Friday, October 25, 2013

Scrappy Bookmarks

What's a stitch-happy, scrap-collecting, book-loving girl to do when she finds herself with a table full of fabric scraps after making stitched fabric postcards?
Why, make a set of scrappy bookmarks, of course!
I must truly belong to the tribe of "Never Too Many Bookmarks," because my collection just continues to grow and grow.  (I hate to admit how many times I STILL tear off a piece of paper or use a sticky note to mark my page when my house is FULL of handcrafted bookmarks!)
To make these, I assembled my scraps and stitched through them using various styles of stitches, then used a straight stitch to attach a second piece of paper; that way I could hide all of my crazy wrong-side stitching from view.
Back view of bookmarks
I have read some other tutorials for making scrappy bookmarks that sounded interesting.  In one project, the woman stitched fabrics to both sides of the bookmark, and I LOVE how hers (actually her young daughter's) turned out, but I really don't like my messy stitching showing through on one side; I haven't mastered NEAT machine-stitching yet!

And the other had me lining the fabrics with fusible interfacing, and even though I have some in my supply stash, I just couldn't bring myself to be bothered when I already like how these turned out.  But I have linked to both of these other tutorials in case one of them suits you better than the approach I've used here.  (Both are on my Fabric and Sewing Projects board on Pinterest.)
Happy scrap stitching!


6 comments:

VivJM said...

I agree - you can never have too many bookmarks (and yours are super cute, of course)! I am going to help Waif sew up some bookmarks to give out for Christmas presents this year. He has selected some very cool fabric with Eqyptians on :-)

TheSnailMailer said...

I think I will try this with a stamp as the centerpeice. We'll see.

Joyfulploys said...

Neat bookmarks! It's a good way to used up scraps! I love the stitched postcards you made in the post below! I hope you have a good week....Cheers!
Mary

lee said...

I love that idea, its going on my list of things I want to do. Yours turned out great

Parabolic Muse said...

These have so much charm. They must be so texturey! I don't think I can remember bookmarks looking so warm and inviting. I have a lot too, but I also tear off paper and stick it in the book when I'm in a hurry. And sometimes... I just don't want to ruin the handmade bookmarks!

Robin said...

wow love these they are so cool.