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Tutorial: Freezer paper stencil softie faces with the Silhouette

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I love making softie dolls.   I love the wide-open possibilities of fabric choice and shape.  I  love stuffing them and seeing them come to life.  But what I absolutely don’t like is making their faces.  In a perfect world, I’d be able to draw as well as I can sew, and I could effortlessly make their little faces reflect the personalities I imagine for them.  But, it’s an imperfect world, and my dolly faces usually reflect this.

One of my new favorite things to do with my Silhouette is make freezer paper stencils.  Freezer paper stencils for softie faces.  And you don’t even need to be able to draw in order to make one!

  I made the face for this little guy using an image of a sweet little kitty that I downloaded from the Silhouette store.

***Have you entered our giveaway for a Silhouette SD digital cutter?  If not, go there now and get entered!  Deadline is Monday, November 29 at midnight CST.***

It takes a little bit of tinkering with the drawing tools to edit the image down to just the face.

Want to know how I did it?  Don’t worry; it’s not difficult at all.

1.  First things first, open up the image in the Silhouette Studio software.  Then, ungroup it by highlighting the image and then right-clicking and selecting Ungroup.

2.  Now that the image is ungrouped, you can edit each line and shape within the image separately.

3.  Delete everything in the image except the face. (Highlight an element, right-click, and choose Delete.)

4.  Once you’ve deleted everything but the face, use the arrow cursor to select it all, and then right-click and select Group.  Now the lines and shapes in the face act like one image again.  You can move and resize it just as you would any image.

If you want to use this face again and again, you can save it to your library.  To do this, all you have to do is select the image and choose File, then Save to Library.

Now that you’ve got your face, you can use it to cut freezer paper stencils for dolly faces on your Silhouette.  No more dolly face anxiety!

Have you entered our giveaway for a Silhouette SD digital cutter?  If not, go there now and get entered!  Deadline is Monday, November 29 at midnight CST.

Looking for more Softie toys to sew? Check out these sewing patterns for kids’ toys on Etsy and these Softie Sewing books on Amazon.

Looking to chat about sewing? Check out our sewing group on Facebook with over 80K members.

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Comments

  1. My husband got me the Silhouette SD for Christmas and I am loving it but I am having a hard time figuring out how to use freezer paper with it. Which side do you put down and what setting do you use?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • I found that the freezer paper stuck to the carrier sheet much better when I put it with the shiny side UP. Because I had the paper essentially upside down on the carrier mat, I also reversed the image horizontally so it would end up looking right after I ironed it to the fabric. To cut it, I put it on a fairly thin paper setting; try print paper (light) first, and if that doesn’t get a clean cut them go to print paper (medium). Good luck!! –Anne

      Reply

Have you read?

Learn All About Sewing Velvet Fabric

 

I’m always tempted by the pretty velvets at the fabric store.  So much texture!  And the way the fibers catch the light!  But sewing on velvet is trickier than you’d think.  That nap that lends beautiful texture also likes to slip and crawl.  That nap can also spell disaster if you cut a piece the wrong direction.  That isn’t to say you shouldn’t use buy that velvet and sew it into something gorgeous, you just need to go into your velvet sewing project prepared.  And Melissa at Melly Sews has a post that takes you step by step through sewing on velvet. 

Velvet is such a luscious fabric, especially for winter sewing projects.  Of course there are velvet Christmas sewing projects – stockings, tree skirts, santa hats – but velvet is beautiful for all winter.  Think of all the gorgeous velvet dresses, evening bags, hair accessories, even pillows and other home décor that you see all winter long. 

Melly Sews’ post gives you the tips and tricks you need to know in order for your velvet sewing project to end up a success.  There are types of projects better suited for velvets, and kinds of projects to avoid.  She describes the different types of velvet available.  And she also tells the best way to lay out and cut your pattern pieces from velvet fabric.  Her tutorial also covers marking, pressing, and of course sewing that beautiful fabric.  There’s also a video included in case that’s your preferred method for learning.

Head over to Melly Sews to learn how to sew on velvet fabric. 

And if you want to learn more about that lovely blue velvet dress shown, she has a post that tells more about it including 2 ways to style it depending on if you want to be more dressy or more casual.

[photo credit: Melly Sews]

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