Tutorial - Fabric Manipulation #1

Easy Fabric Manipulation Tutorial

How to take a boring piece of flat fabric to one filled with texture and design!?

In just a few easy steps you can create your own project with this easy technique. Great for purses, bags, pillowcases, duvets... etc. There are so many great ways to incorporate texture!

For this tutorial I chose a thick grey denim fabric, you can use most fabrics.. my recommendation is something with a heavier weight, this will help retain the texture shape. However you can use a fusible interfacing/backing after texture is complete, just be careful not to smash down folds/texture to interfacing while ironing. I used a interfacing on the red clutch above because it was a very lightweight fabric.

To begin, cut a piece of fabric LARGER than what you need for your project by a couple inches each direction. The texture shrinks the fabric size! You can remeasure & cut the dimentions you need once you have created your texture.

Start by graphing out the BACK of your fabric, the lines depend upon how much/less texture you want your project to have. I chose 1.5 x 2 inch squares for my purse.

Next mark DOTS where you will be pinching the fabric to create texture.

I recommend alternately stacking your dots, not placing a dot directly on top of the other.... this is just a preference however. Practice with your design on scrap fabric first! :)

Pinch the dot point between your fingers...

Then fold keeping that dot point at the very outer edge. You can pin your fold in place and repeat till all your dots have been pinched, folded & pinned.

Then sew along the edge of your fold, the further back your seam the deeper texture folds you will have. I sewed mine along the yellow line, be sure to backstich each seam!!

DONE! - The back of the fabric.  

Notice there are no seams showing from the front! You can carefully iron your texture to create sharper edges for a more polished look. Now you are ready to use the fabric to create your own project. :)

I created this purse for my daughter with mine.



She loves having a big girl purse, she takes it everywhere now... filled with little miscellaneous toys and lip glosses. I need to make momma one now too!! ;)

I also created this fun red clutch for my sister's Christmas gift, I'm addicted to manipulating fabric! It's like creating a sculpture from fabric and makes your project so much more interesting.

Have fun with creating your own project! I would love to see picture or stories from what you have created using this technique.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! :)

Enjoy!!