Monday, December 8, 2008

Challenge Ornament: Time to Glue




Above you see everything laid out in two rows. The top row, left to right, is the Challenge Ornament, trimmed to within 1 " of the design, the black felt for the back of the ornament and one piece of the finishing foam, with the paper backing pulled off and it stuck to one side of the first piece of quilt batting.

The bottom row, also left to right, is the paper xerox copy of the Challenge Ornament trimmed right to the edge of the border, the gold lame fabric that will be underneath the Challenge Ornament with the second piece of the finishing foam stuck to it, and then the second piece of quilt batting, which isn't stuck to anything. I also included my glue stick as you need glue for this step if your finishing foam doesn't have the self-stick side to it.

By the way, I often use this acid-free glue (purchased from the scrapbooking section of my local crafts emporium) for finishing. You do need to be careful with it as too much glue will saturate the fabric, so put some on a paper plate and use a plastic knife to spread it as thinly as possible around the finishing foam. Make sure you have some in the middle and some all around the perimeter so the quilt batting sticks to both areas. Put a book on top of it to weigh it as it dries but if you are worried about the glue bleeding through, put a piece of waxed paper on top of the quilt batting and the finishing foam (or fabric) first and then put the book down.

Probably most folks will want to glue their quilt batting to their finishing foam, not the fabric, but if you want one side of your ornament pretty flat, attach the foam to the fabric. My Challenge Ornament will have a flatter face than back side and will have padding in the middle. If this doesn't make sense, don't worry. It will become clearer as this goes together.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow