Tedious.....continued

Don't try this at home.

In my effort to prepare for a sewing spree.....

I suspected cutting this stencil from the Alabama/Chanin website would be difficult, but had no idea.

First of all, did anyone notice that the Peace Sign stencil pattern was justified in a less than desirable way?

And in my opinion not condusive to stenciling a skirt, that's for sure.

(Well I guess it depends on how short the skirt is, and mine won't be a mini.)

So I set out to correct this.  And I'm sure there was an easier way.

However,  this is how I approached it.

First I retrieved two of my enlarged copies.....

and taped them together,

cutting away the unusable parts....

I made them the size of the original paper.

Then since I ran out of pennant felt I searched for a suitable masking material for the stencil.

I found a large sheet of lightweight chipboard left over from my bookbinding days and decided to use that.

I forgot how sturdy that board is.

Then I sprayed the pieces with light fabric adhesive and set out to cut the stencil.

Which, using a scalpel, is very painful on the fingers....

AND tedious

But I found a way to have fun with it and appreciate it's beauty and light.

 My advice is to take your time if you are so ambitious to tackle this project.

And so will I.

Give Peace a Chance

The process......

In my effort to move forward with sewing some frocks for myself.......

I am making some preparations.

I have some ideas brewing.......goodness knows I have enough clothing to last me forever really......

but it's nice to have pretty new things (and a stitching project in hand) to change it up a bit.....

and I have some 'favorites' I'm toying around with the idea of copying to make some patterns.  

Now this will require A LOT of thought, since I've not done it before and I will keep you posted on that.

So this is what I'm doing now.

I've downloaded some stencil patterns from Alabama/Chanin's resource page

and taken them to the printer to enlarge them 300%

This is an effort to save pennies since they are all available on their website....

I have chosen two patterns to start.....

the 'bit tricky' Anna's Garden,

and the potentially tedious

 Peace Sign

...all the while KNOWING it would be more satisfying and reflective of my esthetic if conjured up some designs of my OWN....

But even tho this is a lot of work, it seems more judicious to move forward this way for now.

The process involves spraying the backside of the large copy with light adhesive and adhering it to 'pennant felt'......which I've used here
(and can also be purchased on the Alabama/Chanin website here)
or other sturdy masking material.  

Then......it's just simple (not exactly) cuts away with a scalpel from being 'done'....

and on to the the next part....

whenever I decide what that is