Although I’m getting much better using Photoshop Elements, I still don’t quite know everything there is to know, and one of the challenges I’ve always experienced was when removing backgrounds from an image so that it didn’t look like the dog had chewed around the edges of it. This is often particularly difficult when trying to remove the background from a photo of a fabric project because of all the threads and embellishments.

One day recently while I was browsing the web I found the answer! And of course I can’t link to the tutorial because I don’t know where I found it, but this is how it’s done and it’s SO easy.

This is one of the images that I’m using on the front cover of the book.

You can see close up that the background is well, rather dreadful.

So here’s how to remove it. Note, I’m using Photoshop Elements 6 for this tutorial, however they should be similar in other versions.

Select your favorite “selection” tool, either the magnetic lasso or the quick selection tool.

Zoom in real close to the image so you can see what you’re doing and select the outline of the image. You want to get the selection as good as possible. I’m using the quick selection tool for this. In the photo you can just make out the little marching ants around the outline.

Once you’ve selected the outline, go to the file menu and choose Select, Modify, then either Expand or Contract depending on which is the best way for you to cut out the image. For this outline I’m using Contract because I want to remove some of that fuzzy outline and cut in closer to the image.

Choose the number of pixels you want to contract by; you usually don’t need too much. I’ve chosen 2.

Next go to Select, Feather …

… and select the amount of feather to smooth out the edges. I’ve chosen 3.

Then go to Edit, Copy. Then Edit, Paste. Or Ctrl C then Ctrl V on your keyboard.

This now puts a copy of your cutout image in a new layer on top of your original.

If you hide the original image, you can easily see that the edges have been feathered and softened.

And when you place this on a new background – it looks FABULOUS!

I love learning new things, especially when they work out so well! And of course that’s a nice segue leading to my new book Machine Wrapped Cording, the first in the Creative Textile Arts Weekend Workshop series. Because with this book I’ve rewritten and updated all the information and lessons and I guarantee you’ll learn some fabulous new tricks and technique for using machine wrapped cording. See here for more details.

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