Candy Wrapper Zipper Pouch - less than successful (not quite a pin fail)

Cotton (the dog) and the Candy Wrapper Glasses Case

I'll refrain from calling this a Pin(terest) Fail, but it wasn't the roaring success I envisioned.  I saw these candy wrappers turned into zipper pouches and thought, "this would be so fun to do with a group of teens." Um, glad I tried it out first. And since then I've had no desire to try it out with a large group.

The basic idea is to use iron on vinyl (I found mine at a sewing machine store, but I've since seen it at Walmart) to laminate the candy wrapper. Then sew it into a pouch with a zipper across the long side.

Here's my first attempt:

Melted Vinyl and wrapper!

Good thing I was using a piece of fabric between the iron and the vinyl and then under the wrapper too! If a little heat is a good thing, more heat is better, right? Wrong!

The iron on vinyl makes the candy wrapper "fabric" sewable but like you are sewing vinyl (funny how that happens).

The hardest part of the project isn't ironing on the vinyl. It's actually turning the pouch right side out. Three of us completed (or attempted to) complete this project together. The Spree wrapper didn't make it past go. The Skittles wrapper attempt tore through the seam when turning right side out (too small), but the M&M wrapper made it to completion. The corners aren't nice and neat, but they are functional and the dog is still looking for the missing M&Ms!!

If you try this type of project here are my suggestions (learn from my mistakes):
 1. get the largest wrapper you can (it would make turning the project right side out easier)
 2. test out your ironing temp and duration on a scrap before using the real wrapper (more excuses to eat chocolate are always a good thing)
 3. don't consider this a beginner sewing project
 4. don't mentally consider this a fabric-like pouch, just pretend you are sewing a plastic pouch
 5. vinyl sticks to the sewing machine foot. I used tissue paper between my foot and my wrapper to solve this problem, but maybe putting tape on the bottom of the sewing machine foot would work as well? (anyone tried it?) Because I was using tissue paper I used small stitches so the paper would be nicely perforated and easy to tear off, but it also made the vinyl more perforated and easier to tear (bother).

Not so awesome results

So remember, not every awesome looking project will turn out awesome in real life, but have fun trying and remember that failure is an option and I'm not afraid to admit I failed on this project.

Awesome picture though! Thanks Katrina and Cotton for the pic.

Customized Music Clock Face - less than successful

My clock stopped working which was absolutely great because then I could take it apart without ruining it! After seeing how it was assembled I decided to buy another cheap (Walmart generic $4) clock and customize it.

First take apart the clock. This one has screws.

The hands pop off, but these are the problem children. A better constructed clock would be great (like the one that died - now the hand construction is flimsier making this project less than successful).

I made my clock face using one from the silhouette store (just so I wouldn't have to do the circle with 60 divisions on it). I decided to go with a musical theme: a quarter note at one o'clock, a half note (two beats) at two o'clock, etc. With the print and cut feature on the silhouette you can even use the silhouette to cut the hole in the center of the clock face.

Musical Clock

The final product looks great and worked great until..... the clock hands needed to cross paths. Then the hands got stuck because they weren't perfectly aligned. The hands were put together with rivet like construction. With a different clock you wouldn't have this problem. But after a few days of using this clock in my kitchen I decided I didn't like the musical face because my kids (some of whom are just learning to tell time on an analog clock) couldn't tell what the hours were. So in the end I just bought another $4 clock and put it on the wall without modification.

But if you could solve the supply issue (find a decent clock) the options for customizing are endless (scrapbook paper background anyone?). I just wasn't willing to spend more money on a clock.

Print on Fabric Craft FAIL!

Today I up got inspired to try my hand at printing on fabric. 

• I took out my roll of freezer paper (fresh from the baggie aisle in Walmart or probably stale by now since I've had it for years). 
• I cut several pieces to 8 1/2 x 11 so they would fit through the printer. 
• Then I ironed it onto white cotton fabric (actually a sheet from Target that I have been using for various projects).
• I selected two images from my silhouette collection. I changed one color so I would have yellow to test also.
• Then I printed the file on printer paper and on two pieces of fabric.
• The fabric went through the printer just fine with the freezer paper backing.

• As you can see, method 1 did not work. Simply soaking it in vinegar did not set the ink. In fact it seemed to erase the ink. Maybe if I had let the ink sit for a few hours before the vinegar rinse it would have been different? I don't know.

• Method 2 - heat set - I used my heat press and pressed it on medium pressure for 20 seconds at 350 degrees. It looked good so I decided to wash my towels (and my craft experiment). Craft FAIL!

What kind of craft failures have you had? And have you had success in printing on fabric and getting it to stay!?!