Tuesday, April 12, 2011

diy: fabric bendy strips for spring

fabric bendy strips
I came up with something simple, but so exciting the other day. It all started with kale. We eat a lot of kale. Our farm share was over for the season, but our co-op sells it bundled with a twist tie: a super-duper long twist tie.  I saved them... such nice delicate twisty wire must be put to good use. A piece of linen selvedge was approximately the same length and sitting on my cutting table. It seemed only natural to put them together. It had potential, but it was narrow and my sewing machine didn't like going over the wire here and there where it bent, so the stitches were wonky. Next, I tried a strip of one inch fabric.
wire and fabric strip
An improvement, and a very cheery little red checked rose bud bloomed.
checkered blossom
I knew I was on to something and wanted to keep experimenting, but I ran out of twist ties. I used some heavier gauged wire and a bit of eyelet trim that already had a little channel at the top- just the right size.
wire and eyelet
Loved it!
eyelet coil
These versatile scraps really have no limit for springtime embellishing and the best part is that they can be shaped into so many different things over and over again... just straighten and rebend. The internal wire means easy attachment to handles, wrists, button holes, clothespins, bobby pins, etc.  A very fun way to reuse! So I made some more... and you can, too!
bendy strips

Fabric Bendy Strips

Need: 
  • 15 inches of thin wire or a recycled long twist tie with the paper removed
  • 1 inch wide scrap of fabric that is several inches longer than wire or eyelet trim with a channel at the top
Make:
  1. Fold over 1/4 of an inch of fabric lengthwise down the strip and press with an iron.
  2. Insert wire into crease and stitch it into place being careful not to touch the wire.
  3. Alternately, if your wire is thicker, you can try sewing the channel first and then insert your wire after.
  4. Scrunch/gather fabric and then close both sides of the channel with a few stitches to keep the wire from slipping out.
The potential for these bendy twisty pieces of fabric is HUGE. Here's the beginning of my list, but I'm sure we'll all think of more:
  • flowers for spring/Easter baskets
  • blossoms for hairpins
  • wedding/prom corsages or bracelets
  • gift toppers
  • wine glass identifiers
  • gift bag cinchers
    eyelet blossom clip
    on basket
    Pin It

    22 comments:

    1. Great idea. I'm definitely going to try this one.

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    2. Lovely way of reusing scraps! Thank you!

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    3. what a sweet way to reuse bendy wires :) I love it!

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    4. You are the most totally brilliant, kale eating, BFF a girl cold have!!! Love them!

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    5. Once again I am struck by how your mind works so differently than mine, and how you come up with the greatest things! Love this idea!

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    6. Hey Maya, great idea, love the flowers on the basket, so cute.

      The possibilities are endless, great adornment for Spring.

      Claire :}

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    7. What a great idea!

      I really like your blog, it is so inspiring!

      Eva

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    8. thanks for sharing your clever idea !

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    9. Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [13 Apr 01:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria

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    10. wow, that's great.
      see, eating a lot of good green antioxidant kale gives you creative juices.
      i love kale and eat a lot of kale too.

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    11. What a great idea...so sweet and so many uses.

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    12. Brilliant!!! I love this idea! I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
      http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-bendy-fabric-strips/2011/04/13/

      --Anne

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    13. Cheap, easy, and fun... love it!

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    14. Love all your wonderful ideas. To acknowledge this I would love award you a Kreativ Blogger Award (see http://creating-childhood-memories.blogspot.com/2011/04/kreative-blogger-award.html for more info) Don't feel obliged to pass it on, I just thought I'd share the love and acknowledge all the other Blogs that I love.

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    15. I love this idea. I have been searching for an easy way to match (yes, I am am a matchy matchy person) my daughters handmade skirts with a plain shirt. This is the perfect accesory. Thx

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    16. What a fun and useful thing to have on hand! I love your list of ways to use these. Thanks so much, I'll be linking.

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