How To Scrapbook With Fabric

If you do sewing, you probably have loads of spare fabric lying around. Why not use it in a creative way and try these ideas on how to scrapbook with fabric.

If you love scrapbooking, remember to keep all your fabric bits and material scraps so that you can perhaps use them in your scrapbooking layouts in the future.

These bits and pieces on your layouts can add interest and variety to your layouts.

One of the ways in which you can use your fabric scraps is by making fabric pennants.  These are triangular flags that you can hang across your layout to make unique and attractive embellishments.  This is a variation on the popular technique of using tags and will make a whimsical addition to any layout.

For this technique, I suggest using felt or other closely woven fabric, or you will have to deal with frayed edges.  If you do use a thinner fabric, you will need to iron on some interfacing to make the finished pennants thicker and stiffer. Cotton in another contrasting colour can be used to add interest.  You can make your fabric pennants in plain colours or in a patterned material to compliment your layout.  You could also decorate your plain pennants with stickers, buttons or even tassels.

First, you will need to design yourself a pennant template on some scrap paper. It is basically a long triangle of the size of your choice, although I would recommend keeping it smallish.  Add an extra section at the top that you can fold over as a seam allowance. Cut your pattern out and pin it onto your fabric. Cut around it and repeat the process for as many pennants as you require on your layout.

Fold the seam allowance over at the top and press with your fingers to create a fold.  You can also try ironing it flat, although it may be a little finicky with such a small piece of material.  Thread a needle with some crochet cotton or embroidery thread and sew an even running stitch along the centre of the seam allowance to make a casing.  Be sure to knot the cotton at the end of the stitching before trimming the end.  Repeat this process for all your pennants.

When you have a sufficient number of pennants for your scrapbook layout, take a long length of cotton and thread your tapestry needle.  Now thread the needle through all the pennants stitched casings to join the pennants together thus making a string of pennants.

Once you have your string of pennants, you can attach it to your layout in the way you want.  I usually use brads or buttons to do hold the ends of the strings down.

With a little imagination, you can go to town with fabric pennants.  It is a bit time-consuming in the beginning, but the finished result is well worth the time spent, and it normally won’t cost you a penny.

Using ribbon is another way you can scrapbook with fabric.

You can get some really pretty colours and you can use ribbon to tie things like tags onto your layouts or to weave through the paper to add a frame. There are many different widths to choose from to meet all your scrapbooking needs.

Rick rack is also an effective way to scrapbook with material. Here below you can see the lovely assortment one can purchase online.

If you have a layout that has lines across the page, it looks lovely if you stick some rick rack along the line just to highlight it more.

Using sliders like buckles or beads on your ribbon also works a treat.  Here is a video where she uses ribbons and fabric flowers on her tags in a really pretty way.

 

Using bits of left over hessian can also look great on a scrapbooking layout. Flowers can be weaved into the hessian or you can cut it into squares and decorate each square according to the theme of the layout before sticking them on.

You could even try printing on your hessian as seen below.

I like using bits of hessian to frame photo’s. This can look very attractive, depending on the type of layout you are doing.

So as you can see, there are many ideas you can use when you scrapbook with fabric. If you have any others, please feel free to add them to my list, by leaving your comment below.