#Quick Crafty Makes 1 - Typography

Quick crafty makes...what's that all about?  Well, I will be posting speedy makes that take under 2 hours to create and achieve a respectable, if not wonderful outcome.  This idea came about due to my lack of time, I'm a working mum who tends to be rushing around most of the time.  I'm sure this sounds familiar to most parents who work and have a family.

Luckily I work part time but I still have to manage the house, school runs, nursery etc etc, don't get me wrong I'm not complaining I'm just busy!  The only time I get to apply myself totally is when my baby has his nap time which last about 2 hours, I can whip out my scissors, pins, sewing machine etc and get stuck in. (See my previous post for more on this).

The technique used is free-motion machine embroidery, this is where you essentially draw using the thread on your sewing machine.  It's a really easy technique you just need to have your machine set up properly.  Click on the link below for a great website with more info on this.

Nells Embroidery - how to set up your machine

You will need:

A sewing machine capable of free motion sewing

An embroidery hoop

A selection of different colour threads

A sturdy fabric (light weight fabrics such as chiffon might be problematic)

A pencil for marking out your design

If possible get all your equipment ready in advance so you can optimise the time available for actually sewing.

1. On your computer select a letter and font, print this out to the size you require, the bigger the letter the longer it may take.

2. There are two approaches to step 2 I've tried both.

a. Pin your print out to your chosen fabric then place both in the embroidery hoop.

b. Using a pencil lightly trace your font on to your fabric, this is less bulky and in my opinion gives a better result.

3. Ensure your fabric is nice and taught in the embroidery hoop, when tapped the fabric should sound like a dull drum.

4. You can now begin to free-motion sew your design on to the fabric.  Don't worry too much about your sewing being ultra neat, this technique is supposed to be a bit haphazard.  It's up to you how much density your design has, the more you sew the denser the design will be.

NB: if you are sewing over a paper template you will need remove the paper at this point, try to remove as much as you can.  I know some people like to leave parts of the paper on their design to add texture.  If you like the way this looks go for it.

5. Once you are happy with your outline you can now add some colour or maybe not, it's up to you.

6. Finally, press and trim off any loose threads (if you want leave some threads there to add further interest to your design then do).

And...voila you are done!

I love this technique, I did have some problems initially with tension and my needle broke a few times but I did manage to do a whole letter in under 2 hours.

If you decide to give this a go I'd love to hear how you get on.

Lou x

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