Fabric Swatch Books Tip and a Very Fun Store

Last week Steve and I went to a terrific store in Austin called the Austin Creative Reuse Center.  This place is a crafter's paradise!  Everything was so incredibly priced it was hard to use self-control!!  But I did, no worries about being deprived, I bought a shopping cart filled and it came to $20.71.  These were great items all clean some new some not new but everything was in perfect condition

 I bought fabrics and beads and a 48x60 rug kit!  I didn't even go down the paper crafting section.

one of the things I purchased were a dozen fabric sample sets.  These were 25 cents each!

 These are filled with gorgeous pieces fo fancy fabrics, perfect for crazy quilting!
there is only one problem using these, they have a stiff paper backing.  A machine needle will go through them but hand sewing is a different issue.

I tried two methods of removing the backing - and if you have a stack of these you might already be doing this - or this will be a great tip! 

First method: water soaking

well, it worked but it was way too tedious and messy.

So I on another piece I placed my hot iron on the paper and gave it a steam shot: 

That worked perfectly, the paper lifted right off!!

Here is a block going in a swap for "Fall"  it is all ready for stitching and embellishing

It is a mix of the upholstery fabrics and cotton.

Here is the stash to go on it

I'll have this done in a week or so and I'll post the block.  I know my "tip" might be old new to some, but If I had known how easy it was to take the backing off, I might have purchased more samples!

Have a great day and put something beautiful of yourself into it!

Ginny M