finally dealing with fabric.

I feel like it's taken me a long time to get to this step, but this week I finally traced patterns onto my fabric. First, I ironed an adhesive to the back of my fabrics.

I had to iron the adhesive onto the fabric, peel off the paper backing, and then iron that fabric onto your other one. This secures the fabrics to one another, which is especially useful if, like me, you will not use a sewing machine to stitch the edges together.

Then, I laid the patterns down on the paper backing of the adhesive and traced them. At first, I forgot I had to trace the reverse patterns so they're facing the same way on the fabric.

I also traced out a pattern to use for my bibs. I bought a plain bib to use as a guide, and my mom suggested that I fold it in half to create a pattern. This is the best way, she said, to guarantee that the two sides of the bib are the same. I folded the bib in half and traced it onto the back of a sheet of wrapping paper.

Next week, I will trace the bibs and cut everything out.

The farther into this project I get, the more I'm enjoying it. As mentioned in Michael Owen Jones' article, I'm enjoying this project for various reasons. It's starting to provide me with aesthetic pleasure, and it's therapeutic and stress-relieving to work with my hands as I create something for someone else.