Confession: I have a sewing machine, but I rarely ever use it to sew on fabric! Instead, my sewing machine is used for about 95% of my layouts. Whether as an alternative to adhesive or creating a textured background, my sewing machine gets a lot of use (in fact, it’s permanent home is on the kitchen counter!) and I’m here today to share some of my favorite layouts with machine stitching!
BARCELONA by Paige Evans
This quilt-inspired layout gave my sewing machine a workout by zigzag stitching over every single side of every single paper triangle!
PLAY by Paige Evans
Leave thread ends long for a whimsical look, or trim them off for a cleaner look. Either way, stitching down rows of hearts creates a fun texture and design!
FAVORITE FACES by Paige Evans
Rather than taking the time to glue each and every paper piece in place, I used a quick temporary adhesive and then diagonally stitched through each row to attach the pieces permanently.
HAPPY NEW YEAR CARD by Paige Evans
To help define the round design of the background, I stitched messy circles around and around – and yes, the machine can stitch through sequins! Even Thickers!
HUGS by Paige Evans
To create this totally textured background, I drew marks every 1/2″ all the way around the layout edges and then used the guidelines on my sewing machine to try and stitch as straight as possible. Practice, practice, practice!
LEARNING HOW TO WALK by Paige Evans
Stitching diagonal lines creates a quilted look (one of my favorite looks!) and also helps attach papers in place that might fall off without taking tedious amounts of time to glue them down.
Do you, too, have a sewing machine that you use mostly for scrapbooking? I love finding different ways to incorporate stitching on my layouts and hope you’ve been inspired to try a new technique or two seen here!
Paige, that’s lovely. Any special needle or thread you use?
I have used my machine to sew in ribbon or rick rack.