ArtGlitterBlog

Today, I'd like to introduce you to my second tutorial for December using http://www.artglitter.com/ products, namely Fantasy Fiber in Shimmering Pink to make the wings of a butterfly. The previous tutorial featuring Fantasy Fiber is here

Equipment and Supply List
Iron
Sewing Machine
Scissors
Teflon coated paper or parchment paper
Art Glitter Fantasy Fiber - Color - Shimmering Pink
Embroidery floss and thread
Dresden (gold petite fleur-de-lis 1/8 inch trim)
5 velvet leaves (I had on hand thanks to Debby Harriettha....thank you Debby!)
Frozen Charlotte bisque doll head or any other doll head (approx 1 inch in diameter)
Organza or other transluscent fabric as backing to Fantasy Fiber
Seed beads
Embroidery and beading needles
Cotton Ribbon
Sari silk fiber remnants
3 inch wide wired ribbon (for the top right and left wing parts)
Fabric Glue - optional
Embellishment for body of butterfly

1. Follow these instructions (from Art Glitter.com) to create a sheet from Fantasy Fiber:

"Set Teflon coated iron to medium or polyester setting. Place three to four layers of film or a small amount of fibers on parchment paper. Lay another piece of parchment or non-stick pressing cloth on top. Press with iron firmly for 3-10 seconds. Lift parchment to reveal a totally unique sheet of fabric! The more layers /fibers you melt together, the stronger the fabric sheet. You can die cut it, use a hand punch or scissors. Soon you will be able to predict the outcome of the bonding procedure, allowing you to create colors and textures you never dreamed of before. "

2. Bottom wings - pin a piece of organza or other translucent fabric to the sheet of fiber and free motion stitch around the piece create the bottom part of the left and right sides of the butterfly wings. You could also trace or draw the wings on first. I just did it 'free hand' as I sewed.

3. Take a long piece of sari silk ribbon and twist it to create 'piping', affix it to the edges of the wings and machine stitch it onto all edges of the wings.

4. For the top part of the wings, I repeated Step 1 but this time attached a wired 3 inch ribbon to the wings...experimenting here as I went along. Next time I will probably use the wired ribbon for all parts of the butterfly wings as the wire enabled the wings to be shaped further and adds a nice dimensionality to them. I also like the translucency of the fantasy fiber sheet as it allows for the 'swirls' of the ribbon below it to shine through.

5. For the body of the butterfly I machine stitched several times over another piece of fiber - just to create a base.

6. Sew the tops of the wings to the bottom of the wings.

7. Taking 3-4 inches of German Dresden border at a time, I adhered the border to the edges of the wings using a tiny bit of fabric glue to keep it in place.

8. Once in place, I machine stitched over top of it. This is a little 'tricky' because if you aren't careful the gold paint can separate from the base of the Dresden. If so, you can touch it up with a gold leaf pen.

9. Using a blanket embroidery stitch, I embroidered around all of the edges in gold. I've also started to do some cris cross embroidery stitches in between the blanket stitches. If you look closely, you can see this part of the butterfly is still a work in progress.

10. Attach the bisque head to the body - trial and error here. because there were holes in the neck and top of the head of this doll head, I threaded a wired 1 inch wide ribbon through from top to bottom and then sewed it firmly to the back of the body. I wanted to avoid using any glue wherever possible. Experiment with your own creativity to determine the sturdiest way to do this.

11. Sew the five velvet leaves onto the body and wings.

12. Stitch beads onto the edges of the wings.

13. Add some seed beads to a ribbon by stitching them on and then wrap the neck with this ribbon for added stability.

14. Create a scarf or 'hat' with ribbon remnants wrapped around the bisque head and secure it with a few wraps of embroidery floss around the neck to hold it in place.

15. Using whatever you have on hand for a body as an embellishment, attach it over the existing 'fiber' body - a great place to use your imagination.

This butterfly still has a bit more beading to go and....who knows what else?

Close up of details around the bisque head

This photo illustrates the bottom part of the right and left wings with the organza underneath the Fantasy Fiber outlined and attached by machine sewing them to a twisted piece of sari silk ribbon. He ended up being a little 'pigeon-toed' but I am happy with his 'character'!

More snapshots of details

You can find beautiful examples of 'stamped' butterfly wings available at http://www.artglitter.com/ Thanks for reading and if you make a similar project, email me at twodressesstudio@shaw.ca - I'd love to see it!