Embellishing Appliques by Machine

Posted on November 29, 2020November 30, 2020 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in A Little How-To, Applique, Art Quilt Techniques, Design as you go, Embellishment, Embroidery, Fabrics, Machines / 2 Comments

I have been having fun in my studio this past few days while I worked on my wool applique sampler. I got all the pieces appliqued and have started the fun part of adding decorative stitches to turn them from simple shapes into interesting flowers.

As an example, here is one of the flowers appliqued and ready to embellish. I used a combination of all wool felt and wool blend felt.

Here is the same applique after I added some decorative stitching using wool blend 12 weight Aurifil thread.

I may decide to add more stitching to this particular flower. It was helpful to me to see it in the photograph. Somehow pictures of my work gives me a different perspective. I may decide, instead, however, to use some free motion quilting to add more details to this flower.

Here is a little closer view of the flower heads and flower stem that I also embroidered with some decorative stitching.

Sew it is a layered process, and while I have a general idea of what it will look like when finished in my mind’s eye, I make adjustments and changes from my original concept as I go.

In any case, I find this phase of the project really fun as each addition changes the appliques and I see my original concept emerge into reality. The last thing I will do before sandwiching and quilting it is to add some patches of grass and maybe a bug or animal around in the grass. The quilting should also make its own addition to the overall interest of this little wall hanging. I am considering how to finish the edge. Should I bind it in cotton or edge stitch it with some heavy weight specialty thread, or even try out that yarn couched edging that Nina McVeigh demonstrated in one of the Bernina videos on The Quilt Show?

One of the useful little bits I learned in the process was how well the Schmetz Super non stick needles helped solve the problem I was having with the wool felt that I had fused on with Steam-a-Seam 2 sticking to the needle. It was getting balls of felt fuzz climbing up the needle until I switched needles. Then I had no more problem with that so far. I was rather astonished.

I’m not sure you can really see the various stitches in this picture, but you can see how I added the numbers of the stitches just above each stitchout.

I made a little test piece to help me decide which decorative stitches I want to use. I also tested the way I stitched them out. For this I used the machine automatic knot it will stitch out if you ask it to both at the beginning and the end. I also stitched them with a specific number of repeats and then just stitched using a slow set of the speed and the start button, rather than the foot pedal. This allows for the machine to stitch out a very even pace, which makes decorative stitches more beautiful.

So when I set it up to go around those circles, I set it to stitch one repeat without turning (basically hands off), and then turn the fabric before doing the next repeat. It makes for a very nice embroidered stitch, almost like good hand embroidery, especially when using a nice thick thread like Aurifil Lana wool blend 12 weight thread.

One thing I learned about working with all this wool and wool thread is that I need to clean my machine a lot more often because both the fabric and the thread produce lint down in the bobbin area of the machine. It is well worth it though, because it is lovely.

I have a long ways to go before I finish this sampler, but I am really having fun with it. I am also video taping here and there as I go.

Sew happy everyone. I encourage you to try your hand at wool applique by machine. In just a few weeks I will come out with my three part video class on YouTube that will use this very sampler and the techniques I am talking about here. I will have a free downloadable handout here to go with it. That effort is progressing nicely finally. I decided to produce all three videos before I posted the first one. Cheers everyone. Happy Advent!

Designing New Projects

Posted on November 21, 2020November 21, 2020 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Books, Classes, Design Work, Embellishment, Embroidery, My micro-business, My Studio, Videos

In addition to my coming YouTube class on Wool Applique and Embellishment by Machine, which I am hopeful will be out in early December, I have begun working on new project designs. Amazingly I don’t really have any UFOs floating around the studio, except my bed applique quilt using a Sue Nickel’s pattern that I have been working on periodically for more than a year. I would call that more of a work in progress than an unfinished object, though.

What I do have is a very long list of planned fabric art projects that I hope to also include in my youtube video channel. This has certainly given me a different viewpoint on my project plans when I am considering using the resulting fabric art piece or pieces in multiple ways including not only competition as in the past, but also sharing some parts of the projects on videos and in books. While I have the concept for a major work for competition underpinning my design thoughts, I also am thinking of pulling some samplers and small works from the same project to include in books and videos.

In the case of the great wool project, I have kind of been working in the other direction of building the samplers, videos, and book first and I am now coming up with a design for a major competitive work using these techniques. I already know what I am thinking of doing for that, but I haven’t got the design drawn up yet. I have pieces of it drawn, but not the overall design. So I am working on that. It’s exciting.

Considering that I want to rapidly launch a number of videos along the way, I am sorting through my long list to figure out the next video/competitive piece project. I am thinking it should center around free motion thread and decorative elements work and quilting. It may involve using a preprinted commercial panel, but I am not sure of that yet. So this is what I am playing around with in my design work right now. The overall design is always the thing that takes the most time for me. I know that a lot of fabric artists can just sit down and draw something, but for me it is a struggle. I have a concept in my mind, but getting it out of there into a form I can use to work on is always challenging. But it is still lots of fun.

Wool Project and Videos Update:

Sampler one part one. Here we have the simple shapes of the sampler in place, ready to begin the second part of embellishment/embroidery.

For contextt…here is my test and practice piece using the same dies. There will be a lot more special stitching though.

So my dear oldest son Ken saw how I was struggling to get setup to do videos in a massive tangle cords and equipment and he came to my rescue. He has installed some brackets around my studio so I can quickly attach a camera or a light where I need it. He has given me some instruction on the use of lights and a new light and diffuser. So with all of that, he has reduced my setup work and taken down the time from a full day of setup to a few minutes. The first video segments I am working with from this are also much better lit and easier to see overall. It’s amazng the difference careful planning and assistance can make!

Later he is coming over to help me with the audio so, unlike my original video that I removed from YouTube, you should be able to hear it well thorughout (and from his other work to see it as well)! What a great couple of sons I have!

All week I have been taping segments that will join together to show how its done and I will do a voice over script.

A box full of simple shapes ready to place on the sampler that I cut with my Accuquilt Go! cutter using five different dies I bought for other projects.

Here are the dies I am using for this overall project.

This has involved my sewing on my ssampler quilted wall hanging that is the subject of the first three videos. So I am taping a little while I sew, sewing a lot in between, and taping a little more. I do not think I could do this well in one continuous live presentation like I tried to do with the video I first made. If I were to go live, it would involve a little live and a little pretaped bits. (My current work jingle: sew a little, film a little, talk a little, sew sew sew) ???

Sew happy everyone! Shortly I will drop the discussion of making the videos and go back to mostly fabric art talk. I thought you might want to know why I wasn’t producing a lot of fabric art, but that has begun again! Finally! Cheers.

Cosy Sewing Season

Posted on November 8, 2020November 8, 2020 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Food for Thought, My micro-business, My Studio, Uncategorized

I don’t know about you, but I always feel when we cross into November that we have started a new sewing and quilting year. There is a kind of feeling that it’s time to buckle down and get to sewing and enjoy fall and winter celebrations. This year in particular I feel I need some cozy stitching projects.

I think it is my favorite part of the year from now through the new year. Then we get to the flowers of spring. All of this can be used in decisions for sewing and quilting project as a kind of badly needed peaceful comforting after such a difficult period. This cozy season can be celebrated even as we continue to deal with the pandemic because we have the distinct advantage as people who sew and quilt of the 21st century of online classes, YouTube videos, and virtual quilt shows. Luckily for this time many of us have a large stash of both fabric and thread (and fabric paints, markers, and crayons). Then I am blessed with a marvelous setup in my studio with my sewing machines, plus I am “retired” to add to the anticipated fun of this season so I can spend hours a week sewing, quilting, and videoing my progress. Thank the Lord!

Sew what are you doing or planning to do during this sewing and quilting time?

What are your favorite fabrics to work with. For me, it is difficult to say. Today’s good quality fabrics all have wonderful properties and if we are fabric artists we can use them all in interesting ways.

Right now I am in a kind of wool period, but make no mistake I am also thinking about and planning on projects that will use silk, cotton, faux leather, and yes, even polyester.

Wool has a depth of character, hides mistakes well, and shapes with steam. If it is felted wool or felted wool blends it does not even require edge finishing to prevent raveling. And all in all it provides comfort and warmth if we want to make it into jackets, coats, or other fun items.

Cotton is so versatile in so many ways. But mostly I think of two things when I think of cotton…quilts and shirts. Even if working a quilt top primarily with wool I often pair it with cotton on the back to provide stability and lower the cost of the project, although cotton is almost as high as wool these days. Cotton is my go to fabric for making shirts and blouses. I love cotton and always will.

Canterbury Silk.

And then there is the queen of fabrics that is silk. Anywhere from rustic raw weaves to magnificent silk dupionis, satins, and brocades. I have a fair bit in my stash and I think I must use it over the next year. I count silk/cotton blend Radiance as part of my silk stash. It’s so beautiful and I keep it carefully for mostly quilted wall art, but I will make a special blouse from it or line a wool jacket with light weight silk. Wonderful stuff (as in the proper use of the word “stuff”)

Rayon is something I like the qualities of for clothing, but don’t use it very much. It has a lot of drape and beauty. I have a piece or two in my stash and will likely use it for clothing. But be certain I will wash/shrink it first. It shrinks dramatically. I once made a beautiful blouse and skirt set and failed to prewash. I loved it and it shrunk several sizes when I washed it. That was early in my sewing life.

And gasp! I love polyesters, especially crepe back satins and polyester dupionis. The addition of a little polyester in blends can lower the price and add washability and other good qualities to fabrics making them great for nearly everything. I just made a quilt entirely from polyester, except I backed and bound it with cotton. Out of Mom’s Workbasket, my most recent quilt. Polyester is made from a natural product…oil…and though it is sometimes called “plastic”, which I suppose it technically is, that is normally intended as an insult and displays a bit of ignorance of the wonderful qualities of polyester fabrics and threads. They seldom bleed their colors, they come in fabulous rich colors, weaves, and colors, they don’t shrink (both a positive and a negative depending). To add to that they are easy on the budget. In short they deserve more respect in the sewing and quilting world.

Test sampler I made from polhyester before starting my Mom’s memory quilt.

Oh, don’t forget leathers, and faux leathers and suedes. I made my youngest son a beautiful faux leather waterproof coat last winter. He hasn’t worn it much because I didn’t finish it until kind of late in the season. I have seen leather quilts. I have not seen faux leather and faux suede used in quilts. I might change that one. I have a beautiful piece of faux suede to make myself a nice jacket. We’ll see if I can fit it in.

The coat.

So I suggest and plan on myself hunkering down and getting cozy with the sewing machines to use up some of my big stash. It’s a good plan, don’t you think?

Sew happy everyone! Evaluate your stash and plan your sewing season if you haven’t started already.

Dealing with Stitching Pull and Video Update

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in A Little How-To, Applique, Art Quilt Techniques, Embellishment, Tools

I digitized this olive tree from a non copyrighted photograph and stitched it out on black nylon tulle with wash away stabilizers. I then removed the stabilizers and tore away the visible tulle. What you see here is the tree ready to applique to my quilt Noel. It would have produced a great deal of thread pull had I stitched it directly to the quilt top.

Heavy machine stitching always pulls the fabric and if done directly on a project can leave the surrounding fabric unacceptably ruffled. Some of this can be dealt with on shrinkable natural fabrics, such as cotton or wool but not so much silk, by steaming the area upside down on a wool ironing mat or a thick pad of towels. Polyester fabrics will not respond to steam shrinking attempts and is possible to damaged it with the amount of steam one might try to use. Really heavily stitched motifs are almost impossible to steam out regardless of fabrics except wool, but it may be possible to “quilt that out” in some cases though it is not easily accomplished and doing this is very stressful in any case.

Such headaches and fails can be avoided by stitching off-project and appliqueing the finished motif on to the project background. If you do it right, it is most often very difficult to tell that it is an applique and not directly stitched, but even if you can tell, it is preferable to the pull.

So there are several ways to approach this that usually involve machine work inside a hoop and wash away stabilizer. I have a relatively large collection of embroidery hoops I collected over the years. I found most of them can work for machine work, but some are just too wide to easily get under the presser foot. There are hoops that are designed for working with a machine, and can be used for hand embroidery. I find a 7 or 8 inch hoop works well. Here are a couple of models I like:

three plastic spring hoop set I have had a set similar to this for years, and this may be the same set. I don’t know for sure, but it works well for free motion embroidery and is thin enough to slide under the foot. It is also easy to adjust the area in the hoop when you need to without taking it out from under the foot of the machine.
three wood traditional style set. This is .6 inches high, I think this will happily slide under the foot if you angle it a bit. I do not have this set myself although I do use a couple of very old wood hoops that I have had around for a while and they are .5 inches wide and work ok with the machine.

Here is the setup for free motion embroidery. I do also add the Super Slider on the machine to make it work really smoothly when I am using my domestic machine. I find I really don’t need the slider when I do the embroidery on my Bernina Q20 sitdown longarm, which I find I prefer now that I have that option.

Here I am stitching a horse’s tail for my quilt Canterbury Knight using the method described herein.

Here is the tail on the horse on the quilt. There is not enough contrast to see it well, but after it was quilted it showed up fairly well.

Horse with newly groomed tail

And the final finished quilt that has won several nice ribbons.

Canterbury Knight

Surprisingly, I found when working with my Bernina Q20 sitdown longarm that the heavily weighted gripper rings designed for quilting work wonderfully as hoops for free motion embroidery when using that wonderful machine. I don’t have a link for that, but they are available probably for order at a Bernina dealership. I balked at the price, but waited for a really good sale and I really really like them. I know you can get a cheaper black set without the open space on the rings for sliding on, but I love the lovely red of the rings as well as the little open spaces. For these, you just put the layers together and the first thing you do is stitch around the layers well away from your design to hold them together much as you would do for a quilt sandwich. These would probably not work well on a domestic machine, even the machines with larger harps, but they are divine on my sitdown longarm for both quilting and embroidery.

So I set up my motif build with a layer of heavy clear washaway stabilizer, such as OESD badge master, or Sulky Super Solvy on the bottom, on which I have lightly marked the design guidelines with a Crayola Fine Line Washable Marker. On top is a layer of nylon tulle to hold everything together even if it isn’t a stand-alone design. I find when it is finished and I soak away the stabilizer, the tulle can be gently torn along the edge of the stitched motif and not seen at all once appliqued.

If the motif also includes a fill of applique fabrics, I cut the shape and glue them to the tulle with washable glue stick and that is the first thing I stitch around to hold them in place before beginning. Then I hoop the whole thing together with the inside hoop on top so the fabric/stabilizer bundle is flat on the bottom.

Now I use the same kind of sandwich if I am doing digitized in-the-hoop machine embroidery motifs. Here’s one I made that way that also went on Noel.

I digitized this star and then embroidered it off the quilt using the method described herein.

After I soak off the washaways and let it almost dry but is still a little damp, I will press it upside down on my wool ironing pad with a light weight cotton ironing cloth over it. It then can be basted down in place on your project and attached with a narrow zig-zag or free motion off and on the motif using the same thread you used at the edge of the motif. I usually also stitch inside the motif just a little where appropriate to give it some concept of having been stitched directly in place and highlight some of the shaping. It doesn’t take much stithing to make it wonderful.

You would be amazed what you can do with this method by just adding that little bit of tulle and over=stitching a tiny bit after placement on the main background. Then you won’t have the ruffles. You can also use this method to make some interesting trapunto designs.

Video Update: My oldest son decided he needed to provide some significant help for my video making and asked me to pull the original video on Wool Applique by Machine. Don’t worry folks, if you were interested in my videos, they will happen and will be far better than they would have without his assistance. I will certainly announce the videos when they are available. This should not be very long from now…maybe a week or two for the first one, but I will let you know. I have a long list of vlogs and video classes I am planning.

Sew happy everyone! Go make something wonderful.