Patchwork Fun

Quilting, patchwork and applique and indeed all forms of textile based crafts are experiencing a resurgence all over Europe, not that they ever went away! Sizzix steel rule dies, namely our Bigz and Originals ranges are perfect for cutting any type of textile from wafer thin voile through to leather. 

I was flicking through our Quilting catalogue when I came across an elephant die which was designed for Appliqué/patchwork applications and I thought it was too nice not to share with my papercrafting buddies. The die in question is Elephant (658638) and is a Bigz L die.

When we talk about elephants and patchwork in the same breath the first thing that springs to mind are the wonderful 'Elmer' series of children's books written by English author and illustrator David McKee. These books have become classics enthralling generations of children, in fact, I am reading a copy of the first Elmer book to my 3 year old daughter which belonged to my 22 year old son.

I started by choosing 6 bright fresh patterned papers from the lovely people at Echo Park, the 6" x 6" paper pad is called 'A Perfect Summer' as the sun is shinning as I write this I thought it was appropriate, I hope the weather is great where you are too!! I cut the papers into 3cm squares and fixed them to a rectangle of stiff ivory card measuring 15 x21cm which covers the die perfectly.

Once I have my patchwork rectangle I placed it face down onto the die and ran it through my Big Shot resulting in a body, four legs and an ear.

I took each die cut and pierced a row of holes around the edges (you can use a pin or piercing tool) and joined up the dots with a fine brown marker to give the illusion of stitching. You can of course use a sewing machine if you have one to hand. Weathered Wood is one of my favourite Distress ink colours of all time, it's a lovely smoky grey colour and its great for edging your die cuts to add subtle contrast. Finally, I attached a white pearl button for an eye with a black adhesive pearl at the top this looks like the elephant is deep in thought trying to remember what he has forgotten, the knotted string around  his trunk completes the visual pun.

Here is the finished card, the text was printed using my PC and the assembled elephant was mounted using 3D foam pads. Hope you like it, see you all next Wednesday!