Quaking Aspen Bark

by Franki Kohler
Author of Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Postcards, Keepsakes You Can Make and Mail, C&T Publishing Inc., 2006.

We're all thinking "green" these days. With a few supplies in your studio and a bit of laundry lint you can create "bark" that resembles one of nature's wonders, the Quaking aspen tree. This project will yield 6 fabric postcards.

Supplies

• 16" x 13" white felt; cut 3" x 13" piece and set aside
• 12" x 12" white fabric for address side
• 12" x 12" fast2fuse double-sided fusible stiff interfacing
• Dryer lint from 1-2 loads of wash, especially dark loads of clothes
• Black wool roving
• Pewter Lumiere paint by Jacquard
• Small paint brush
• Embellishing machine, such as Janome FM-725
• Sewing machine
• White thread

Creating Quaking Aspen Bark

A good first layer of lint is punched.

1. Place chunks of the dryer lint on the felt background fabric and punch.

Note: Some areas may be too sparse. Place another layer of the lint and punch it in.

Roving placed randomly.

2. Snip small pieces of black roving and place randomly. Punch.

Felt strip punched at the edge of background felt

3. Cut wavy strips no wider than ¼" from the 3" x 13" piece of white felt. Place one strip at the edge of the background felt and punch to secure.

Completed piece

Twist the strip and punch 1" - 2" at a time. Continue adding strips of twisted felt until you are happy with the look.

Note: If the strip breaks, place the end of the broken strip at the end of the line already punched and continue punching.

4. Trim completed bark to a 12" x 12" square. Fuse to the 12" x 12" fast2fuse.

5. Fuse the 12" x 12" white fabric to the opposite side of the fast2fuse.

6. Cut the 12" x 12" finished bark into 6 sections, each measuring 4" x 6".

7. Use white thread to stitch about 1/8" from the edge around each postcard.

8. Using a small brush, paint the pewter Lumiere paint to the seal the edge of each postcard.