My husband and I have lived in four states (and six cities) since we met in college. We met in Wisconsin (Madison), then moved to California for graduate school (San Diego) and then to North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham) where our kids were born and bought and sold our first house (NOT a money pit.) We were transferred up to Massachusetts where we rented an apartment in Canton while house hunting, before buying the Money Pit 1.0 in Arlington/Boston. Finally a year ago we moved back to California (San Francisco) where we purchased the Money Pit 2.0.
Phew! Each of those cities hold a very special place in my heart. They are all full of memories and although I loved some more than others, they will always be remembered as "home."To memorialize all these places we hold in our hearts, and after seeing a bunch of state collages on Pinterest made of printables, scrapbook paper or actual maps, I knew I wanted to make my own version. It was only after seeing See Kate Sew's Fabric US Map did I know exactly what I was going to do.
A fusible fabric state collage.(If you haven't lived a lot of places, you could do a similar craft putting a heart where your family or friends live, or places you have vacationed, or places you just want to visit someday. Whatever is meaningful to you.)
The first thing I did was pick out my fabric swatches. I chose dark fabrics against a white on white paisley background. I wanted the high contrast so that you could see the outline of the states clearly. 
Next thing I did was do a google image search for the four states we have lived in (Wisconsin, California, North Carolina and Massachusetts.) I printed them out the full size of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper:
I made sure that the states fit in the 23x23 inch Ikea frame that I purchased specifically for this project:
Once I knew it would fit, I traced the outline of the states onto Heat N' Bond fusible adhesive:
Remember to trace the outline on BACKWARDS so when you iron the adhesive onto the wrong side of the fabric the orientation is correct:
Once I had all the states traced, I cut them apart:
And ironed them onto the WRONG SIDE of the fabric:
I roughly cut out the states and laid them out on my frame to make sure I liked the colors and the layout:
Then I cut out the states carefully, making sure to preserve all the little details:
It would have been a lot easier if I was cutting out states like Wyoming! Once they were all cut out I peeled off the backing paper, laid them out on the fabric one more time to make sure I liked the layout:
When i was happy I fused them down with an iron:
I made sure I get the edges really well:
To personalize it even further, I decided I wanted to mark which cities we actually lived in so I made small heart template and got some embroidery floss:
Using a fabric pencil I marked all the cities we hold near and dear to our hearts (here is Raleigh-Durham, NC:)
After chain stitching around the heart outline:
Here is where we live now (San Francisco):
California (and Massachusetts) both have two hearts:
Once the embroidery was finished, I put it in the frame:
15 years of memories, summed up in one little square wall hanging. I love it!
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 since we met in college. Â We met in Wisconsin (Madison), then moved to Californ...){kind=link}
How cute- Great idea- Wisconsin looks good! That's where we are from- xo Diana
ReplyDeleteaw, those are so cute. They all really balance each other well inside the frame :)
ReplyDelete~Lisha
What an awesome idea! One more thing that wikk be on my to do list ;). Thanks for sharing the details .
ReplyDeleteSo original and so pretty!! A true piece of LOVE art!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream To Reality!
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ReplyDeleteThis a neat project and requires some skill! You did a great job! Visiting from CSI Project.
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Checking in from The CSI Project. Ooh, I love this! What a great idea for someone who is moving.
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