Holiday Guide - Handmade how-to from Atlanta Craft Mafia’s fattycakes, aka Jordan Sandlin
FELT TOAST ORNAMENT
Why not make your friends a toasty buddy for their tree this holiday? After all, it’s hard to say no to the simplicity of toast, and this ornament is no different! This how-to makes almost a whole loaf’s worth (eight slices), so give each toast a different look for each friend. They’ll love you for it. After all, you made it!
Supplies
2 sheets of tan craft felt ($0.25 each)
Embroidery floss in black and tan ($0.25 each)
Polyester fiber stuffing ($3 per bag)
Yarn in the color of your choice ($3)
Sewing needle
Scissors
Step 1: Hold two pieces of tan felt together and cut out a basic toast shape. Simply create a little loaf top and you’ve got the general idea. Toast should be about 2 1/2 inches square.
Step 2: Embroider a toasty face with the expression of your choice in black embroidery floss.
Step 3: Make a yarn loop and knot it (enough to hang on a branch) and set it aside.
Step 4: Sew around the toast’s border with the tan embroidery floss. Any stitch will do. When you get to the toast’s top, insert the yarn loop (the knot side should rest between the two felt pieces) and continue sewing. This should lock in the loop for hanging your ornament later.Before sewing shut, stuff your toast with a bit of polyester fiber filling, and then sew shut.
Step 5: Stand back, admire your awesome craft abilities and hang your toast on the tree!
ARTIST Q&A
How did you get into crafting?
I have a BFA from the University of Alabama in studio art, and [it comes] out of the desire to make craftier things. You know, galleries weren’t really happening for me, so [it was] the need to create and create cheaply so I just started crafting and sewing a lot.
How long have you been in the business of indie crafting?
I’ve only really been doing fattycakes about a year and a half now. So I got into it after talking to a friend about doing a crafty business and then she didn’t really follow through, but I still felt like I wanted to follow through so I started doing the Etsy.com shop. I got into ICE this summer and did that show and so [I did] ICE again in November it just sort of snowballed from there. Really, it’s not about making money, it’s about spreading the DIY spirit and I’m really just interested in networking with other crafters and all that.
Where does the name fattycakes come from?
I work as a display artist and we had a work hamster and I named him lil fatty. The name came from his name and, now, he passed away, so he’s gone, but he lives on in fattycakes. I had never had a hamster as a kid and it was really fun and I really loved him, so...
What kinds of crafts do you specialize in?
I mostly make felt plushies, I call them, and they’re, most of them are just hand sewn because I really just enjoy that and felt’s just really cheap and nice to work with. Then they’re just stuffed with like a polyfill. They’re mostly kind of critters. I like to make toast, robots, irreverent things. I really love cute things, but I also just think that the things that I’ve chosen are just kind of funny. They kind of make me laugh. Like I do a stump and a log and they just make me laugh because they’re made out of felt so it’s just kind of silly.
What’s the story behind the Atlanta Craft Mafia?
I’m pretty new — they had some original members step down and they asked me and a couple of other girls to step up. We really are just an organization that ... members pay a small fee as their dues and we’re just trying to network as indie-craft businesses so we have special nights where we have a speaker. We’ve had one on photography, or your Etsy shop or your website or things like that so we can really network together and learn how to build a business out of that.
Why is making stuff better than buying stuff?
I just feel like making stuff’s so much more personal and you can really personalize it for the person and of course it’s more cost effective. But you’re just putting time into it and I think that people really appreciate that — when you give them something handmade.
I don’t know if you know about it but there’s something online called the handmade pledge — I think it’s Handmadepledge.org. It’s a petition that you sign that says during the holidays you’re going to try to make as many handmade gifts or give as many handmade gifts as you can. So I signed that and I’m really trying to do that this year because of the economy so might as well use that kind of talent to do something.