Fat Quarterly Retreat - one swap done, more to do

Well, my nervous anxiety about the Fat Quarterly Retreat is starting to change into nervous excitement, partly I think because I have managed to finish my name tag for the name tag swap.  This is supposed to be a secret swap, but I’m rubbish at keeping secrets and have already posted a photo of the completed tag on the FQR Flickr group, so I might as well share the name tag here as well. I’ll still keep the identity of my swap partner secret as I’ve yet to send the tag.

It took me a while to come up with an idea for the design of the tag, but in a moment of fleeting inspiration, I decided to do teeny, tiny portholes depicting her social media ID. The portholes are about the size of a UK five pence piece, with the inserts (conveniently for photographs) being the size of a one cent coin. To reduce the bulk on the tag, I used lightweight iron-on interfacing rather than fabric when making the “hole” part of the portholes. I read that my swap partner had ordered some sparkly fabric for one of her projects (it was research, not stalking!) and so I hand embroidered her name and social media ID using a sparkly metallic thread. I used machine applique to decorate the back of the tag, being very thankful that the tag was for FQR2013 and not Sewing Summit or Quilt Market!  

I wanted the tag to be useful after the event so rather than bind the front and back together, I lined the inside (using the lining as a binding on the outside) and added a piece of felt so it could be used as needle case. My swap partner had requested a lanyard and I was lucky in that I had lots of old conference lanyards to use as a guide for size and which I deconstructed for the clip, bead and safety breakaway clasp. A length of floral ribbon from my stash was in keeping with the colour theme of the tag and my partner’s blog and I used this to make a lightweight strap.

That’s the first thing ticked off my FQR to do list – now I need to work on my sample swaps, putting together my fabric swaps, and getting the supplies for my workshops and tabletop sessions.