Slice & Stitch: Handmade Barrettes

I’m so pleased to kick off the 2022 Slice & Stitch Summer Series, a collaboration with Aurifil threads and OLFA tools featuring small on-the-go projects.  You can read all about it on the Auribuzz post HERE.

I thought it would be nice to also post here on my blog a bit of the behind the scenes of making the barrettes and more pictures of the project. 

If you have an old not-so-pretty barrette laying around the house, it would work just as well the ones I bought at the dollar store. My fabric choice was a sample ombre linen that I had picked up at FabMo for a small donation and the scrap of bamboo batting was a strip trimmed off after quilting.

OLFA generously sent to me a 45 mm OLFA Quick-Change Rotary Cutter and 12” x 18” Mat in Aqua and I received the Stitching with Wool Aurifil Thread Collection by Jo Avery from Aurifil - lucky me :)

I had been eyeing Jo's new book ever since it came out and ordered myself a copy that arrived just in time. Of course I had to go on a walk to the beach for a photoshoot once I was done - but let's back up a minute so I can share how I made them in case you want to make your own.

It might have been smarter to use a temporary marker to roughly trace the rectangle shape onto the linen rather than just the circle motif.

Well you know me, I just started stitching a design somewhere in the hoop until it looked about the right size and then moved the hoop away from it and started stitching another.

When I got back home, I compared each of the them to the target size and expanded as needed to correctly position the hardware. I didn't want them all to be the same or fill the entire space, so there was some flexibility.

If you haven't tried Aurifil 12wt wool before, you really must. They come in such pretty colors and look at the visual depth of the fibers. I was pleasantly surprised how easy wool was to work with.

The first two were completely freeform so for the third and final one shown below, I marked a rectangle and had a specific inspiration for the abstract design - can you guess it?

Before attaching the linen to the barrette, I cut a piece of the bamboo batting and used tacky glue to stick it to the flat surface, flush to the sides. I suppose you could skip this step but having a cushion helps smooth the understitching.

Cutting the linen oversized so that I could wrap it around and whip stitch it by hand as shown in the picture above wasn't the perfect technique but did the job. If I knew where I put my glue gun I may have given that a try but I prefer to use thread anyway.

Be sure to head over to Auribuzz to read the full article and see a ton of pictures and the link to the OLFA expert's projects on their blog.

Playing tourist in my hometown was kind of a fun bonus. It was an honor to be featured and have the opportunity to expand my creativity beyond quilting.

Happy stitching - enjoy the summer, Karen