from: http://www.upcraft.it/archives/562

Textiles: Print Your Own Fabrics

June 15, 2010

By Sophie Ball

Epson R1800 pigment inks, with constant feed system.

If you own a printer that uses pigment inks (rather than the cheaper dye based inks) you can follow these instructions and print your own fabrics.
Beware: Some printers do not like printing on fabric, and using this technique could damage your printer.
Now that the warning is out of the way here is how you can print your own fabric:
Choose a light coloured fabric, and cut it to the maximum width that your printer can handle. I have an Epson R1800, so I can take just over A3+ width of fabric. If your printer supports printing from a roll, then you can make the fabric as long as you like.

Attach the fabric to backing paper with double sided tape.

Attach the fabric to a piece of backing paper using double sided sticky tape. The backing paper should be the same width as the fabric, and about the same thickness as copy paper. If you are using a roll feed printer, you could get away with using thin wallpaper or backing paper.You should place the sticky tape at both ends of the fabric, and at several places along the length of the paper.
The purpose of the tape is to stop the fabric from wrinkling up inside the printer, so make sure that the paper and fabric lay flat together without any creases.
Feed the paper into the printer as though it were thick card. On the Epson R1800 I use the roll feed to accept the paper, because the paper enters the printer at a shallower angle.
Create your design on the computer, and print it out. Keep a constant eye on the printer, and watch that the fabric doesn’t get creased or jam up the head. You might want to fiddle around with the brightness / colour settings on your printer to get the design looking right. Each fabric is slightly different, so experimentation is going to be necessary.

Leave the ink to dry for a few minutes, and then remove the backing paper.

Let the design dry for a few minutes, and then pull the fabric off the backing paper. The design should be safe to machine wash, but make sure it’s a cool wash. Hand washing might be preferable if it’s the first time you’ve tried this technique, because not all inks are the same.

Close up of fabric print, showing texture of fabric.

When the material is dry, iron at low temperature on the reverse side, with a piece of scrap cloth underneath – just in case the colours transfer by heat.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Goodie Goodie

Gumdrops!

Pretty little homemade gumdrops.
I found a recipe for them in the book Celebrating Candy and wanted to give these sugary treats a try.
Plus, it’s just fun to try new things.

You’ll need some unflavored gelatin…

…four tablespoons or about six envelopes.
Add the gelatin to cold water to soften.

And then add sugar and boil.
Pour the mixture into pans…

…and add a little bit of flavored extract.

Of course you’ll want to make them in a few colors.

You’ll only need to add a drop or two of food coloring though.

Here’s where I could have made things go a little easier. I didn’t have the recommended pan size to make these. Instead I had this large pan with nine much smaller cavities.
Let’s just say I got myself into a sticky situation.

After you pour the mixture into the pans, you’ll need to let it chill overnight in the fridge so it will set up and allow you to cut it into cubes.
This is where it would have helped to have a bigger pan. I made quite a mess trying to remove the set gelatin out of these small shapes.

But after a little struggling, I managed to get cute cubes that I could cover in sugar.
Now the hard part. Let them sit for a couple of days to crystallize.
Ugh. Waiting.

See. I told you I struggled. But about halfway through pouring into the pans I decided to spray a few with Pam even though the recipe didn’t require it. I was skeptical.
So when in doubt, spray … or use non-stick pans. That could have made it less messy, too.

These were so fun to see actually come together. Despite my sticky fingers.

But even more fun was packaging them into cute little goodie bags.

Goodie Goodie Gumdrops.
I made these labels to fit 3.75 X 6 inch treat bags. (Print the Goodie Goodie pdf )
You can use these for other treats, too.
Cute. Cute.

The bags will hold about 8-9 gumdrops each depending on how big you cut your cubes.
Goodie Goodie Gumdrops
4 Tbsp gelatin (that’s about 6 envelopes)
1 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups boiling water
4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp flavored extract like lemon or peppermint
1-2 drops food coloring (I used four colors)
extra sugar for coating
……………………………………………
3.75 X 6 inch treat bags
Goodie Goodie labels (print the Goodie Goodie pdf)

• In a large pot, soften gelatin in cold water for five minutes.
• Stir in boiling water until gelatin dissolves.
• Stir in sugar.
• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 25 minutes. Stir constantly.
• Pour mixture into 4 – 3X5 pans.
• Add 1/4 tsp extract and 1-2 drops food color to each pan.
• Stir until thoroughly combined.
• Cover pan and chill overnight in the fridge.
• Cut gelatin mixture into 3/4 inch cubes using a knife dipped in hot water.
• The gelatin may pull, but continue cutting.
• Separate cubes and roll in sugar until coated on all sides.
• Place gumdrops on wax paper and leave at room temperature for two days to crystallize.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 8 dozen 3/4 inch gumdrops.
You can also make 2 – 8X8 pans or 1 – 9X12 pan depending on the number of colors you want to make.
Adapted from the book, Celebrating Candy.

Enjoy!

Source: http://www.urbanthreads.com/pages?id=508

Sweater Boots

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As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing the DIY movement can’t do. It seems to be able to turn anything into anything, kinda like if MacGyver really got into sewing. Well, one of the DIYers favorite upcycling materials is a bulky old sweater, and today through the magic of craftiness, it’s going to be transformed into a pair of super cute sweater boots! Ha. Bet MacGyver never pulled that one off... (Note: not that I’m dissing MacGyver. In any way.)

So, to make our fantastic sweater boots, you’ll need: Cheap pair of flat shoes (used for the base) An old sweater with big bulky sleeves A hot glue gun Cutaway stabilizer Water-soluble stabilizer Embroidery design Buttons for embellishment Needle and thread Scissors

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To start, cut the sleeves off right where they meet up with the sweater. You should have two long tubes. Put the rest of the sweater aside for now.

Before we start gluing anything, we need to shape our knit into a “boot”-like shape, which you’ll mock up on your own foot. Take a sleeve and turn it inside out. Slide it onto your leg so the cuff of the sleeve is up your calf and the open wider end is down by your foot. Keep the seam of the sleeve on the back side of your leg, so it lines up with your heel. Slip on your flat shoes and stretch the open end of the sleeve around the edges of the shoe.

As you can see, just stretching the sleeve over the shoe creates feet that just look like giant triangles. We need nice shaped boots. Keeping the sweater knit pulled over the toe, pinch the excess back towards your ankle so it forms to the shape of your foot. Pin this excess in place. You’ll find you’ll have to pull the most excess from the back, heel and bottom of your foot to get it to form a nice shape.

Once you have your shape pinned in place, cut off the excess left behind. (Stretch your shape over your shoe again before you cut to make sure it can still fit!) I found there was a lot of excess down by my heel in order to get it to shape nicely, so I cut off some of the knit there too. It’ll help me know where the edge of the knit should be on the shoe when we glue it later. Repeat this again on your other boot, so you have two pinned and shaped boot forms.

Remove the shoe and carefully slide off the boot shape without disturbing the pins. You should have two wonky boot-like shapes all pinned up the side. Take your boot shapes under your sewing machine and sew a seam down the newly trimmed edge. Be sure to make your seam wide enough to catch both sides of your stretchy knit.

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Keep your shape inside out, and place your shoe inside the form, heel inside the knit. The back seam should be on the same side as the heel, as shown. Shuffle the knit around a bit so it’s stretched evenly around your shoe.

It’s time to heat up that glue gun and go to town! Run a line of glue just above your rubber heel, and glue down the edge of the knit. Start back at the heel to make sure the seam is centered, and then work your way around the shoe. I’d recommend taking in a little excess around the sides of your shoe - it’ll help with the nice formed shape. Although these won’t be winter-worthy boots, the hot glue is a surprisingly sturdy way of attaching the knit. Once it’s dry, your knit won’t come off easily.

This is my shoe with the knit glued all the way around the shoe. If you like, you can snip off the excess knit above the glue line before we flip it right side out.

Carefully turn your boot right side out again. These cheap, bendable shoes are best for this, because you can kinda fold it in half to better get it right side out. Slip on your little booties to test the fit. Wonderful! I now have cute little sweater boots formed just for my feet! But wait, we’re not done yet. Right now, the top of the boot is just the ugly old cuff of the sweater. I have better plans...

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Grab that sweater again, and snip off about 6-10 inches of the bottom. We’re going to use this part to make cuffs for our boots. Once you’ve cut this piece off the bottom, snip it in two.

We’re going to use the finished bottom edge of the sweater as the bottom of our cuff. Take one of your snipped pieces and wrap it around your boot. It’s up to you how tall you want your boot to be, and how long you want the cuff to be. You can have a tall boot and a short cuff, or a short boot with a long slouchy cuff. I opted for the middle ground. Mark your cuff with pins, and trim it to the size you want. You need the top to match the width of your boot, but I flared out the bottom a bit. I also trimmed the height of my boot a bit. Do this for both cuffs.

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Before we sew our cuff together, we’re going to add a bit of embroidery! I’m going to add a small fleur de lis to the middle of my cuff that will face outwards. Now, to embroider on stretchy, chunky knit takes a few special steps. You’ll need a layer of cutaway stabilizer under your knit, then the knit fabric, and then a layer of water-soluble stabilizer on top. The top layer of stabilizer will keep the stitches from sinking into the knit. Also, be extra careful not to stretch your knit too much when you hoop it, otherwise it’ll bunch up again after it’s embroidered and unhooped.

I embroidered both my cuffs with some pretty fleur accents, and then unhooped them. To remove the top stabilizer, don’t soak it, but gently tear it away. You may need a little tweezers to get all the little pieces out. Trim the excess cut-away stabilizer on the back too.

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Now we can stitch them into cuffs. Fold your fabric right sides together (so the embroidery is facing in) and sew a seam up the side on both pieces.

To attach the cuff, we want to sew it to the top so it can fold over and display its pretty embroidery. Turn your cuff right side out, with the embroidery visible to the world, and tuck it inside your boot, with the embroidery facing the side where you want it to be on the outside of the boot. Line up the top of the cuff with the top of the boot and pin it in place all the way around, making sure the back seams are together. Once it’s all pinned in place, sew a seam to secure the two together.

Flip your cuff right side out. Now you have a pretty sweater boot with a pretty cuff! It looks kinda slouchy and weird just sittin’ on my desk, but just wait ‘til you get them on…

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As one last little touch, I’m going to sew a button to my cuff to keep the two layers from shifting too much, and just ‘cause it looks cute.

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Slip on your slouchy sweater boots, and tromp around your home in style! They’re super cute with a pair of jeans, leggings, or a skirt.

Simple embroidery adds a dash of color and charm to your comfy boots, and lets you personalize them to your own styles or whims.

Even MacGyver might not believe you made these yourself from a pair of cheap shoes and an old sweater! Simple, cheap, and oh so hip, especially when you make and personalize them yourself. Have fun flaunting your new cute boots!

What? You want more boot tutes? Happy Together did the sweater-into-boots thing twice, as a mother-daughter pair. leethal on Craftster went classy with argyle sweater-boots, and cool and summery with knitted mary janes. Tutu Maker went dark and gothy with over-the-knee boots made of ... duct tape, of course. The possibilities are endless.

http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/how-to-make-a-rose-cake

Posted on 20 Jun

Posted by alvarezmom in

1.) I baked two 6” & two 8”
round cakes. Tort, fill and crumb coat as usual.

*Don’t worry about them looking
pretty it wont matter.

Optional Step

Cover in fondant

2.)To make the
center of the rose it’s all about “eyeing” it. The center part will be fat this
is to ensure that it is able to hold the first couple of petals with out
tipping over.

3.)You can either take one long strip and roll
it on or several smaller strips about 3-4 inches and put them on. I looked at
my model picture as a guide.

*long strip method

* put it on counter clockwise

Or you can cut several small strips about 3-4” long and
attach separately

Now that you have your center part of the rose it’s time to
start cutting your petals.

4.) Knead and roll out your fondant to a thickness of ¼”. I
tried to roll it into a circle to make it easier for cutting.

*Its okay to have different shapes and
sizes for your petals. It will give it a more realistic look.

Here’s my center after several petals
(like above) were attached.  Top view

Side view  SUPPORTS SUPPORTS SUPPORTS

5.) Once you have applied enough petals to the top tier it
needs to harden up a bit. If you have a fan now is the time to bring it out and
place the fan in front of the cake.

*After about 15 minutes

6.) Optional Step If you did not cover
your cake with fondant and just used butter cream now is the time to add a bit
more so the petals can stick. If you used fondant take out your piping gel
(“glue”) to help attach your petals to the sides of the cake.

6.) Cuts strips. The longer the strips
the less full the cake will look towards the bottom. It’s all about eyeing and
seeing what you like from here on out.

Here’s what you cake might look like

7.) Once you have applied all of your petals
its time to let it dry up a bit. Wait about 30 minutes and slowly take out all
of the napkins and your supports. Or if you have time you can let it sit over
night.

8.) Optional Step If you used a dark
color like I did you will see that it turns a dull color. I went ahead and
painted on the red. I used the Americolor red with clear vanilla extract and
hand painted each petal.

*See the difference?

9.) You can add your luster dust at
this point. I did not add it on this cake because I loved how the red dried.

© Cake Central Media Corp 2012 http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/how-to-make-a-rose-cake