Monday, March 9, 2015

Make Your Own Lace and Embellishments..cheaply!

I have been steadily working on my Fabric and Lace Memory book for a few weeks now. I was a bit concerned when I suddenly noticed I was not looking forward to working on the pages! When I say "I'll work on it after I do the dishes"... I know for certain...something is wrong!!! I realized I was kind of bored with the pages. Why was that, I asked myself? I realized I was using the same laces and trims and doing the same thing with them! I was just tired of using and seeing the same laces and trims. A sure fire way to crush the creativity! I had been checking the 2 thrift stores in my town for craft and fabric supplies, but neither has had anything for a few months. So...I forced myself to get my coupons together and make a trip to Joann's. Yeah, right. That was a hard thing to force myself to do! I was out the door in minutes!

We all need Trims, Lace and other Embellishments - at a "cheap" price!  So I say.. make your own! Why pay $3.97 a yard for ready made lace, that you can make yourself for pennies?

At Joann's, I walked right past the fabric...(there's a first time for everything) and went right to the bolts of lace. I had 6, 40/50% off coupons so I started looking for lace yardage. I found these laces at $5.99 a yard and  figured 1/2 yard each of 6 different colors/kinds would keep me from getting bored for a little while!  I chose these colors....


These were $5.99 a yard and with my coupon...I paid $3 a yard. I figure 1/2 yard of each so that made the 1/2 yard $1.50. I got blue, yellow, rust and beige would make many gathered flowers, page ruffle and have some for the size of the page or other feature. And since I can use multiple colors on one page, I can use a little of each color on a page if I want to! I did get 1 yard of the beige as that is the best for the main ruffle on any page adorned by another color of lace on each page side. The blue and yellow and rust have a scalloped edge which I cut off about 2 inches wide to use as a decoration somehow on a page.




Then I saw these  >>>>>>>
Sparkley, shiney, gorgeous yardage! The sparkle shows a little in the picture, but for real...it is shiney and sparkley! It will be perfect for the same...gathered flowers, page ruffle or the size of a page similar as I did on the
Princess Dress page.    At $7.99 a yard, I got 1/2 yard of each of these and with coupon that was  $2 for 1/2 yard each

Then I wandered around the "lacey" bolts and found this...tulle or netting... not sure what it is called. I thought it'd be good for making the gathered flowers. Red, pink, yellow, white and green. I like multiple  "petals" on the flowers. I got 1/4 yard each and it was $1.49 a yard so...for 75 cents.. I'll take a chance on it working! However, when I worked with it at home...bit more trouble than it is worth! VERY thin and slippery and hard to see to gather etc. But I will work with it and figure something out


And then, as habit tells me to do, I wandered to the button isle...where the buttons were 40% off without a coupon! So I looked around and found these....
They are all a "tarnished" silver and three have a pearl in the center and the other 2 have a filagree pattern on them....and one of those is gold. These will go with any page in any fashion and they look "vintage-y" and memorable! I can sew them on or glue them on. These were $1.50 to $1.75 each and with 40% off that...I would have gotten more, but these were all they had like this!

Then turn around to the wall of lace and I looked ONLY at the red tag items... and specifically at the 50 cent a yard and found these.......

The two ric-raks were 25 cents a yard so I got 4 yards. Ric-rak is good for covering  lace edges. The black "tape" looking trim has gold in it and the white pearls.. I have used the silver ones I have and they look great so I know I will use these and for 50 cents a yard...got 2 yards. The sequins...pink...not sure on those but they will cover edges nicely and since they are shiney...they'll look great no matter how used! 50 cents a yard I got 1 yard.

I got some of that self adhesive Velcro in white as I intend to use that for envelopes or holding removable things in place and it was 50% off.

So I got enough to inspire me again and keep me going for  a little while!




Last night I made this flower.

Here's HOW TO MAKE A GATHERED FLOWER....

I used the pink sparkley FABRIC and cut 2,1/2 inch wide strip BY 12" long. I found that to be the best for me, but you can make your sizes whatever you want. The beige lace cut 2" wide and the pink in the middle was 1,1/2" wide lace strip and of course, the pearl button in the center. All you do is fold the strip in half, gather the raw edges and pull the gather threads until the fabric is all gathered and then make a few stitches to secure and then tack the two raw end edges togetheR...and you are done! You can wiggle the gathers around to make the flower "even. Then just stack them and either sew together or you could use a glue gun on this.

It looks better "for real" and I can't wait to add it to a page! What I am going to do first tho.. is make several flowers in different colors...one for each girls book. I don't want one of these flowers on every page, but since making so many books, I am using my "can't look at this stuff again" times to make up some embellishments to have ready to use when I am back in the saddle again! I am going to look for a new style/pattern of fabric flower to make...or maybe a bow of some kind!

So.. check the sales and the coupons and know that you don't have to buy as much as if you were
quilting or making something big. If you are making one book...it would be even cheaper! I think this "stash" will last me for awhile! I am also using more print/pattern fabric from my quilting stash instead of solid white (bleached muslin) fabric...and that is working well!

Hope I was able to inspire you all to either get started making or continue making your own version of a fabric lace memory book! If you have any pictures.. I'd love to see them!
 
Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!

If you'd like to start from the beginning or refer to a previous post, here are all the related posts to my adventure in creating a   Fabric and Lace Memory Book.

Princess Dress - Love This Page!
My First Page and some Tips
It's Coming to Life and so Much Fun!
How I Organized my Supplies
Shabby Chic and I Am Hooked!


Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE

This post is linked to the Linky Party for the day. Click on the "Daily Linky Parties" tab at the top of my page and join us!

14 comments:

  1. Hello Cheri! Have fun with your new purchases! :) x

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  2. Sounds like you had fun! Your new stash is beautiful.

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  3. I love this idea so cool thanks for sharing have a great day

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  4. You found some wonderful deals, I love those coupons and sales JoAnns has, I am trying to take a break from going in there as I have more than enough supplies right now. Your flower is so pretty, it will look great in your albums!

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    1. Thanks! I know what you mean about the coupons and Joan's. My budget told me I had to stop going twice a month with the coupons so I haven't been in about 4 months! Thanks for stopping by

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  5. What a great idea. Wish we had a JoAnns here.

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    1. Oh goodness! I couldn't do this with out Joann's and the coupons! But, now that I think about it...you can use the online coupons when you shop online..maybe you could check that out.

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  6. What a cute flower! Thank you for stopping by our blog yesterday and leaving a nice comment on our Chocolate Chip Cookie post :) I am now following along...

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    1. Thanks JES...Baking is my next favorite hobby. The cookies will go far!

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  7. Hi dear Cheri! First of all, I must apologize for just now getting around to visit your lovely blog. I have been dealing with computer issues for the last 4 days. Thankfully everything seems to be back to normal....whatever "normal" is with computers :)

    Your fabric flower is lovely! I think creating flowers is on of my favorite things to make and there is always something you can use them on. Thank you so much for sharing with Roses of Inspiration - I am so thankful to have you link up.

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  8. Beautiful! I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams, starts on Fridays at 9AM eastern time :D Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party.

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  9. So beautiful! Thanks for linking up with us at Funtastic Friday. Hope to see you again this week.

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