Heat Transfer Vinyl Learning Curve and Tips

 I may have mentioned that a few weeks ago, I got a Silhouette Portrait.  I've wanted something like it for a long time, but didn't realize just how much it can do.  My newest obsession is with heat transfer vinyl.

I bought a roll of the Silhouette brand smooth black vinyl, and followed the instructions.  The elephant came out well, though it took me a couple tries to get it to stick.

My second attempt came out terrible.  The plastic warped and the design essentially melted.  After doing a little searching, I concluded that the iron was too hot. The instructions say your iron should be 300F which they say is a typical cotton setting.  My iron doesn't give me temperature numbers and everything I've read says a typical cotton setting is much higher than 300F. 

I tried again with some white and got much better results.  This time, I set my iron to the wool setting.  It took some work again to get it to stick. But at least it didn't melt!

For my most recent project, I think I finally got all the variables right and it worked perfectly.  This is a special little outfit for my son's kindergarten teacher.

She's pregnant with her first child and my son begged me to make something for her.  He came home with the information that she's having a boy, her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite animal is a dog (she has a black lab).

 He even requested that the hat have ears.  So sweet.  (hat tutorial HERE)

So, here's my list of heat transfer vinyl tips:

• use a heat setting lower than cotton - I use the wool setting

• don't use a cloth on top, instead use the parchment paper that comes with the vinyl in between the iron and the vinyl

• use a hard surface underneath the design -I use a small cutting board

Easy Oven Mitt TUTORIAL

My little 6 year old boy has been very interested in helping make dinner lately.  My husband and I love having him help out.  I could see him one day being a very creative little chef.  To support his growing interest, I offered to make him some oven mitts just his size. To make a pattern, I just traced his hand and then added a good 1.5 inches all around.  Obviously you can make them any size, the instructions are the same.

 For ONE mitt you will need 2 exterior pieces that are mirrored, 2 pieces of insulating fabric (I used Insul-Bright) and 2 pieces of a lining fabric (I used a lightweight cotton). You will also need about 1/2 yard of double fold bias tape.

With right sides together, sew each set along the outside edge leaving the wrist part open (1/4 inch seam allowance).  Trim the edge.

 Turn ONLY the exterior fabric piece so that it is right side out.  Slip the insulating piece inside the exterior piece and the lining piece (wrong side out) into the insulating piece.  I did it this way so that there wouldn't be any seams hanging out on the inside of the mitt.

When you get all the pieces tucked in, trim the edge so it's nice and even.

Pin the bias tape to the raw edges being careful to get all 3 layers sandwiched in and overlapping the ends of the bias tape. 

Sew around.  I use a wide zigzag stitch so that I'm sure I've got all the layers sewn in.  I also sew on the inside as you can see in the picture.  It's much easier than trying to sew from the outside.

The little guy was really happy with his new mitts.  He looks kind of dazed here because he was trying really hard to hold still for one picture.  The next 5 pictures were of him doing his karate moves in his new mitts.  Gotta love that 6 year old boy energy.

Trying to Beat the Winter Blues

 I'm chalking my lack of blogging here lately to a bad case of the winter blues.  I'm a snow lover and usually winter doesn't bother me much.  It's the cold that been getting me down and has really affected my motivation. 

 The kids were on February break this past week and we took our usual ski trip to northern Vermont.  I decided to pack some yarn and a knitting pattern to try to keep myself busy.  It's been years since I've knit anything.  I knit a lot when my kids were babies, but in recent years have gotten more hooked on instant gratification of a simple sewing project.

 But sewing isn't very portable and knitting is.  And, I'm hooked again.  I made the blue hat first and it ended up a little big for my child sized head.  The second one is a perfect fit and sooooo warm.  Just what I need.

 So here's what I've been up to the past month.  I'm throwing this picture from January in to remind myself of when we were happy about the snow.  We had so much fun this day. 

 Now, we can no longer see our bushes or our front stairs.

I treated myself to a Silhouette Portrait and have been having fun playing around with it. It's really amazing how much you can do with this little machine and I'm still a total newbie.

I'm a huge fan of Brindille and Twig patterns and tried out a new to me romper pattern.  I cannot tell you how cute this outfit is in real life. 

 So now you're caught up on the last month.  I'm hoping that Spring is around the corner and I can snap out of my funk.

I leave you with a photo I snapped today at work.  This made me smile.  I guess if the ducks can handle it, so can I.