Wednesday, March 24, 2010

How versatile is freezer paper? Oh, and where is Flat Stella

This is Flat Stella...This is the message I received to go with her "A FLAT STELLA PICTURE FOR YOU TO PRINT OUT AND TAKE PICTURES WITH AND THEN SEND BACK TO ME!
My niece's 1st grade class drew pictures of themselves and sent it to friends. It is the duty of these friends to take the "Flat" version of the artist and take pictures of where it went and mail it back. So I scanned it in and sent it to some friends to print out and... here's where Flat Stella has been. If you want to join the effort of taking Stella on tour of the world, let me know and I'll send you a copy!" Ok, so I didn't really take her anyway. But I bet no-one else chopped her up and made her into a dress eh!
This is what I am making today... skip the ramble if you like. I have been on blogging withdrawal


How cute is Sophie in her new top. I know that the blog is supposed to be about craft etc, and that the picture is blurry, but she just looks so happy. Anyway, getting back to the point. My Dharma order arrived, and in it there was fabric paint, craft knives and little tiny pots to store paint that I've mixed so that it doesn't dry up. I bought the primary colours and black and white. My freezer paper arrived as well, so as you can imagine, I couldn't wait to get started.


Just so you know...This particular Flat Stella was drawn by a little girl in Germany, passed to her Uncle then to my Dad's American girlfriend, who happens to live in Germany. My Dad, who lives in England sent me the picture as I live in Australia and they wanted Stella to have her picture taken in as many different countries as possible. I'm sure I have over-complicated that way too much.


So, this is Stella with my Adam. He is pointing...not sure why. But this is in my home, which is most definitely in Australia :) My aim was to have it taken near a significant land mark, but with a cranky boy at the end of the school term and an even crankier baby, I though I should just get it done.


Trace Flat Stella onto the dull side of the freezer paper.



And chop her into pieces.


Choose fabric as close to the colour of the pic as possible and iron the stencil pieces onto the back of the fabric, before cutting them out.



Ok, this is a little bit backwards, but you get what I'm doing. This is before I cut her up into pieces. I painted her face on through the freezer paper.


In hindsight, I probably would have only used the freezer paper for her head as fusible webbing/interfacing is much easier to use for applique, and you don't have to remove it afterwards. Plus, you get extra stability on lightweight fabrics.




Stencils made from freezer paper. I just printed out the words, and using it as a stencil, I cut the letters out and ironed them onto the back of the dress.



I mixed a pretty mauve colour with my new fabric paint, and painted it on. It was dry in no time.


I don't have a pic of me peeling it off, as I was far too excited.



The dress is made by tracing a tee shirt of Sophie's and just making it a little longer and wider towards the bottom. The fabric from the dress is an old tee shirt of mine and the sleeves are made from fabric in my stash.


I sewed Stella on the same way that I did this



Sweet baby girl.










10 comments:

  1. Love what you did with the drawing! Lots of fun! If you want to send a photo in an email to Rio Rancho, NM (outside of Albuquerque, I'd enjoy taking a photo of it next to the Sandia Mountains. They are part of the Rocky Mountain Range and they are beautiful! My email address is homeschoolquilter@yahoo.com
    Wendy

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  2. This is so great, I am the child's teacher who got all the students started on Flat Stella! I love how far this is going...my class and I live just outside Washington, D.C. so this Flat Stella is certainly seeing the world. Thank you for all your help in making our project so exciting...and I love the dress you made with Flat Stella!

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  3. Hello,

    Wendy, I have e-mailed you the link to continue Stella's journey...thanks :)

    Leslie, I can't believe that this got back to you so quickly. Thank you so much for popping over and saying hello.

    You guys have made my morning

    Steph xxx

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  4. Actually, Stella is a girl in the United States (I know I'm her uncle) sent that out to your friend in Germany (I went to college with her here) and from there the story goes on.

    See Stella's adventure on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154371&id=580681724

    You're story shall be added to part II which is in the works!

    I LOVE WHAT YOU DID! THANK YOU!

    -Flat Uncle Greg

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  5. Looks like I should read the other posts before I post ;-) How everything is well in Australia!

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  6. Hello Greg,

    Thank you for hopping over. I had intentions to do something fun with Stella, but wasn't sure what. I thought it might be a photo with some gorgeous scenery in the background, then I had a little lightbulb moment and thought that Stella would make a great applique.

    Did your neice draw Stella? How old is she?

    Thanks again for hopping over,

    Steph x

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  7. Fantastic
    A job well done :)

    Dad

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  8. What a fun project. I am so thrilled that you would like to be a guest blogger on my sewing blog. I think you would be an awesome guest blogger. I will be making a schedule of those who wish to do this and then let you know when your turn is up. In the meantime, you can get your post ready ahead of time if you like and email it to me at this email address, trudy dot callan at gmail dot com, not the one on my profile page, with whatever photographs you would like me to put in the post. You can either chose the sewing-related topic you would like to write about, or I can send you interview questions to answer. Just let me know which way you want to go. Look forward to hearing from you.

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  9. Thank you for wishing me a happy birthday.

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  10. This is so cute..a few years ago my cousin did something like this with Flat Stanley! The kids had a lot of fun with it!

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