Free For All - July - Stencilled Heart

We are so excited to introduce you to our latest Design Team member....Caroline Scattergood.  Caroline has been crafting for many years and as well as being a very talented paper crafter she is also fantastic at working with fabric.  She will be working mainly with our masks and stencils to show you all the amazing things that you can do with them.....but not necessarily on paper.....we can't wait.  (Don't forget there is still time to apply for 2 more positions on our design team to join our super talented crew.  There is a page at the top with all the details....closing date is 31st July).....I'll pass you over to Caroline now :)

Hi there!  This is my first DT post for Tando Creative and I am concentrating mainly on the Tando Masks/Stencils, although I am sure to wonder on over to papercrafting from time to time!  I love working with fabric and I love home decor so combining the two is just wonderful!  I also love dressmaking and have a ton of garments ready to be altered.  I also really like wood engraving - stencils are useful for this too -  its a bit noisy but I love it.  I also have a thing for beads and buttons and whilst I might make the odd jewellery item I do love incorporating them into my fabric creations.

I have three children, if you can call them that, Abi is 21, Jake is 19 and Cam is 16.  And I must not forget my very fluffy and furry friend Sam, our border collie dog.  He is my daily companion.  He pretty much follows me everywhere.  But he's not allowed near my fabric, lol.

For my first DT project, and for the July Free For All I made made this heart using the Bird and Branch mask.

How to:

• Find some scraps of fabric to make your heart - my finished heart is approx. 18cm x 16cm and I used some blue cotton and calico.
• Take your chosen stencil and using ink stencil out your design - I used some Maya Road spray which I've had for a while.  If you are making something like this which won't need to be washed then you can use pretty much any spray ink.  I do recommend heat setting it with an iron to give it more stability.  Its advisable to test whatever sprays you have onto fabric first though, some may bleed more than others. After heat setting the ink on this heart is quite stable, I did test it with sprays of water and it did stay put but it wouldn't be suitable for a full-on wash!  Obviously, if you are stenciling onto fabric which will need to be washed then you need a fabric ink or paint.

Pop it into a hoop to keep the fabric stretched

• Once you have happy with your stenciled design you might like to add some stitching and beads - I did some free-motion stitching along the stems and leaves and a few of the flowers.  I then did some hand-embroidery along the main branch adding in beads as I sewed.  I added a couple more beads to the centre of a couple of flowers too.

• Cut out your design into a heart shape - I used a Fiskars heart template and drew around it with a pen.  I then cut out another two bigger heart shapes in the blue fabric.  

Use an air erasable pen

•  Place the stenciled heart on top of the blue heart and stitch.  With right sides together stitch this heart to the remaining blue heart.  Leave a gap for stuffing and if you want it to hang then its at this point you add ribbon too.  I then added further beading and buttons and bits along the top of the heart for further decoration.

♥