Dresses on hangers

I recently laid my hot little mitts on one of those We Are Memory Keepers Fuse tools.  I'm not gonna lie.  I screamed a little bit when I opened the package.  EEEEEEEYAY!  It's new.  Like, really new.   So new that there are no real tutorials and ideas out there on what to do with this thing other than the standard instructions.  So.  Here is an idea I came up with.  A cute lil dress shaker card that hangs on a paper clip hanger.  It goes something like this:

First, draw out a little dress, or trace it out of a magazine, or whatever and cut it out.  This will be your template.

Next, trace the dress onto the pretty paper you desire to have your dress made from.  I like yellow...and polka dots.  Being "all about the bass" myself, it's a color/pattern combination I have to avoid, but I enjoy it from afar.  :)

Cut it out...so pretty!  At this point, it would be good to add stickers, like a belt or flower...It all depends on how fancy you want this business to be.  I'm going plain for this tutorial.

Now, get you some plastic.  Here's the thing.  I have a heavy hand and the lighter plastics tend to melt on me pretty fast.  its all about knowing how fast you can roll your Fuse to not melt your plastic, but still get a good seal.  I happen to have this tablecloth plastic that is kind of thin, but you can sew it. Upholstery covers made from this stuff were popular in the dark ages, and clear plastic table cloths now.  You can buy it by the yard for cheap and make a gazillion lil' fused thingers.  So, now that I have my plastic, I can carry on.
You want 2 pieces that you can sandwich your dress between and have about an inch around all sides to screw up with.  That is, if you need to screw up.  I need screw up inch-ary.  You will too, should you choose to continue on with this tutorial.

Fuse a straight line right at the top.   You are making a little pocket here to tuck your dress in.  And, obviously, I cut my plastic like a drunken pirate.  You need a straight line.  Use your Fuse ruler thing.

See?  Nice.  Stick your dress between the plastic sheets and scoot it right up in there tight against the fused line.

Now, you want a second fused line, just below the first one UP TO the sleeve of your dress, then up to the next sleeve, then finishing off the other side (see below).  This is creating a pocket for your hanger wire to go through, but will create the illusion of your dress on the hanger.  You can cut out the confusion and just fuse straight across, but it looks like crap.  Don't do that.

Then, you fuse down each side.  I like to go all the way down and well past the bottom edge.  Make sure not to follow your dress too closely.  Give yourself a little space, because if you follow too closely to the paper, you won't get a good seal.  The Fuse will kind of melt the plastic, leaving a hole with no selvage edge.  If that happens, you are screwed.  Trust me here,  Give yourself some space and save yourself from screw-age.

Success so far?  YAY!  We are almost done.  See?  You have a little pocket to put your sparkles and glitter bits in.  Go ahead and do that.

GLITTER BITS!!!!

Sparkles, beads and fun stuffs.  

 And now, you can seal up the bottom with the Fuse.  It's the easiest to just go from edge to edge.  Make sure all sparkles and glitter bits are well away from the fusing area.  This too can create issues with the seal.

Pay attention!  I am giving you pearls here!  A lot of swearing on my part went into learning these little tricks.  Save yourself the confession time.  

Once you get it all sealed up, you want to trim the excess plastic off.  Remember, I cut my original plastic like a drunken pirate.  It needs a trim.  You can trim tight against the outside edge of the fused line.  If you gave yourself space around the edge, you have a great seal and you can trim it all professional like.  No one will even know about the drunken pirates :)

Wah-na-na!!!!!! Awwwe...Flat Stanley prom worthy.  I would so wear that...if I too were perfectly flat and had no need to sweat.  Okay, yes.  I'm odd.  Onward.

 Now, you want to make the hangers.  This is not my tutorial, but you can go online and find the one.  Let me see if I can link to it...HERE'S ONE!!!  You're welcome :)

So, straighten out the one end so you have a mostly straight area to thread the dress on this hanger.

 Remember that somewhat confusing area in the beginning that I wanted you to make?  Here it is in action.  You see how your dress shoulders end up being in front of the hanger?  It kind of looks like the dress is "on" the hanger. Yeah.  shove your hanger in that lil' hole.

Then, bend the hanger back into shape and WOOOHOOO!  You did it!  How cute is that thing?  The same method can be used if you want to make those paper clip bookmaker flag things.  That way, your dress can be more functional as...well, a book mark.

See?  I made one from a fish.  You can use this same idea with any shape to make shaker card dangley bits for all your journals, pocket letters, scrap books, etc.  Have fun!