How to Make a Fabric Angel Book

Print photos onto fabric with transfer paper and attach angel wings to create this adorable handmade book.

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Filed under: Fabrics, Scrapbooking, How To, Materials and Supplies

As a child, Claire Selby of Friendswood, Texas, enjoyed making Valentine cards so much that she put together her own scrapbook collection. Today, she has graduated to making her own fabric books. After her mother encouraged her to submit her original creations to a book arts magazine, and her submission was accepted, Claire finally came to realize that her talent might be more than just a hobby.

Materials and Tools:

collage image and transparency
1 to 2 yards of cotton fabric*
1 to 2 yards of cotton batting
handful of fiberfill stuffing
lace
scraps of ribbon and tulle
plastic food tray or container for applying dye
textile dye: blue, purple and green
spray bottle with water
paintbrush
ruler
cutting board
rotary cutter
scissors
angel wing template
cool melt gun and glue stick
embroidery needle
red and pink cotton embroidery floss
iron and ironing board
heat gun
sewing machine
snap closure
computer and imaging software
printer
printer inkjet transfer paper
photos
*Either single fabric patterns or a variety of coordinating fabrics.

Figure A

Steps:

1. Cut eight 6" x 8" pieces of cotton fabric and four 6" x 8" pieces of cotton batting with the rotary tool and ruler. Choose coordinating fabrics for the pages or make them all from one fabric. Cut two pieces of each fabric for each page if using different fabrics.

2. Print two photos onto fabric following the transfer paper manufacturer's directions. Cut out each photo.

3. Stitch one of the photos to a piece of fabric designated as the cover page of the book using the blanket stitch and red embroidery floss. Tilt the photo slightly on the page.

Figure D

4. Stitch four pieces of batting to the wrong side of four pieces of cotton fabric using a 1/8-inch seam allowance on the sewing machine.

5. Stitch the remaining four pieces of fabric with right sides together to the four pieces of fabric that are now stitched to the batting leaving a small opening on the left side of each piece for turning using a 1/4-inch seam allowance on the sewing machine.

6. Clip the corners to remove excess fabric, press with an iron and turn each piece right side out, pressing again with the iron. Hand-stitch the openings in all four pieces closed on the left hand side. These are the pages of the fabric angel book.

Figure E

7. Place a piece of lace in a plastic food tray. Spray the lace with water. Pour a few drops of blue, purple and green textile dye onto the tray and paint the lace with the dyes. Dry the lace with a heat gun and press with an iron to set the dyes.

Figure G

8. Using the angel wing template, cut out two angel wings from cotton batting and hand-stitch a blanket-stitch border around the edges with pink embroidery floss leaving a small opening at the top. Stuff the angel with fiberfill and stitch the opening closed.

Figure I

9. Stack the four fabric pages of the angel book so that all edges are even. On the left hand side of the stack, stitch the lace down through all the layers of the fabric angel book. This is similar to bookbinding.

10. Hot-glue a small piece of tulle, leaves and the transferred photo to the top of the wings with the cool melt gun. Glue a small piece of ribbon to the back for hanging.

11. Hand-stitch a button to the top of the fabric book and attach the angel to the front.

Web site: claire.fserve.net