Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Visitors and a quick tip

For the past week, I have had some clients and friends visiting from out of town. I loved seeing everyone- but it reminded me how lucky I am to work from home and not have to commute into DC every day!


A while back, I saw something on a video or blog about dying your own seam binding. I decided this would be handy because you could buy a package of white and then make whatever color you need. So I went into my JoAnn’s to buy some packaged seam binding to give it a whirl. To my surprise, JoAnn’s no longer carries it- there’s hem tape, quilt binding, piping, twill, etc. but not plain old seam binding! So I went on eBay and found a 100 yard roll of it for $8.50 and bought it. It arrived yesterday and I went to town. What fun and so easy!
All you need are some spray mists, a ZipLock bag, and the seam binding. 
  1. Cut seam binding to desired length and put it in the plastic bag. 
  2. Spray mist in the bag. How much you add depends on how dark or light you want your seam binding. It dried a little lighter. The first two I just added one color- the third one I got crazy and sprayed green first, then brown which toned down the green a little. The colors bleed into each other for a cool ombre effect.
  3. Hang seam binding somewhere to dry. (the shower rod works great)
  4. The crumpling process also adds a crinkly textured effect to the seam binding. If you want it smooth, you can use an old curling iron or straightener (instead of getting out the iron) to get the wrinkles out.
Tips: 
  • if the seam binding is totally saturated, blot with a rag and then hang to dry so prevent a big mess.
  • experiment with different dyes and inks. One color I used was Radiant Rain Key Lime from Luminarte and it had a nice shimmer to it. 
  • the seam binding is so inexpensive on the roll! Use it to wrap gifts, as accents on layouts and cards and for jewelry cording.
Next post will show what I did with the seam binding- and you might get a sneak peek of my CHA Summer release!

Comments

  1. Ro says

    I love this idea with the plain white seam binding. I tried it with some I had. I also tried the heat tool and it crinkled up nicely. Thanks for the tip!