Tutorial Tuesday: Scientifically Impossible Snowflakes

Nothing says winter like paper snowflakes. I was in my studio the other night playing around with paper and scissors and decided to take this craft one step further and make fabric snowflakes backed with HeatnBond.  After a few mangled mishaps, I came up with these:

A wall decoration:

A relatively easy project - just pop it in an embroidery hoop and hang it on the wall.

This shirt for McKenna:

 

I stitched this one around the edges, which took forever.

This bag:

Vinyl on vinyl. I like the silkscreen effect.

And two-sided this ornament:

If you want to do this project for yourself, the instructions are easy. Simply iron the HeatnBond onto fabric (thinner fabric is best, I used shimmery satin), cut as you would cut a snowflake, peel off the paper backing, and iron it down.

Here are some tips:

1. Practice on paper first. Get a design you like and use it as a template for your fabric snowflake.

2. Don't get too intricate - especially if you plan on stitching around the edges.

3. If you plan on stitching around the edges use HeatnBond Lite. If you aren't going to sew it use HeatnBond UltraHold.

4. When ironing vinyl on vinyl, cover it with a thin piece of cotton so the iron doesn't melt the vinyl.

5. Snowflakes have SIX points, not EIGHT like I made mine. It wasn't until I'd completed most of these projects that I watched Martha Stewart this morning and she was discussing snowflake making and I heard her say, "Remember, your snowflakes should always have SIX points." And I looked down at the snowflake I was ironing and counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, EIGHT! Crap! I should have paid attention in science class. Damn you Martha Stewart and your crafty perfection.

6. For instructions on how to make a proper snowflake, check out this website. I wish I had.


Even my 8-year old son said when he saw all my snowflake projects, "Um, mom, snowflakes only have 6 points. Everyone knows that." Gahhh! Erik told me he didn't even notice they were snowflakes, he thought they were medieval crosses. Jeez. CraftFAIL. Oh well, they say no two snowflakes are alike. Mine are apparently all the more special since they're scientifically impossible.