Textiva, made from the same material as Angelina fibers, is a colored, heat-bondable film. Colors can be layered together and can be cut into shapes. It is simple to sew through and interesting as a surface-design element.

MATERIALS

• Textiva in various colors
• Printed mulberry paper or cardstock
• Scissors
• Pinking shears or pinking blade for a rotary cutter
• Sewing machine and thread
• Parchment paper (or a Teflon® pressing sheet)
• Iron
• Fabric glue stick
• Background fabric or a quilt
• Optional but helpful: rotary cutter, ruler, and mat

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut Textiva into 1½" squares. Place one Textiva square on parchment paper. Center a 1” square of printed mulberry paper or cardstock on the Textiva square. Layer another Textiva square on top of the mulberry paper or cardstock. Place another piece of parchment paper over the Textiva sandwich you’ve just made. Press lightly with a warm iron to fuse.
2. Trim the edges of the fused Textiva square with pinking shears or a pinking blade.
3. Using a glue stick to aid positioning, stitch the pinked Textiva squares to a background fabric or quilt.

VARIATIONS

1. With 2 squares of Textiva between sheets of parchment paper, fuse together just the outer ¼" along three sides to create a “seam allowance” to form a pocket. Stitch the pocket to your background fabric or quilt along the three fused sides. Slide something into the pocket, like a shape cut from cardstock or a flat found object.
2. Fuse three layers of Textiva together. Cut star shapes from the fused Textiva. Cut a square and a rectangle of another color of Textiva, (for example, 2 ¼" x 2 ¼" and 2¼" x 2¾"). Using parchment paper to protect your iron and ironing board, fuse the star shapes to the Textiva square. Fuse together just the outer ¼" along three sides of the square and rectangle to form a pocket. Stitch the pocket to a background fabric or quilt along the three fused sides, using a loose zigzag stitch. Make a fabric tag to place in the pocket.

Project and artwork by Jane Dávila.

Who needs to wait for May flowers when you can stitch your own? In The Impatient Embroiderer, Jayne Emerson shows how to stitch fabric posies and butterflies and gives directions to make 19 other beautiful yet quick-and-easy designs for machine- and hand-stitched textiles.

Flowers by Jayne Emerson.

AquaFilm Wash-Away Backing is water-soluble and designed to keep embroidery stitches from sinking into plush or pile fabrics. It can also be used as a stand alone backing without any fabric for laces and fibers, or paired with Aquabond.

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