Stitching Up Fabric and Paper Scraps...

All this stitching on paper I've been doing lately prompted me to go ahead and sign up for the "Remains of the Day" online class with Mary Ann Moss. I've seen fascinating photos and videos of the shabby scrap journals she and her students have made. After watching, looking, and watching some more... I took the plunge. Mary Ann's step-by-step videos are thorough and inspiring, and I studied the first few for some time. Once I'd digested the info, I got started and made the cover for my journal. Here's how it looks when closed, above. It's got a bit of everything in it... splashy cotton print, bridal lace, netting, sheer curtain fabric, decorator fabric, and rick-rack.

And here it is lying open and flat. You can see that it is indeed both scrappy and shabby. After pulling together those bits and pieces of fabrics and trims that I liked, I just stitched away. I'm quite happy with the result. The project really makes use of "found" items. The long wrap tie is made from an unused fabric belt that came with a piece of clothing. I stitched pieces of ribbon, trim, and fabric selvages to it. The bit of Crabtree & Evelyn ribbon came from an old, old gift package found in a collection of vintage trims. It's been lurking in my sewing room just waiting for a home. Now, happily, it has one!

The next step is to prepare the signatures (a signature is several sheets of paper, folded into pages, that form one section of the book). These, too, will be found papers for the most part. I can tell you this. Once you take this class, you will not look at junk mail in the same way again. All of it becomes grist for the mill. Here are just a couple of examples. The strips of images from a magazine, seen at the bottom of the photo, will get stiched along the side of several pages. The red envelope provides a windowed section which will become a stitched see-through pocket. Plus I punched some circles from the same envelope and from a piece of a map. The circles can be stitched in place on one or more pages. And even the pieces the circles were punched from will add interest somewhere. The first signature, which will be about 8 or 9 folded and stitched sheets(so 16 or 18 pages) is underway. Paper is piling up in the sewing room. I'm rather slow at this, so may not have much to show on the project for awhile. But I will keep you posted on the progress!

If you are like me, and cannot get enough of looking at these journals, you can see a number of them on YouTube. Also the April 2011 issue of Somerset Memories has an online extra showing pages from the journals published in an article in the magazine. Happy browsing!