matalan and places like that

[littlesnuggler]

It's great, love the 'pants' fabric!

[incywincy]

Its lovely, the washing line fabric is fab! Well done you.

What fabric do you use for the letters? FELT? just wondering!

[Apple Tree Crafts]

...it's more accurate to work with.

Just wish I could get more shades. I'm toying with the idea of buying wool felt and cold water dying it. There's a worry about it not being totally colourfast though.

I'd love a duck egg shade, and some better pinks, and a crisp pistachio would be nice too....*sigh*

Talking of letters, should I change the font?

Jules

[incywincy]

...it's more accurate to work with.

Just wish I could get more shades. I'm toying with the idea of buying wool felt and cold water dying it. There's a worry about it not being totally colourfast though.

I'd love a duck egg shade, and some better pinks, and a crisp pistachio would be nice too....*sigh*

Talking of letters, should I change the font?

Jules

Felt is great to work with and looks fab on your bags. Have a look at this website... usually has a wide range of colours...
http://www.quilting-and-stitching.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=4&osCsid=066b23577643164be80a49d7fa187be8
or her eBay shop ... http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Monikas-Quilting-and-Stitching-Box_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm
I love the font... what do you use as templates? sorry being really nosey!

[Apple Tree Crafts]

Her felt is great, and it's always, always good quality and evenly felted. I don't know her, but I used to live not far away from her in Inverurie. I wasn't into felt back then though.....typical! I have every shade she sells, but you know what it's like when you're matching fabrics...I get a bit 'perfectionist' about it.

I use computer fonts, the one on the laundry bags is Comic Sans. I blow them up to whatever size I need, print onto sheets of card and make templates that way. I get a huge choice of fonts and sizes doing it like that. I have one font called Sixties that would look good on the grown up bags.

Once you've got your template, iron a piece of Bondaweb to your felt and draw around your template (get the letters the wrong way around) and cut out your letters.....and you're done.

One other thing I do, is once the letters are cut out, I take a pair of very sharp fine point scissors and snip at an angle, like a bevelled edge, all the way around. Just barely trim it, it takes off loose fibres and bits of fuzz that mess up the outline.

Jules

[incywincy]

I started to get annoyed using card for templates and have now spent many hours cutting out all my letters in thick calico, seems a bit more durable/flexible and I hope they will last a bit longer!
I haven't actually used any fonts? as I wanted them to look a bit child like and uneven, so they are all just sketch onto the calico then cut out.

You can tell your a bit of a perfectionist as your fabrics are matched perfectly x
I also spend hours hunting for the right fabrics. Its hard looking on the net though as your never sure the colours in the pics are true.

[Apple Tree Crafts]

I found a pistachio and a mediteranian blue/green in Monika's shop, so I've bought those. Pinks are still a bit of problem, but I'll keep looking.

I use cardboard template for everything small. I was taught that way at primary school and it works for me. I even use cardboard templates if I'm working with fondant icing for cakes - lay the template on the icing and whizz round with a scalpel, then just smooth the edges.

Is is hard matching fabrics on the internet. Thousands of times I've bought a fabric to match one I already had, it's arrived and doesn't match...but I've got so much fabric now that chances are it'll match something.

I ought to go to FA - Fabricaholics Anonymous - so acute is my addiction.

Jules

[swirlyarts]

If you get fed up of using cardboard then use little wooden templates - thats what I used when I was teaching to do all the letters for displays etc. Limited though to only one size/font style but might be worth a try. Hmmmm - I think I may still have mine knocking about in the loft somewhere - know what I'll be doing this weekend!!