raw edge

I have been doing some more raw edge applique this week.  It is a great way to make a piece of clothing go a little further for the kids ie stretching the life of a much loved tshirt and also transforming a plain top into something they might love to wear.  I chose raw edge as I find it easy and also just adds a little personality to something that kids of all ages might want to wear with it's frayed edges.

I thought I would share the easy process I do.   Most of the time I will use an iron on bonding thingy like Heat n Bond I think it's called but at the moment I have a few metres of one (without  a name) I bought quite cheaply from Ebay and it works just as well.  The ones I was getting from Spotlight were quite pricey

once sticky stuff is ironed on to your fabric then iron it on to your top just like with any applique method, but I usually still put a few pins in it even though this is probably not necessary

this fabric is one I fell in love with years ago called Dragon Princess.  I had it in a the cream colourway and I made a tote bag for Zoe and then I bought this colourway from sweet Jen at Posie quite a few years back.

 I bought it and cut out a bag for myself but have to this day not made it as I didn't like the shape bag I had cut out.  These few snippets however are the leftover scraps I have clung onto and Isobel loves it too and when asked what did she want on this otherwise plain fleece top this was her first choice

indulging in a macro shot of the pin

I then sew around a few mm from the edge.  I go around a couple of times in a different spot each time to add a sort of uneven scribbly sewn look (maybe I should take a macro of that?)
Once sewn on then within a few washes the edges start to fray, some quicker than others depending on the fabric used for the applique

The top on the left is a cut up much loved tshirt Isobel didn't want to part with but it just was way too short for her, so now it's life is prolonged.  I didn't use the sticky stuff for this one, just lots and lots of pins.

Last winter I bought a couple of long sleeve tshirts from the op shop for Bel and cut up an Astro Boy tshirt she loved and had grown out of for one and used Hello Kitty fabric from the stash for another one so I ended up with two tops she loved for a total of $6.

It feels great too.  It feels creative so it full fills that need but is soooo fast to do as well.  If it gets wrecked or grown out of quickly it has still served you well.   This way you can cut up summer top and transform it into a winter one, and also if you have done a long sleeve tee, you can then cut that off to make a short sleeve one for the following summer

happy weekend....I must delve into the abyss which is my workspace and find that bag I cut out and see if it can be saved somehow xx