(I am so happy to be introducing the fourth post of guest blogger, Mackenzie Sasser of Secret Pocket Handmade. I first met Mackenzie at Second Storie Indie Market, where I fell in love with her vintage-y yet clean aesthetic and her cheery attitude. She blogs fun bits from her daily life over here and on this blog she will be sharing crafty ideas, inspirations and tutorials. Please join me in welcoming her today :)
While I was an intern in the craft department at Martha Stewart Living,
I discovered one of their favorite go-to tools: the screw punch. This
tool punches different sized holes through paper (I've used it for
bookbinding) wood, fabric, probably just about anything. It's so
versatile. The ones they had were made in Japan. But I also found that the Martha Stewart Craft line makes a great screw punch; and with a coupon at Michaels, they are very inexpensive. It is a great tool to have on hand.
I have been really needing to make some coasters. We have restored
a lot of furniture lately and I'm being more careful to keep it
beautiful. I decided to use my screw punch and some wool felt from my
stash. I was inspired by some geometric drawings/doodles I had made and
wanted to recreate them.
Supplies:
screw punch
wool felt
rotary cutter
self healing cutting mat
thread
scrap paper
disappearing ink marking pen (optional)
First I cut two 4-inch squares of wool felt.Then trim the corners
diagonally by lining up a ruler one inch from the corner. It's best to
use two highly contrasting colors. I would use 100% wool felt if you
can; it makes a big difference. It can be hard to find, but I use an
online source that isn't too expensive for a large selection of great colors.
With a scrap piece of paper, I cut out a 4-inch square and make a
half-inch grid. I used that to draw my design. Then I punched out holes
using two different sizes.
Use your template and center it over the top piece of felt. Using a
fabric marker or pen, mark onto the felt. You could also just use a
ruler and mark a design directly on the felt, whatever works best for
you.Then punch out the dots (on a cutting mat because the punch is very
sharp!).
Put the two pieces of felt together (punched piece and contrasting
color) and use a couple pins to stabilize them. Using a color of thread
that matches your bottom piece, start sewing by connecting the dots. I
designed it as I went, so I didn't know how it would turn out in the
end. Just be symmetrical. You can also draw it out before hand. After
you are done with your design sew a border 1/4 inch from the edge. Trim
the felt flush with a rotary cutter 1/8 inch from the border. Trim the
threads. I pulled the top threads through to the back before trimming
by tugging on the bobbin thread and using a seam ripper to pull the top
thread loop from the bottom. Then there will be no threads at the top.
I hope this gives you come inspiration to do some punching of your own (non-violent of course).
