Thursday, October 20, 2011

Fav Fabrics - Sampler Tutorial & Giveaway!

Fabric and scrapbook design company Basic Grey created a groovy concept for a sampler display canvas. You've likely seen them on other blogs recently - Fat Quarterly had a bunch made up as designer challenges and Amy has done several stunning examples, too. It's cool to see how different people run with the idea of displaying their fav fabrics, notions, trims and even scrapbook paper!

My original plan took a bit of a U-turn. Initially I thought about painting the vines gold and using Christmas fabrics in the circles...sort of a Christmas bauble idea. I considered silk ribbon for embroidering hangers on a few of them, or criss-crossing it over the middle of a few circles as if they were wrapped gifts. The Sharpie Gold Paint pen was a disaster on the canvas. I tested it on the back and it sunk into the canvas with no sheen at all. It was just a dull brown stain. Euw.

Basic Grey Sampler by Poppyprint

So, plan B was Sharpie Silver which looked better (still not what I envisioned, but oh well). Unfortunately, I don't have enough holiday-looking fabric to coordinate with silver so I re-programmed and went with a fav fabrics display for my daughter. She wants us to repaint her bedroom in lime green, purple and turquoise. Hmmm. If I can keep this a secret, it will be a Christmas gift for her. If you'd like to try out a Basic Grey sampler and want some ideas, here's how I did mine:

Basic Grey Sampler by Poppyprint

After the colouring was all done, I scoured my scrap bin for suitable fabrics. Then I cut 3.5" squares of Steam-a-Seam II and stuck it on the back of each scrap, leaving the backing paper ON. Using my GO! Baby and the circle die (thanks Di!), I cut out 2" and 3" circles from the Steam-a-Seam-backed scraps. I also tossed in a few hand dyed wool pieces for a hit of saturated colour. I hadn't considered cutting wool with the GO!, but Paulette recently did a whole bunch and it worked perfectly!

Basic Grey Sampler by Poppyprint

Then I laid everything out with a few buttons and took a photo for reference. All the backing papers were peeled off and, as is typical of me, I chucked the photo and rearranged most of the pieces in a different way. To hold them in place temporarily, I used a Clover mini-iron, just heating the very centre of each circle. This little iron would have crushed the felted wool, so Roxanne's Glue did the job on those ones (honestly, I hadn't intended for this post to become such a product placement....I really have all this stuff and I really use it!).

Basic Grey Sampler by Poppyprint

Now with everything secured, I turned the canvas frame over so I could press firmly from the back to adhere each circle permanently.

Basic Grey Sampler by Poppyprint

I found the whole display rather flat at this point, so it was time for some buttons and embroidery to add texture.

Basic Grey Sampler details
I know the pottery puppy button seems like a complete non sequitur, but if you know D, you know there is nothing she loves more than dogs. I've had these South African-made buttons for ages and this seemed like a place to use one!

Still not completely satisfied, I decided that some ricrac would help frame the whole she-bang so I staple-gunned it around the edges to the back of the frame. A few dabs of hot glue secured it to the canvas. And here you have it:

Basic Grey Sampler by Poppyprint

Now that you see how easy and fun it is to create a display of your fav fabrics, do you want to try one? Have you got a horde of cherished scraps, or bits of baby clothes, or grandma's button collection to display? Basic Grey will send one lucky reader a canvas sampler of their choosing (there are three different styles). If you'd like to leave ONE comment below I will use the random number generator to pick a winner on Saturday morning, Oct.22. The samplers are available to purchase online here.

PLEASE: Your email must be linked to your comment, or written in your comment to win. Use "name(at)network(dot)com" format if you like.

Edited: Comments are now closed, thanks for visiting!

68 comments:

**nicke... said...

such a cute sampler!

Amy Friend said...

I'm not joining the giveaway but I just wanted to say that I love the little embroidery details. Sorry that the gold didn't work out and you lost your Christmas display...but lucky daughter :)

Tiffany said...

O my gosh I love that puppy at the bottom!!

This is a very cool way to display favorite fabrics. I need to be more creative... everything I buy is tagged for a quilt... so I need to make about 200 before I die to use my fabric... must find other uses for fabric! lol

drmithome said...

Love your take on this.

Andrea said...

I've been eyeing those....I would love to do a trio of these for my hallway. Thanks for adding a great description/tutorial of how you put it all together!

Gill said...

I love what you've done with your sampler and I'd love to have a go too!!
Thanks!

marie said...

What a great project, your daughter will love it.

Joan said...

Very nice sampler! I'd like to try one. Thank you for the opportunity.

Annieofbluegables said...

what a darling sampler. I love how you did yours.
~a

DianeY said...

I love how you did yours! And the color combo should be fun!

PinkGranny said...

I like the concept of this. I have very small scraps I don't want to toss and this is a good way to display them in my sewing room. Thanks for sharing another innovative concept.

Sonia B said...

These are awesome. Thanks for the chance. (And thanks for changing your comment response format . . . the other one never works for me as a google blogger account holder.)

Kelly O. said...

this is beautiful--I'd love to mess with this a bit--looks like fun!

Kara said...

FUN! Thanks for the opportunity to win this! :) Just in case my e-mail address isn't linked, though I'm pretty sure it is- karadaniellesanders@gmail.com .

{Leila}Where the Orchids Grow said...

Very cute! I think it's a brilliant idea these samplers look like such a fun little project!

Nina Lise@Mrs Moen said...

That looks like fun; your turned out great!
I wouldn't mind spending a few hours playing with one of those. Not at all.-)

verykerryberry said...

Totally understand the dog button- my daughter would love that too and the rest of the sampler- although she would probably choose black- goth/emo in the making

Angela said...

Oh it definitely looks perfect for a teenage girl! I love how these all take on a life of their own with each new artist's take on it.

I'd love to give one of these a whirl. I've been thinking about making one myself anyway. ;)

Esther said...

Looks like a lot of fun! :)

Lynn said...

Great project!! I would love to make a sampler....thanks for the giveaway.

Sam said...

That sampler looks like so much fun. Yours is so cute.

Jane S. said...

I've seen those samplers on a lot of blogs, but never knew exactly how to go about using one of them. Thanks for showing your process! I think I could do one now and have something pretty when I was finished.

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

I'm not kidding Krista when I say YOURS is my favorite I've seen in blogland! Lucky girl.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

It looks wonderful and will be a super pressie for Ms D!

I love these canvases - thanks for the opportunity xxx

Heather D. said...

Fun!! Thanks for the giveaway. :)

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

I really like that sampler.

Tara said...

I love these! And yours is so cute!!!! Thanks for the chance to win!!

Susan said...

Your sampler is BEAUTIFUL! I don't know whether I could do such a lovel y job as yours but I'd sure love the chance to try!

Christine M said...

I love your sampler. It looks fantastic!

Katie B said...

Ohhh! I have to admit, I've been seeing these around, but I didn't really "get" the concept. Now I do, and I want one!

Emilie said...

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.

quiltmania said...

This looks like a lot of fun! Thanks.

Dianne said...

D is going to LOVE this Krista!! The little dog on the blue ric rac is such a great addition to your fabric choices and stitching. Christmas day excitement coming up!!

Rie said...

It looks fantastic - great work!

Jo Ann said...

Love your finished product - the embroidery is lovely.

JustPam said...

I saw another one of these and thought that is cute, but when I saw yours I thought that is really CUTE! I do have some fabric I love that would be great in one of these. Thanks for the post and the giveaway.

Pinky said...

oh - I want one of these SO bad!!! :) they're just gorgeous, and such a great way to display some of your favourite fabrics!

Tangled in Threads said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sana Saroti said...

This is such an awesome way to display all those lovely fabrics that live in hiding. Yours is beautiful! I love love love that dachshund button. Too cute! At first I didnt see this was a giveaway but oh well, definitely don't mind joining ;-)

Laura said...

I love it!

Miki Willa said...

This turned out great! I haven't seen one of these before, but I will look around now that I have seen yours. What a great way to showcase favorite fabrics when you only have scraps left. Thank you for sharing this.

pinksuedeshoe said...

I love this. It is so cute! I need to do something like this with my favorites too. I think the embroidery and the buttons and the ric rac make a huge difference. Love love love! (Also, those few bits of farmers market make me smile!)

Marie said...

I love the addition of the embroidery and then the surprise of ric rac. I have a thing for ric rac and pom pom fringe for that matter. If you go with those colors for your daughters room it's going to be adorable (unless she's past that stage) then it'll be beautiful!
Thanks for the giveaway!

Live a Colorful Life said...

That is super cute! I love the buttons, especially the dog, and the felted wool. And the colors.

Amy said...

These look like so much fun! Amy @ gasudimack@sbcglobal.net

loralie said...

cute project.
I like the looks of the diamond shaped camvas.

slmartin at vtc dot net

Marcia W. said...

This is a cute smapler and can see using the prize to make something for one of my grandnieces. The touch of embroidery is lovely. Thanks for the giveaway.

Janet said...

This is an interesting idea. Thanks for entering me in the giveaway. Love what you did for your daughter.

amy dame said...

ooh, i'm so jealous that you got to play with one of these! it looks fantastic, the colour combo is gorgeous. the rik rack finishes it really nicely.

back when i did more mixed media art, i used to love Basic Grey's stuff, so it's very cool that they're now making fabric-y stuff too!

this would be so cool for vintage fabrics... ooh, joanne (is that how you spell it?) should make one with her great grandma's scraps!

Indianna said...

Love the canvas - like the 3d idea with the buttons.

Karen said...

We would love to win this; read your blog avidly and am always inspired!
Karen

Digital Misfit said...

I LOVE how your sampler turned out! I want to make one of these with some of my fave fabrics, and a few embroidery motifs.
heidig@gmail.com

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

Super cute, I especially like your embellishment of the samples. Thanks for the chance to win!

Jules said...

i adore these samplers!, they are so cute. What a great idea for using scraps of treasured fabrics.

Anya said...

Wow - how fun! Your daughter will love it!

Michele McLaughlin said...

this is an awesome tutorial! thanks so much for posting it! Gives one so many ideas, especially for scraps! Thanks!!!

Delores said...

Krista, what a lovely project!! You have such an artistic eye. Your daughter will LOVE it!

Christina Lane | The Sometimes Crafter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Consuelo said...

This is great! My grandmother passed away this last February and I had my aunt keep her old house dresses for me to go through because I wanted to save them in some way. This is a perfect! Thanks for sharing.

Val said...

Such a pretty sampler! I've really been wanting to try one of these for our bedroom.

Katherine said...

Love your sampler, Krista! What a beautiful way to enjoy favourite fabrics.

Christine said...

A friend of mine would love this! christinec1234 at yahoo dot com

Kate said...

Looks great! I love it and hope I win :)

bronwen said...

I adore this samplers!! What a great idea! My fingers are crossed!! :)

Unknown said...

That little puppy is just great on there, and I also love the little button bows. Great job with this canvas Krista!

Krista said...

Beautiful! I hope you can keep it a surprise for D! So you really use your clover mini iron? I've always wondered if it would be a purchase that wouldn't get used (in my case).

Arita said...

Great job and lucky D.

Wendy said...

I have been admiring these canvases all over blogland and I love yours, the embroidery really brings it to life.