Slow But Steady

Posted on May 30, 2014 by edges

I am making some progress on the Polka Dot tree. Getting the basics right is always slow going…and the truth is, I am making this up as I go along so we’ll see how it turns out.

The shape of the tree was first drawn on freezer paper.

As you can see, I had to tape several rows of freezer paper together. Freezer paper is cheap. Large format drawing paper is not. I can work with almost anything.

Next I took the garment wool, which was half-price at the local shop, and I attached Wonder Under 805 to the back. Any double sided adhesive paper would work, especially Steam-a-Seam Lite. However, my experience is that once I attach the wool and iron it into position, the Wonder Under causes fewer problems with the sewing needle getting loaded with glue gunk. Every project is slightly different so we’ll see how this goes.

Next, I laid out the wool with the fusible on the back right side up over my cutting mat, and placed the freezer paper drawing on top. Then I simply trace the drawing with a rotary cutter.

Next comes the tricky part, as the tree then is just a squiggly bunch of fabric that has to be switched over and laid out on the red twill. Once it is moved into position, then I carefully remove the backing which allows me to fuse the tree to the background.

This is where you have to get creative. I happen to own a small flat ironing pad which I literally move around under the flat tree, and iron/fuse a little at a time until the tree is attached to the twill. It doesn’t have to be perfectly fused, as I will be stitching down all the branches and the trunk. The fusing just has to be enough to hold everything in place while I am moving it around under the machine to stitch it on.

Next I spread it out over a layer of quilt batting to act as stabilizer.

This is NOT the quilt sandwich!

I will eventually trim off the edge of the quilt batting and attach more fabric to the sides of the quilt (I think…if all goes as planned). But I will be fusing polka dot leaves on top of all the branches – 60 of them, one for every fabric I received in the exchange. Then I plan to do some embellishing and then once all is finished on the top of the quilt, I will add ANOTHER layer of quilt batting and the backing and then quilt the whole project.

Whew! I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But everything follows one step at a time.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually you make progress. Just like life.

Baby Steps Toward a Project

Posted on May 9, 2014 by edges

I’m getting ready to start working on the polka dot project. I have an idea about creating a tree with the different polka dots as the leaves. I am starting as a base fabric some absolutely lovely twill which I ran across on rosie.com, which had an advertising link to Honey Be Good. Honey Be Good sells premium organic cotton. I’ve only purchased this red twill there so far, but wow, the twill is yummy. I need some clothes made out of this stuff.

I’ll be adding wool as the trunk of the tree, and I wanted to outline it in white. I’m never sure how it will all turn out, but that’s the thought right now.

So I experimented on the machine using white perle cotton, size 8, as the blanket stitch thread.

As you can see, the perle has a lot of dimension, jumps off the fabric and generally adds a lot of pop. But size 8 is just too large to go through the tension disks properly.

I used a 90/14 needle and reduced the tension somewhat. But you can see that the back side was looking like it might get knotted and nested at any moment. Considering the size of this project, I just don’t want to be worrying so much about the thread.

I switched to Aurifil, size 28, and used the triple blanket stitch. I made the blanket stitch a little wider for visibility, since the thread is so much finer. Aside from having a more “machine-stitched” look, it does the job with the same “eyeball impact”.

So here’s where I’m eventually headed. I will be using much larger pieces of wool on the twill, with the white blanket stitch around it. Eventually the whole project will be machine quilted, but not until I get all the details that I want.

I urge you to really experiment with your machine and some of the thicker threads. You can get a hand-stitched look, and even when it does not look quite as hand-stitched, you can certainly add texture, dimension and detail to your project.

Be bold. Nobody is writing the rules.

Color My World … with Polka Dots

Posted on March 22, 2014 by edges

I’m ready for the World Wide Polka Dot exchange.

The fabric has been cut. The envelopes are stuffed.

Now all I have to do is bring it all over to the quilt shop that’s sponsoring the event — Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe in Oswego.

Honestly, there’s still time if you want to join! It took me a total of about an hour and a half to 1. cut the fabric, 2. stuff the envelopes, and 3. add my return address labels.

I realize, of course, that this whole little event will mean I absolutely must create something with the fabric I receive from others. But that will be a fun little challenge I can take on over the summer. I’m leaning toward a sweet polka dot garden idea. With ricrac. Because what in the world is cuter than polka dots with ricrac?

Stitching on Paper? Leather? Fabric?

Posted on March 1, 2014 by edges

I don’t really know what to call it.

Technically, I believe it is paper. But, apparently it can be machine washed and tumble dried. Call me skeptical. Even so, it is a very fun product to stitch!

It’s called Kraft-Tex paper fabric. The project is listed on weallsew.com.

The description on the packaging is pretty accurate. It DOES look and feel like leather. It’s also a nice warm brown color, that makes everything pop out a bit. I can see using it in a number of different ways. For me, it borders a little more on the “crafty” side of sewing. But I could see it used in collage work, scrapbooking or anything that requires some dimension.

I went ahead and created the binder cover in the pattern. Of course, I used a different embroidery design. Mine is a medallion from urbanthreads.com.

The feel of this stuff is pretty hard to describe. It’s not rough, it’s rather soft. Which is why it compares to leather.

I have not tried to wash it yet, so that’s an experiment for the future.

The project went together quite easily and frankly, I was impressed by the quality of the paper/fabric. I had never heard of such a thing and it behaves, in my opinion, a little more like paper than fabric.

If you are someone who dabbles in multimedia, you’ll want to give this a try. I’d love to use this for painting and drawing and then incorporate sewing into the mix. If only I had more time in a day, and more inspiration in a night. The products are out there. Might as well find out what you can do with them!

Who Sews?

Posted on January 6, 2014 by edges

When I first started working again after our son began school full time, my neighbor and I were chatting about work. I told her that I worked for a woman-owned small business very close to home…a sewing store.

She looked at me quizzically and said…”Who sews?”

Behind her words were the unspoken questions of “Who has the time for that? Why would anyone take up such an old-fashioned, albeit charming, skill? Isn’t that what a grandma does?”

And I realized, that in the world of non-sewers, there seems to be a real lack of understanding of the whole sewing world/phenomenon.

Who sews?

Having spent a number of years in a sewing store now, I can give at least anecdotal answers to that question. But it may surprise you.

–Young moms. All you have to do is glance at etsy or pinterest to see this group. They will try anything with a sewing machine! And they are also the source for a lot of new fabric designs, patterns, and books.

–Newlyweds. Starting fresh, they get excited about creating together.

–Middle-aged women with highly stressful full time jobs. They sew for their sanity. Truly.

–Artists, artisans and crafts people, in general. Once they learn to sew, the ideas keep pouring in. One can never know it all. They find self-expression in the techniques and fellowship in classes.

–Men. They are usually drawn to the creative — tackling the technical challenges with gusto.

–People who are grieving or caregiving. Sewing is such a healing task, especially a quilt made of a loved one’s fabrics or shirts. Not long ago, a woman told me she spent the last year of her husband’s life working on hand quilting a wool blanket, and it kept her from losing her own mind, as her husband faded farther and farther away.

–Volunteers. If you ever want to know who makes pillowcases for cancer victims, quilts of Valor for the families of veterans, lap quilts for friends in chemo, quilts for women’s shelters, hospital gowns for kids in Haiti, and on and on and on, let me fill you in. Sewists and quilters. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t made something for someone else

–Retirees and empty nesters. Finally, finally, they decide to do something for themselves. Which is ironic, because the first thing they do is make something for their kids or grandkids.

–Anyone with a love of fabric.

Who sews?

Maybe the question should be:

Who doesn’t sew?

Needle Punch Peonies

Posted on May 10, 2013 by edges

As I wait for this years’ peonies to find the courage to rise and bloom, I am inspired by a picture of last years’, and so I pulled out some wool, some roving and decided to needle punch a bouquet of peonies. If you are not familiar with needle punch, it is the process of using needles to insert colored fabric into another fabric. The process of punching the roving into the wool actually creates a whole new fabric because both fabrics become one.

Here’s an example of some roving, which is essentially semi-processed wool or cotton fibers.

Samples of dyed roving.

Needle punching on the sewing machine.

Using special needles on a machine and a needle punch foot, you can use your sewing machine to “punch ” the roving down into the wool fabric below. You’re not using any thread, and if you have thread sensors on your machine, you’ll want to turn them off. After that, the process is a lot like painting with watercolor, or more precisely, like charcoal drawing, using the different colors of the roving to create shading, shapes and color.

My intent was to capture the carefree way the flowers moved and “relaxed” into the group. I always want to loosen my style. Sometimes my art is uptight. One of the reasons I enjoy working with fiber over paint is the amount of control that one must give up to the medium. That’s exciting and unpredictable. (Some people love precision and this may be frustrating for you.)

After punching out the basic shapes, just add some background texture.

Adding texture through small quilting patterns. I added some batting to the back for stability.

Adding texture through small quilting patterns. Add batting to the back for stability.

What it looked like before I added the topstitching.

What it looked like before topstitching.

As the final touch, add topstitching to the whole arrangement. This brings a bit of dimension, with a “pen and ink” feel. All of this is very textural. Interesting to look at, interesting to touch.

Anyone can do this with a little inspiration, some wool, and some roving. You can purchase hand needle punch kits at any craft store and I’m sure most sewing machine manufacturers have some form of needle punch accessory. (Bernina does, for certain!) After that, the sky’s the limit.

Machine tip: Be sure to clean out your sewing machine really well after doing needle punch.

Now get out there and have fun!!

Final piece. Not sure if I’ll turn it into a pillow cover or garment or something else entirely!

Done

Posted on October 8, 2012 by edges

Finally. It’s done.

I wish I were able to follow a pattern without making modifications and adjustments and tweaking in different ways. It might all be easier. Then again, it might not be so much fun. On this pattern, I doubled the amount of ruffles (because once I started with the ruffler, basically, I couldn’t stop). The bag has nine yards of pieced and bias-cut ruffles ON EACH SIDE.

Of course, it made the pattern bulkier, but very touchable. Really. Whenever I walk past the bag, I just want to run my hands over all those delicious ruffles. And sometimes I want to hug it. (Possibly because it’s stuffed with a pillow). I worried it would be too heavy, but turns out it’s just fine.

If you want to see it in person, stop by Sew Generously in St. Charles – any time after Tuesday Oct 9.

You may want to hug it too. Or make one of your own. The bag is modified from a pattern created by Kay Whitt in her book Sew Serendipity Bags.

I see a pillow in my future.

Some Things Never Change

Posted on September 28, 2012 by edges

I bought a new attachment for the sewing machine –a ruffler. And I have been having a wonderful time. I want to add ruffles to everything I own. Shower curtains, book shelves, pillow cases. I’m hooked. If I can see it, I want to add ruffles. Right now, I’m working on a handbag pattern.

If you’ve never seen a ruffler, you will get a kick out of it. It is straight out of the industrial age. To see one in action, check out this video. I found it even more fascinating that this contraption hasn’t changed in over 50 years.

While at our church’s rummage sale a few years ago, I picked up a Singer sewing machine from the 1940’s. Or the 50’s at the latest. Now normally, I bring a lot of stuff TO the rummage sale and nothing back home with me. But on this particular day, I bought an old sewing machine. It came with a box full of accessories, and lo and behold, one of them is a ruffler.

Now, if you haven’t noticed, sewing machines have changed quite a bit since the 1940’s or 50’s. Today they are complicated pieces of electrical engineering and computer design with sewing mechanisms attached. They accept USB sticks. You can buy optional digitizing software. You plug them into a UPS, and make sure they are unplugged when not in use to avoid a power surge. They get software and firmware updates. They come with training classes and webinars, and their screens are in HD.

Yes, sewing machines have come a long way, baby. But when I opened the box of accessories for this antique sewing machine I recognized the ruffler immediately.

See for yourself.

Apparently it’s hard to improve on perfection. Some things never change. Good to know that in some cases we keep what works.

On the other hand, on a whim I looked up “ruffler” in the Urban Dictionary. Yup. Some things never change.

Adventures in Zentangles

Posted on July 30, 2012 by edges

I’ve never tried this til now. In a project for work, we needed to create a few of these with the idea that zentangle doodles could be used for stitches or for machine quilting.

Drawing zentangles is a simple process from what I can decipher, though I think it is supposed to be meditative. For me, it’s doodling with a purpose. Here are a couple of my zentangles, but if you are interested visit zentangle.com to find out more.

How crazy are these things? The good news is that I don’t think I would ever sit down by myself to draw this way. Ever. Basically, you draw a squiggle line on a piece of paper and begin to doodle around the edges, letting yourself just flow with whatever line formation comes to mind. If you feel like tiny small squiggles, great. If you feel like giant bold strokes, OK too. Miraculously, eventually, patterns emerge and no matter where I started, I was surprised by the ending.

Despite my original skepticism, I did find it calming. Like any repetitive task, it required just enough concentration to stay focused, but not so much as to cause frustration. And in a world where I spend very little time completely focused on one small task, it’s a refreshing exercise. In the end, I’ve created…well, I don’t know what I’ve created–something unusual from my hand and my brain. Good enough for me!

Opening Our Eyes

Posted on July 29, 2012 by edges

Sometimes, I find the most stunning beauty right in front of my nose. Often enough, I’m sure I miss the moment, preoccupied with the trivialities of the day, the busyness of life. But every now and then a moment sticks, and I’m able to transfer, if not the actual beauty of a thing, than at least my interpretation of something I once thought was beautiful.

I thought I’d share a couple of landscape quilts. The first was from several years ago. I seem to have an ongoing fascination with trees. Living in the midwest, trees, sky and grasses are our landscapes. So that’s my focus. Occasionally, we’re lucky enough to find a bluff, or even a small hill, usually near a river. As much as I try to let abstractions come through, I still have a tendency toward realism. I’m working on it.

Last year, I met some friends for coffee in a coffee shop in a small town nearby. Quaint, cozy and lovely. As I waited for them to show, I gazed out the window at the chilly November view. I did a little sketch on the notepad I had with me. That sketch turned into this wall hanging. (yes, those are my toes at the bottom)

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with Spoonflower. If you haven’t checked out this website, you really should. What a hoot. You can download any graphic or photo and turn it into fabric — a fatquarter, a yard or 10 yards, depending on what you want to pay.

I printed up a couple of yards of this fabric. If you look closely, you’ll see that this is actually a B/W picture of reeds and their reflection in a very calm lake. The graphic on the fabric makes a wonderful nature-inspired abstract. I’m still not sure what to do with this fabric, but I’ll think of something in time. For now, I just get a kick out of knowing it’s designed from my photo.

Edgestitch

Sewing is life. Life is art.

Tag Archives: sewing