tutorial: appliqueing with used dryer sheets

i'm not a big time holiday or season decorator. what i have up is what i have up all year round, usually. except for a little something here and there.
well here's a tutorial to add a little something springish to your home.
oh and i'm going to show you how you can use old dryer sheets to make it happen.


what you will need.
scraps of fabric (i used one of my opened charm packs of kate spain's Verna line for moda. love that line!)
a metal hoop. or a wood one will be just fine as well.
dryer sheet that's been used already in your dryer.
so your dryer sheet right as it comes out of the dryer is probably really wrinkled.
take your iron to it. but make sure you get a dish towel in between your dryer sheet and your iron. i'm not sure if it would melt it if you did it straight on, but i didn't want to learn that lesson.

next you are going to want to draw your egg on a piece of paper.
i didn't do a pdf on this thinking that an egg is kind of easy to draw. but if enough of you complain that you need a pdf drawing of the egg i'll load it up and make a link. if not then lets move on.

with a sharpie i traced my drawn egg onto my ironed dryer sheet.
originally i was going to do a small egg and a big one, but i changed my mind so please ignore the big egg in these two pictures. pretend it's not there. like the man behind the curtain.

next you are going to take your dryer sheet and place it on top of your fabric (right side facing UP.)
sew on your drawn on line.
cut out your egg and then slit a small area of the dryer sheet. preferably in the middle of your egg.
and use the slit to turn it inside out.
and this is what you should end up with.
next you are going to press your egg with an iron.
i made three eggs this same way.
next you are going to applique on your eggs.
but first you want to get some muslin into your hoop. ( i doubled mine over so it would be thicker)
to applique, you will start with the middle egg.
come up from the back as close as you can to the edge of the egg. and then come up through the very side of the egg.
next you are going to go down directly underneath of where you came up through your egg.
and you are going to do so around your whole egg.
make sure you sew right at the edge of your fold, this will make your stitches invisible.
once you've appliqued all three eggs on there. cut off the excess muslin. (i tried it cutting the muslin before i appliqued and the muslin got loose in the hoop and made it harder to re- tighten it afterward)
uh that last egg looks like it had a few issues. mainly for the fact that i had a squiggly 3 year old on my lap wanting to help. well, it adds character. and my daughter got to help.

and now it rests in my hallway shelf. except that after taking this picture i think i'll move it to the other side so there's a little more color on that side.

i need to get out more.
and speaking of "its almost spring, even though it's still snowing outside where i live"...
i made katie a new dress. for spring.
it's sleeveless.
so she will have to wear a sweater till the snow finally decides to give us a break. so like june or something like that.

hmmm okay well HAPPY MONDAY.
come wednesday we will have another guest tutorial blogger. EXCITING!
we'll talk soon!


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