22 July 2021
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Jump right into summer with a cool party invitation that makes the most of scraps and waste prints by turning them into a collaged ice cream that’s embellished with a spot of machine stitching.
This ice cream card tutorial is perfect for your summer party invitations including children’s parties or your next BBQ!
Collage ice cream card
By Maria Livesey
You will need
Materials
- For printing – scrap paper for plate cleaning, 140gsm card, acrylic paint, assorted items to create texture
- For collage – tracing paper
- For stitching – threads to match chosen palette, lightweight iron-on interfacing xA5
- For the invitations – white 250gsm DL card, card in complimentary colour xA5
Equipment
- For printing – gelli plate, 10cm ink roller, apron, plastic sheeting to protect work surfaces
- For collage – pencil, fine liner pen, paper scissors, lightbox, craft knife, metal ruler, cutting matt, spray glue or double-sided tape
- For stitching – sewing machine, iron & ironing board, Pilot ‘Frixion’ pen, pencil
- For the invitations – lettering stamps, stamp pad
Download the cutting guide template
Download the collage and stitch guide template
Method
Gather printed scraps
1. Consider your colour palette.
"I combined textured prints in raspberry/purple, brown, gold, amber and cream tones."
2. Either use up waste/scrap prints from previous projects or create some new ones. You’ll need to set up your gelli plate for printing and run some test prints first. Remember to clean your plate thoroughly between prints.
Here are some ideas to get you started...
The ice cream is raspberry acrylic stamped with a block print and pulled on lightweight pink card.
The chocolate flake is formed by blending cream, amber & brown acrylic and impressing corrugated card on the printing plate, then over-printing with corrugated card until you’re happy.
The rim of the cone is achieved using bubble wrap pulled over the printing plate with amber and brown acrylic then pressed onto paper.
For the cone body parts food packaging is used to create surface texture with blends of cream, iridescent cream, gold and amber.
For the background, the print is pulled from a blended base of raspberry and purple acrylic impressed with the same wooden block used for the ice cream.
Build the collage
1. Trace the assembled cone – this is useful to help select the areas of print you want to use.
2. Trace and cut out the cone parts for the collage on to card.
3. Use the tracing to select, then stencil guides to cut out the various textured pieces.
4. The collage will be fixed and stitched on to 140gsm card, measuring 9x19.5cm. To stabilise the card for stitching, you need to iron a piece of fusible interfacing to the reverse. The interfacing should be 2mm less than the card size.
5. Cut the bottom background rectangle out at 9.6x5.7 cm. For extra fun, add another strip of paper measuring 9.6x0.9cm, like the old music paper shown below. Fix both to the card, with the music strip overlapping the background slightly at the top.
Loving these summer vibes? Don’t miss issue 132 of Stitch where Maria shares her gin glass inspired party invitations and how she developed a gelli printing plate from blocks of jelly – minimal cost, easy to do and the results are fantastic!
Add detail with stitch
1. Set up your sewing machine for free stitching with the feed dogs down or covered and a darning/embroidery foot fitted.
2. Use pale mauve thread to run straight rows of stitching to outline the background sections.
3. Fix together the rim and the top section of the cone.
4. Mark out the ice cream template on the card.
5. Continue with the light mauve thread to fix the flake in place.
6. Lightly transfer the stitch design for the ice cream then stitch the whip in place with a darker shade of mauve thread.
Top tip! Double up some of your stitching to create a stronger line.
7. Fix the cone base then the cone top to the background. Transfer the stitching lines for the cone, then switch your thread back to the light mauve to free stitch the design.
Assemble the invitation
1. Stamp out your choice of wording on a separate piece of card. Cut and mount to the top left.
"I used the Contact USA Pegz connectable alphabet stamps."
2. Mount the finished ice cream on coloured card or music sheet and trim leaving a 3mm border.
3. Finally fix the piece to a DL size card and you’re ready to party!
Find out more
Website: hangingbyathread.studio
Facebook: facebook.com/HangingbyaThreadCreativeTextileClasses
Head over to our cardmaking & papercrafting blog for more projects, inspiration and free downloads, or take an in-depth look at free machining, which includes a handy guide to get you started!
