How To Make Fabric Collage Tutorial - Stitch Fabric Craft

Fabric collage is one of the creative and decorative stitching techniques in which one uses two fabrics called foundation fabric and backing fabric. You stitch foundation fabrics on a backing fabric to create a decorative stitching form.

Fabric collage has been known to be another form of quilting. Therefore most of the quilting techniques are applied in making fabric collage.

To get a better result from fabric collage, make sure that the foundation fabric which is the top fabric and the backing fabric which is the base fabric are secured together before stitching. This prevents the layers of the foundation fabric from sliding or slipping out of position.

You can recycle your old clothes at home to recreate a decorative fabric craft design that will look great and attractive.

• Scraps of textured and colored fabric for the design
• Sewing machine
• Threads
• Two pieces of fabric : the foundation fabric and backing fabric
• Tracing paper that the design has been traced on
• Scissors, pins, needles

You can work the fabric collage design by using different types of hand stitches such as small running stitches that are evenly spaced. Thread your needle and make a knot at the end of the thread before you start your fabric collage stitching.

Using sewing machine or embroidery machine to stitch fabric collage is a quick and fast way. If you want to make a fabric collage by machine, you will have to work a small practice first on a piece of fabric to check whether the fabric, needle, thread and stitch type are compatible, so that if they are not, you can adjust the areas that need to be adjusted.

This is a simple technique or method that you can use in stitching a fabric collage. You do not have to follow a specific laid down technique, allow your creative and imaginative sewing or stitching experience to direct you on how to make fabric collage of your choice.

• Get two pieces of fabric, foundation fabric and backing fabric
• Place the foundation fabric on top of the backing fabric. You can have many pieces of foundation fabrics and one backing fabric.
• Lay the backing fabric on a flat surface with wrong side up on a table, and secure the corners with a masking tape.
• Lay the foundation fabrics right side up over the wrong side of the backing fabric and secure with masking tape as well.
• You can also use different colors for the background of the backing fabric
• Use hand stitching if you so prefer to embellish different areas by using one to four different threads in the needle at a time.
• You can use different types of stitches to decorate or embellish the fabric such as, fly stitch, feather stitch, french knots, chain stitch, couching, plus many others. The type of stitch you use will depend on how you want the fabric design to turn out.
• Other dressmakers prefer just using only zigzag stitches to create a decorative fabric collage.
• You don't have to stitch foundation fabric on all areas of the backing fabric, you can leave some areas untouched and work in detail on the other areas.
• Think about the weight and balance of the whole design of each shape you create and stitch.
• Where necessary, add extra bright or sharp color in appropriate areas

There many things you can create or make using fabric collage technique, you can makefabric designs on:

• Oven gloves
• cot toy bag
• Make-up bag
• Cushion cover
• Wall hanger
• Place mats
• Pet's cosy coat, plus many more