Crafts - By Magali Ellis and Scrap-Circle

I have recently tried something new: sewing in paper craft. To me, sewing and scrapbooking are two different crafts and I dabble in both. I treated myself to a quilting workshop a few years back and got inspired to make quilts for my grandchildren. However, putting the two crafts together had never occurred to me till a friend of mine showed me the pages she did.

There are several ways to include sewing in scrapbooking. You could use a sewing machine and sew several pieces of paper together. A warning though; the paper fibre will clog up your machine and the needle will blunt with heavy use.

Another way is to punch out the holes by hand using a pokey tool or a cricut or scan ’n’ cut machine. Then you hand sew with embroidery threads.

Finally, you could decide to do false stitching and draw the stiches in felt tips. Easier to do and equally as effective!

It can be used in specific areas, for instance going over the stem of flowers or branches in foliage. It totally immerses itself with the layout and looks incredible! Equally as effective and stunning is to use sewing as highlights to your page, maybe as a colour accent, surrounding a paper feature. You could also use sewing to make embellishments or clusters of papers to be used as embellishments. Another sewing feature can be found in dies which are cutting the paper with a stitching pattern. This looks especially stunning on cards because the print of the die is so delicate!

I mentioned at the beginning of the article that I only started using sewing on my pages because a friend showed me the pages she had made. There are so many different techniques that I am now using thanks to the times I have been crafting with my friends. I know from the feedback of the craft retreats I organise that everyone goes back having tried new techniques and equipment.

There are so many aspects to scrapbooking that it is difficult - and expensive - to buy it all. Craft days and craft weekend retreats are one of the best ways to enjoy trialling out new things without having to invest heavily in them. On top of that, the influence of other crafters is undeniably vital for our creative process, so if you would like to feel challenged in your craft, why don’t you check out our different craft events?

There is plenty to choose from at Scrap-Circle: craft days every month at Highwood Village Hall just next to Chelmsford, craft weekend retreats in Perry, Cambridgeshire (21st-23nd April, 13th-15th October and 8th-10th December) and you can even splash out on our Craft Cruise from Southampton to Spain and Portugal (4th-13th August). Check all details and information on my website at www.scrap-circle. co.uk.