Tool and Technique Tuesday!

I promised last tuesday to expand on the snippet background and show you my thread painted sun flower that I will be adding to the green background.

So last week I explained how I fused the snippets of fabric with Heat n'bond Lite. This week I drew a picture of the sunflower I wanted from a photograph onto freezer paper- x2. One is for layout and one is to be cut out for appliqué pieces- see pics below

The above is a rough drawn pic based on my sisters photograph from her veggie garden.

I then cut one of the drawing pieces out roughly, keeping the other one for reference and layout- These are drawn on the dull side of freezer paper with a sharpie marker and ironed shiny side down to the right side of the corresponding fabric. To save time the leaves are cut out of one piece of fabric as they will be thread painted to look realistic

I then fused, lightweight fusible web to the wrong side of the fabric and cut all pieces out accurately, removing the paper backing from the fusible web and I removed the freezer paper only once all pieces were cut out and  ready to layout on my background.  See below, it looks a bit unrealistic at this point, but will look better as I complete the thread painting
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First make a quilt sandwich, with a backing and batting and 505 spray or pin baste my  layers together.

Once I am sure my quilt sandwich will not shift, I start to thread paint with a free motion (darning foot) and feed dogs on my machine lowered and stitch length at zero. I use decorative embroidery threads with sheen and variegated to get a realistic look. I also use machingers gloves and move the fabric. I start with outlining each petal with a thread colour slightly darker that the petals. I use Microtex needles  70 or 80 depending on the thickness of the thread. I then thread paint within the petals with a straight stitch and a back and forth movement in the direction of the petals.  It takes some practise, but its so much fun to do!

the quilt sandwich

outlining the petals

thread painting with yellow

HINT: If you put black fabric on the back and use the same thread on the top as in the bottom, you get art on the back and it looks wonderful!

I spent approximately 2 hours thread painting and the project is not yet complete, I will post the completed project next Tuesday along with a new Tuesday project. I promise it will look better than it does right now.



Thanks for your interest in Tool and Technique Tuesday!

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