Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I "Felt" Like Maken' Cake- Part 2

Feel like some frosting???  I love it!  This was totally fun...time consuming...but worth the time!
I will show you a basic way to attach the frosting using a twisted pattern, then a couple ways I tried to mimic what I do on real cakes. 
I cut felt, doubled over, to 3/4"  I cut long strips, not measuring or anything.  I can only say you want it long, so you don't have to splice it in the middle of the frosting.  Some strips I cut from scrap felt left over from Halloween, some the whole 60" length of the fabric off the bolt.
I layered 2 or 3 strips of felt for each row of frosting.  Later I figured out if you are going to use 2 strips, cut them 1/2" wide.  If you are using 3-cut them 3/4" wide.  You can play with the size and number to your own preference.  Stitch down the middle.  I used the longest stitch length I had, just to pin the two pieces together and to create a middle.
Now you are ready to start.  I am showing you on a cake I made with no bottom plate.  I normally hold the bottom plate on and stitch it to the cake at the same time I stitch the frosting on.  If you don't want to do it that way, you can either sew the plate on first, then go around, or sew on the frosting and then the plate.  Your choice :0)
I fold the end of the frosting strip in half, pinch together and stick your needle through all layers.  Now stitch that to the cake.  As a real cake decorator, they teach you that there is a front and a back to a cake.  I use the seam in the side wall to be the back.  Start stitching the frosting there.  This next picture shows from the middle of the frosting string.  It is all the same, whether at the first blop of frosting or a blop in the middle.
Before I start messing with the fabric, I get the needle where it needs to be on the cake.  I poke in, just below the starting point, then come out over 1-1 1/2" and up just a little from the bottom.  Pull the needle through so you are ready to sew when you have the frosting blop in place.
At the risk of loosing you, I do not use the felt the way it lies. Like in the picture above, I use the middle of the two layers as the front and back. If the strip is laying on the table(left hand in the picture), you are looking at the stitching.  If you treat these like the top and bottom, your frosting will not shape right and go flat.  You need to stick your thumb in between the two flaps of felt(right hand in the picture) and use that inside part as the outside. If you don't understand what in the world I am trying to say, just disregard and it will be OK. I think the felt looks more natural and is more likely to go where you want it to go if you can make the inside the outside, but either way works. Sorry for the confusion.
You want to grab the frosting down farther then the actual spot on the cake your needle came out.  If you are doing your blops 1" apart, you need to grab your felt 1 1/2" down.  You will squish it up, scrunching it into a fuller shape each time.  Divide the frosting with your thumb in the middle of the four flaps (again, not in the flaps that show the stitching, in between the flaps that do not ;0).  That center line will be the center of the back of the frosting when you twist it.  Each section is twisted one half turn.  
 
I folded one side under.  Next, finish turning the felt so the flaps are all facing front.  Now scrunch in to get the desired fullness. 
When you have everything just where you want it, stick your needle in the top of the frosting, right through the middle of all four layers, and come out the bottom.  I then poke the needle back in the cake at the bottom, coming out straight up, about 1/2" directly above where you inserted the needle.  Pull the needle through and the thread tight. 
Now, take the needle, don't go through the felt, just go into the bottom of the cake and come out 1/2" directly above it again.  The thread will wrap tightly around the outside of the frosting this time, pulling it all in tightly. 
 This last time, insert needle in the bottom of the cake like the two times before, but instead of coming out above, push the needle through 1-1 1/2' to the side, and about 1/2" from the bottom.  Then you get to do it all again!!!  In the end of each frosting blop, the thread will have gone through all layers, through the cake, outside the felt, through the cake, outside the felt, into the cake bottom, then out over just far enough to start all over again!  Got it!?!  Let's move on! 
The picture above is of frosting using 3 pieces of felt.  That is why there are so many layers.  The bottom of this cake, I did not turn the felt.  I just bunched it up and stitched it in place, bunch, stitch, bunch, stitch.  The top frosting is twisted-twist, bunch, stitch, twist, bunch, stitch.  You can see how it has a slight wave to it. 
Above is my all time favorite frosting border-a swirly kind of twist.  It looks way better on real cakes and can be done much tighter, but I was happy with how this one turned out.  Below, in these three pictures (same cake) I did the same twist, but it was much harder.  Yikes.  I liked how it came out, but I really couldn't get a good picture of it.  Sorry.  I took like 10 and these were the best I got.  I think the fuzzy felt and the fact it is all white throws the camera off so I can't show much detail. 
These two show a squiggly thing I did on top.  I really liked the way this design turned out.  It makes the cakes more fondant like, rounded at the top edge.  I plan to add flowers or strawberries in part 3 :0)
So hopefully that gets your mind going on different ways to decorate your felt cakes.  I will try a part 3 before Sat. to show what I come up with in the way of flowers and strawberries.  My disclaimer is that I am not a professional and have made nothing felt food-ish before.  If you would like to know how to do it more professionally, check out Bugga Bugs, American Felt and Craft, Sweetie Pie Bakery or simply search google for felt food/felt cake patterns.  Happy Fake Baking!

5 comments:

  1. your frosting,is ingenious!
    i would have never thought of that!!

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  2. This is so much easier than trying to create single puffs and stitching them on! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so right! No problem. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Good luck on your project. If you find yourself bored when you finish I would love to see what you made!!! Thanks for stopping by!
      Vanessa

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  3. muito legal, me ajudou bastante a entender como faze.
    bjs

    fabi

    ReplyDelete

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