Advancing One’s Fabric Artistry

Hi everyone!  I got to thinking a lot this week about what is needed to advance one’s fabric artistry abilities.  This was brought on because one of my best friends is getting a new sewing machine next week.  It’s already in, she just has to go pick it up and has scheduled a class for learning to use it.

For several years now I have been helping Anita learn how to add fabric as a new medium to her already wonderful art and basic sewing skills. She has made amazing progress.  In return, she has helped me reorganize my fabric and thread stash, assembled kits when I made them for classes, worked with me to make church banners (we go to the same church), willingly tested some of my ideas, and generally encouraged me in my current projects. We enjoy our sewing and chatting time together.

Her wonderful old Bernina 1230, which was nearly 25 years old and was originally mine, had the mother board die and they don’t make or have replacements anymore, so she bought a new Bernina 480.  This is a great choice for her because it has a 9mm stitch width with lots of decorative stitches and the harp space is one inch wider than her 1230.  It will advance her work.  Over the next year or so she plans to add some of the accessories that don’t come with it to stretch the usefulness of the already fabulous machine for her kind of work. It will take a Bernina Stitch Regulator, but I think she probably won’t get this for a while. The others include:

  1. The Gold ocher color bobbin case that gives a tighter bobbin tension than the black one that comes with it and is particularly useful for decorative stitching, free motion embroidery, and quilting. I think they should have included this in the initial machine package (do you hear me Bernina?).
  2. A single hole stitch plate for straight stitch accuracy and free motion stitching.
  3. The walking foot which is extremely helpful for a quilter/bagmaker
  4. Multi-Spool Holder: Attaches to the back of the machine and allows the use of threads on cones (cheaper by the yard) and has a telescopic threading rod that also helps manage the threads from metallics and other difficult threads.
  5. Bernina Thread Lubrication Unit: Helps handle metallics and other difficult threads (Rayons, for instance)
  6. Additional Feet:
    1. A quarter inch foot number 96 C with guide or #37 which enables really accurate quarter inch and eighth inch seams to piece things together.
    2. 20c open toed embroidery foot A definite necessity for any fabric artist.
    3. Narrow hemstitch foot (there are five of them of various types which make different kinds of narrow hems. Probably #63 would be my choice. She wants to make some scarves among other things that need narrow hems.
    4. Free Motion Couching foot #43: couch heavy threads, cords, and yarns to the surface of the fabric.  I have also used this as a free motion stitch foot for stitching over uneven surfaces before I got the cup foot.
    5. 39C clear embroidery foot: It is a great foot for decorative stitching and has a small hole for threading cordonet thread or other light cording through to stitch over with decorative stitching.

So far, she has developed fine skills and used them for free motion embroidery, hand embroidered baby quilts, appliqued bed runners, quilts for her grand children with free motion quilting, bags, a lovely drapey jacket, table toppers, and a beautiful Victorian ball gown for her grand daughter complete with a perfect fluffy petticoat for it.  I would say she has clearly graduated from a basic sewer to advanced intermediate sewer and intermediate quilter, and is hovering on the edge of tipping the scale into an advanced fabric artist and quilter.  While it is unfortunate her old machine died, this new machine will be a blessing for her.

 

Anita’s lovely granddaughter modeling her beautiful satin jacquard ball gown Anita made for her.

Sew in addition to a good sewing machine, what, in my humble opinion, does it take to become a master sewing artist? It definitely does NOT mean that everything you make is a masterpiece.  Sometimes the pieces are, frankly, not very good. It does, however, mean that you are capable of making a masterpiece and do from time to time and are willing to take the leap to try. Since I am an incorrigible list maker, I have a list of what I think is needed to reach for advanced fabric artist and quilter. It’s an ongoing endeavor and lots of fun to do.

  1. It takes a good understanding of your machine (or machines) and a number of interesting things you can do with it beyond make a seam or a buttonhole and kind of constant testing and trying out of possibilities with it.  Never stop learning.  I am constantly working on this myself. Indeed, I have spent the last six months or so learning things I didn’t know or needed to improve in using my Bernina 880 plus.  I’m sure my sons and daughter-in-law are tired of hearing “wow! Did you know I can do such and such with my machine?”  But I have to tell someone!
  2. Handwork, even if you are, like me, primarily a machine person.  You can turn your understanding of handwork into using your machine for about 90 percent of the time.
  3. It really helps to gain a solid understanding of interfacings, stabilizers, and battings; fibers and their properties; thread types and weights and what they are for; what needles you need for which threads and kind of sewing; markers; and tools available beyond the obvious.
  4. There are always new developments in sewing tools and I am often surprised by what’s available now. The struggle is figuring out what tools are really needed or at least would help speed or improve a frequently needed process and which can be passed over.  I am sort of a gadget/tool fan, so I often have to tell myself “no” firmly when confronted with the purchase of a new tool.  Hahaha. I do have a large collection, but I have been sewing since I was five and am now 75. Plus I inherited both my mother’s and my mother-in-law’s sewing supplies. So the vast majority of my sewing tools have been around for a long while.
  5. But chiefly, it takes allowing yourself to have confidence in your abilities, and a certain amount of willingness for risk taking that comes with realization that one will sometimes fail and have to spend a lot of time unstitching or remaking pieces of a project or start all over using a different direction. It’s part of the adventure.  Also, sometimes, you just have to abandon a project and realize it is ok to do so.  I constantly work on this.
  6. Where I personally need to work the hardest is in my designs.  That is the hardest thing for me because I almost never use someone else’s designs and often have a vision in my mind that may be difficult to get down into a workable pattern or guide either on paper or on my computer.
  7. Piecing accurately.  Even an art quilter needs to piece from time to time. I think I am just fair intermediate piecer.
  8. Speaking of patterns, I am working on improving my professional pattern-making skills to a higher level for use by people who would like to try the projects I present on my YouTube channel, in my blog here, and in books.  I no longer have classes since Covid shut them down and I switched to videos and writing permanently, but I still teach by these methods and one-on-one in person.
  9. There are other things that may add a lot to a project, especially in the embellishment arena, but are not required.  These might include crystals and beads, fabric paints, found objects, charms, 3 dimensional sewing (like butterflies and flowers for instance), machine embroidery–both in-the-hoop if you have an embroidery machine and out of the hoop (even if you do have an embroidery machine).
  10. I’m sure I have forgotten something. Do you have any ideas?

The thing to know is that you probably already have most of these things in your virtual tool belt and, like me, mainly just need to learn more in each of these categories.  I find it fun.  Do you?

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio and let me know what your fabric adventures are.

Fall Project Timing

Hi everyone.  I can’t believe it’s already October!  I love that it is fall, because it was a hot and somewhat rough summer for me, but it occurs to me that I have several projects I have in mind for fall and for the Christmas/winter season that aren’t even started yet.  Yikes!  I better stretch my time in the studio a bit more!

 

I have been working really hard on the complex multi-video two birds project.  I am about three fourths of the way.  I want mostly to complete the whole project before publishing the first video because I need to make sure the accompanying workbook and pattern with all its techniques are good and actually work with the videos.  That will be available from my shop on my website and together with the videos presents a fairly complete class.  This class presents a lot of the techniques I have used in the past on some of my show quilts and I think quilters will enjoy making it.  Besides, it makes up into a really nice wall or lap quilt that would be a wonderful present or enjoyable quilt for yourself.

Sew, kind of as step one on this project, I uploaded a video that discusses how to turn a line drawing, like a coloring book page, into a pattern similar to my two birds to use in your own designs.  I know everyone may not have all the software or want to play with it in that way, but I know some will and may not have thought of using it for that or really know how.  If you have Bernina software v8, for instance, you have Corel Draw elements.  Anyway, take a look at the video and see what you think.

Here is a picture of some luscious Wonderfil threads (see link on the right). I love their specialty threads and am using a lot of them in my two birds project.

I have a couple of wool applique by machine decorative wall hangings–one for fall and one for Christmas–coming too, if I succeed in getting them all done in time.

In the meantime, I have my right eye cataract surgery on the 14th of this month.  I will be glad to get that taken care of.  I can see so well out of my left eye now and not well at all out of the right eye.

Then to top off everything, I have clothes I need to make.  We’ll see how much of all of this I get done.

The Simplicity pattern from my substantial pattern stash. Note the pants have a simple full elastic waist and no pockets…not what I want, but I have a better slacks pattern. The long sleeve tunic provides a suggestion for the embellishment. I would be adding something more for fun.

 

I always plan more than I can do it seems.  But it is so much to look forward to and have fun with in my studio as we drift into fall and winter.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio.

 

It’s Spring…Finishing Up the Wool Project!

Here is the finished wool applique by machine prototype.

Hi everybody!  Spring is pushing up the flowers and the trees are leafing out.  The birds have donned their spring mating feathers and are laying eggs and having a spring party.  I have just finished the embellished wool applique by machine final video in which I sandwiched, quilted, and bound the prototype piece. I also added some hot fix pearls to the centers of some of the flowers because I had some left from another project and I thought it needed a little more something.

Here’s the video link:  Wool 3

Here is the downloadable pdf of free motion fills that you may want to use for practice either before you quilt your own wool applique piece or just for free motion practice. This is the only handout for this third video.  So before you quilt your piece, print this out, build yourself a practice sandwich, put on that audio book, and have some fun practicing stitching.

FMQ Basic fills

You will notice that in my video I used the red Bernina Gripper rings to help me in my quilting but I forgot to mention them there.  They really make a big difference in my control, and I don’t have to wear gloves. They are designed for sitdown longarms and sewing machines with a longer harp space.   They have to be purchased directly from a Bernina dealer.  I got mine on sale, but even so they are kind of expensive. You can also get a very similar product by Martelli that are slightly cheaper and you can buy the sizes seperately. They are worth the price, though. Lots of people saw the center front hole on the Martellis rings in a similar fashion to match the Bernina rings, but I don’t know if that is necessary. I have heard that Martelli makes the Bernina rings anyway, so they are almost the same except for the gap in the front and the color.

I would love for you to watch this video, and the others if you haven’t yet. If you made a wool sampler along with me, please send me a picture [email protected] and I can show them on my blog, if you don’t mind.  Or at least tell me you made one in the comments.

You can use these same techniques I showed on some of those absolutely beautiful commercial patterns intended for hand sewing of wool applique I have seen out there.  My hope is by the fall, I will have some patterns of my own available.  I might even do another video or two on wool applique using my own patterns, but not next.

Keeping the Experimental Quilting Process Going

I am so excited about all of this.  I am finally getting in the swing of working through the design and creative process of the projects in a similar fashion to my show quilting work, and just filming most of what I am doing so I can share it with you.  It has required a fair amount of adjustment to my studio and my thinking, but I believe I will be able to produce some really fun and professional-looking fabric art even while I film the process and I hope you will enjoy it too.

I am planning to do a little show and tell VLOG and talk about my experimental fabric art quilting.  I think you might enjoy it, and it will give you an idea of where I may be headed in the future.

Oh and don’t forget to get my son David’s latest book (if you have a Kindle reader, you can read it for free) and we would be most grateful if you  review it when you are done.

In Division Imperiled (The Law of Swords Book 3) by [David A. Tatum]

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studios!

 

 

 

 

 

Computer and Looking Ahead in My Studio

Hooray!  I have my new computer and it is all set up.  It is lovely, fast, and has all it needs to serve me well for digital design, video editing, book writing, online demos and other computer draining activities.  I am soooo grateful to my family members who gave this to me and helped me get it in place and so forth.  Sew I’m off and running here in my wonderful studio.

In case you haven’t seen them I now have two videos of the three on Embellished Wool Applique by Machine, coupled with two blogs here that include free downloadables for accompanying handouts.  I also have my first quick tips video.  All of the videos can be found on the Betty Jo Tatum YouTube channel for free. Of course, I hope to make money from this endeavor eventually, but in a way that the videos remain free to you. Downloadable workbooks,  patterns, and so forth will be available for a modest amount from the new little store I have on my main website.  There’s nothing to buy there right now though but those will be published on the same subjects as new videos that are better with such downloadables.  These all will be uploaded at the same time so you can follow along the easy way.

Other things are also in the plans for that little store.  I will sell some of my quilts from there, and I am considering other things that can be downloaded.  If you haven’t looked yet, I recently upgraded my main website.  Go take a look at my gallery, if you’d like.

Now it takes some time to put together these things so I probably will need two or three weeks between each video, or even a month.  They will cover a variety of sewing and art quilting techniques that I have learned over the years and really want to share because I think some of you will find them fun and you may even want to try them yourselves.  So if you want to support this effort, I hope you subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch my videos.  It doesn’t cost you anything, you don’t give them any information, and it helps me.

Owl French Artist Painter

And now that I have my computer…all KINDS of things are running thro0ugh my head that might be accomplished.  After I complete the next wool applique video, I am thinking of making a video or a set of videos on landscape quilting elements in both stylized types and more natural looking art quilts.  There are lots of those to do, so I won’t bunch them all up together, but will spread them across the year with topics like trees, mountains and rocks, water, geologic strata, and so forth.  It should be really fun for us.  I have lots of other ideas and I think you will enjoy them as they come out.  They will all be presented in small projects or technique demonstrations, but I will likely draw up some digital patterns for larger pieces and maybe even paint some digital fabrics for backgrounds that I might place for sale on a print on demand fabric company if I can work that out so you can buy them to use.  What do you think?

If you have something in the way of art quilting techniques you wish you could find how tos for or would like to just see how I approach them, please let me know.  I’ll see what I can do about it.

Sew happy everyone!  Let’s have some fun in our studios.

 

A Book, Videos, Sons, and A New Project Idea

 

Books

My youngest son David, the author who shares my home with me and helps me in so many ways, will release a brand new book within a few days.  It’s the third book in his Law of Swords fantasy series.  I have read it and it’s terrific.  Truly, I think each book he writes is better than the last one and this one is no exception.

I am so proud and excited about this because David had to overcome a series of major difficulties (starting with a computer crash that somehow took both his regular data and all his backups in one event that included years of research, databases, and even bunches of writing.  Even the very skilled professional data recoverers were unable to get the data back.  He now has a new and better computer setup with all kinds of backups so it is unlikely to happen again. This and a handful of other obstacles has delayed his books for several years beyond the expected.

Now, though, he is rapidly producing what I am sure are wonderful writings right and left.  There is this book, as well as a requested short story for an anthology are written and nearly out the door, and he is diligently working hard on the second book in his sci-fi space series too with plans of completing that one by the end of the year.  Please wish him well on these endeavors. He is now a full time author without a secondary job so success is imperative. I’ll let you know when the new one is actually available for purchase.

My Videos

With a great deal of assistance from my oldest son Ken, the second in my video series about embellished wool applique by machine, is likely to be published early next week (there will be a blog for that one with a second downloadable handout).

I ask you please to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already.  This is a great help to me with YouTube.  I need a minimum of 1000 subscribers and lots and lots of views before I can sign up for the small monetary return to support this work.  If you don’t know, “subscribe” is like “follow” on other sites and doesn’t sign you up for anything more than letting you know the videos are there.  You have to be logged on to Google or YouTube to subscribe and then to make a comment there or ask a question.

Ken is doing the video editing at least until I get my new computer (which has been delayed “because of Covid”).  I hope it gets shipped within a day or so, but in the meantime Ken is editing and publishing my videos for me.  He is so professional at this. I will have to try really hard to match that level when I finally get my computer and take back a lot of this work.  The third video will probably be out about two weeks later.  It is my plan to publish a video about once every two or three weeks for now.

In case you are wondering, all on my own I “film” the parts where I am at the machine and you only see my hands, and Ken helps with the part where you see my face.  Ken has, in fact, set it up so I can eventually do that part of the filming too, but I really like having his directing and filming with his fancy camera.  He does, however, have a job and a family.  LOL But he came to my rescue with microphones and  brackets and lights and instructions and editing.

My Idea for the Next Project

Ok.  The wool applique set will be done soon, so what am I going to do next?  Well, I have a long list of techniques and projects that I am considering on presenting in 2021. Only a few are wool based.  The videos on my YouTube site are and will be continuously free.  However, I am planning on offering downloadable workbooks and sometimes patterns to go with them for a reasonably low price (on my new website shop) that you can purchase to use with the videos.  This will hopefully help underpin the video work, which so far has required considerable investment.

Sew I have given it a lot of thought and decided the next subject will be “Trees”.  This will be really fun, but I leave it to you to wonder…what will BJ do with trees?  Later…I’ll tell you later.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio and try making/learning something new that makes you stretch every now and then.

 

Wool Applique by Machine with Video Demos

 

Wool sampler prototype piece part one. Embellishment will be presented in part two and quilting and finishing in part three.

Wool applique and embellishment is a great tool in a fabric artist’s quiver. There’s nothing else that provides the rich, warm, depth that real wool fiber does. It can make all the difference in achieving the artistic look you want. In my artist’s eye it compares to working with thick oil paints while cotton or silk is  like watercolors. Both are beautiful but achieve totally different looks.  Both require different techniques to get the best results.

So using a small project in wool applique I am finally launching my first video set  in my YouTube channel. Here is the link to the new video.  I have plans for multiple videos on my channel this year, and have just revamped my studio to include the things I need for producing them. So I would love you to subscribe to my channel and enjoy my videos just as a matter of interest or especially to  join me in working through the projects you like.  See the handout and pattern pdfs on my Aids and Links page here on this site for you to download and print out.  Then go to my YouTube video here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here is a list of the supplies with links that I will be using in this first project to which I have added links to help you in your shopping for the supplies:

1 yard of background fabric.  I am using all wool Melton, which I had in my stash.  Since the price of wool has skyrocketed since I filled my stash with it, I suggest using a melton wool blend for this, which is less expensive and still has a lot of the same characteristics and depth of beauty. Here’s another link at B. Black tailoring supplies, which is a fabulous store that has things that are difficult to find elsewhere.  A solid color quilting fabric would also work but will not provide the same deep sense of richness.

There is another option.  Use wool clothing that is no longer worn, or that you find in a thrift store, or use pure wool fabrics you have stashed under your bed in those storage boxes you put your clothing fabrics in. You may have had it for a decade and still haven’t made that garment you bought it for, like me.  Cut the clothing so you get the largest pieces from them and wash your wool in hot water with some detergent in your washing machine and dry it in your dryer.  This provides some amount of felting and cleans the fabric. It is also possible to dye this.  It requires all three elements…hot water, agitation, and detergent, to make it do a bit of felting the fibers together.  It does need to be pure wool for this to work well. The resulting fabric is also easy to dye in your washer.

One package of lightweight woven fusible interfacing sufficient to cover the yard of background fabric, such as  Pellon SF101 Shapeflex

One pack of precut melton wool felt pieces in a variety of colors for flower heads and a pack of a variety of green pieces for stems and leaves. You will probably have enough felt pieces for a couple of small wall hangings or other wool applique projects.  Be sure to save all the leftovers for small applique uses elsewhere. Please don’t use craft felt not made with any wool.  The comparison is like using paper to fabric. You can use wool blend felt, but pure wool really makes a big difference in how this looks.

Aurifil 12 weight wool blend thread (small spool collection)  or (large spool collection..the best value by the yard) or three or four colors of the large spools.  If you prefer to use a 12 weight cotton as a slightly cheaper alternative I recommend Sulky 12 weight cotton,  for this project, it will still look beautiful, just different and not quite as close to hand done that the wool thread will provide.  I have even successfully used 40 weight  all poly embroidery threads, and I sometimes have mixed them across a project in order to get particular looks or colors.  The wool adds a depth of beauty and is probably what most hand stitchers would use. You should do some testing to see how they look.

1 black 12 weight Aurifil wool thread or Sulky 12 weight cotton for outlining.

1 spool of Superior monopoly or multiple colors matching the applique fabrics of light weight threads such as 6o to 100 weight polyesters or silks. I used both the monopoly and 100 weight threads.

2  packs of fusible web. I used Steam a Seam2 for my project and it works well.

1oo/16 top stitch needles

universal 80/12 needles if you choose to use monopoly thread for your appliques. I found the Schmetz super non stick needles really helps with dealing with the fluff from wool combined with the fusible web.

1 piece of backing fabric about 25 x 25 inches (for the back of this small quilt)  This is a good thing to pull from your existing stash.

Small piece of lower loft batting about 25 x 25 inches.  I am using 80/20. This is a good place to use leftover batting from a larger quilt project.

Bohin mechanical chalk pencil to mark the wool with, if needed.

And whenever I use fusibles, I like to have on hand this effective iron cleaning kit good for multiple cleanings that I have successfully used for years: Rowenta Iron cleaning kit

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

While you can print the pattern out and use it to cut out your appliques, I did cut all my appliques using my Accuquilt Go! machine, which I really like for such projects.  I have had mine for some years, collecting dies a bit at a time, and use it a lot for circles, rectangles, strips, bindings and borders and projects such as this.  In my opinion, it is well worth the investment required.  I can cut out a simple snuggle lap or crib quilt of squares and a border (prestarched) with a few fun appliques to snazz it up (backed with steam-a-seam 2)  in ten minutes (after the fabric is pressed with starch) and make the quilt top all in the same day.  Everything is nice and accurate too, very unlike it looks if I do my own cutting.  Hahaha.

I used the following three dies for this project and it only took a few minutes for all the shapes I needed with some leftovers:

Go Circle (1 1/2″ to 2 1/2″) it’s so hard to hand cut good circles.  These are beautiful. If you can only get one dye set for this project, this might be it.

Go Round Flower

Go Stems and Leaves 

Sew happy everyone!  Let’s get started.  Please feel free to ask questions using comments here or on the YouTube channel.

 

A Website Update and the Wool Applique Project

Hi everyone.  Well, I completed the update on my website and am reasonably happy with it.  I did not yet put the store in operation because I still am working on the downloadables I am planning to sell there.  My goodness I have been busy!

A digital design I created last year. It seems like winter to me with snowflakes that look like butterflies…LOL.

I have been having fun though.  This week I am embellishing my wool applique by machine sampler with decorative stitches using 12 weight Aurifil wool blend thread.  I have been really enjoying figuring out which stitches to use on each applique and how to set them.

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

Since I used Steam-a-Seam 2 fusible for the appliques, and they are felted wool going on to Melton boiled wool background using wool thread, there is a lot of fluff!  So the fluff stuck to the needle and filled the bobbin area.  I just cleaned out the bobbin when my machine complained about the bobbin and it was just fine.  But I had just gotten a package of Schmetz super non stick 90/14 needles.  Now one needs that size needle for 12 weight threads, and I was using a Superior top stitch, which is a fine needle that I use for most of my work, but the fluff from all this wool was continuously climbing up the needle and had become problematic.  So I tried the non-stick needle and was astonished at how the fluff on the needle just went away!  The stitching went forward with no further problems other than stopping every now and then to clean out the bobbin area, which isn’t very hard to do. My bobbin sensor lets me know when it cannot “see” anymore.  LOL

Truly I encourage you all to try some embellished applique by machine.  Realize it isn’t very fast, in fact it is kind of slow when properly done, but it is beautifully satisfying to do and just plain fun!  So keep it small for your first projects! In another week or maybe  a little more, I will have the first of my embellished wool applique by machine videos up and running.  I will tell and show you what I have learned about this technique.  I invite you to join me in making a sampler of your own.  I know you will enjoy it.

Next week I will post a list of supplies for the project with links of where you can get them and I will also put a pdf downloadable handout here for you to use too.  This class and downloads are free. I do, however, have plans for presenting many other techniques and projects by video where the project workbooks and patterns will be available for sale on my new website shop.  I hope to keep the videos free, but we will see how that goes.  Keeping the videos free will depend on how many subscribers I get to my channel and how many people buy the downloadales.

Sew happy everyone! I hope you are enjoying a Happy Hanukkah and Christmas season.  It’s my favorite time of the year. Blessings everyone!

 

 

Designing New Projects

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.

 

Upcoming Free YouTube Class

Hi sewists, fabric wizards, and all round lovers of fabric, thread, and maybe paint for making something fun or beautiful.  Do you admire those beautiful wool applique items that are often made all by hand, but would like to try making something similar by machine? I am going to present a free video class with multiple videos on YouTube in the next few weeks (I’ll announce exactly when shortly), and I hope you will join me.

I  am planning on presenting a simple shapes project in wool applique.  It  will be easy and fun, but it requires some complexity of teaching to cover it  adequately so I will be dividing this in three or four video classes on YouTube. This will provide the techniques for making a beautiful small machine appliqued and embellished wool wall hanging to celebrate Fall.

If you want to participate in this, you will want to gather the supplies for this free class.  I am thinking the first video, which I have already shot and am currently editing will be ready some time next week.

Sew here is the list of what you may wish to gather (with links) if you want to make one or two.  Mine is 22 by 25 inches, but you can make yours the best fit for where you want to place it.  It is kind of free style field of flowers using simple shapes and the result will make a nice gift or decoration for the fall season.  You probably have a lot of these supplies already, so check your stash first, but here are some links to what I use if you need to do some shopping.

  1. Background piece…I recommend a yard of melton wool (boiled felted wool) in a dark or deep color:  Black wool (this linked page has other color options); or you can use a solid quilt cotton if desired.  A yard of the wool is 58 inches wide and so it will make two or even three small wall hangings and it has a lovely look when complete. You can also use a less expensive wool blend coating  with real success.
  2. Six or more colors of small pieces of wool felt.  Be sure to include some green if you like green stems and leaves.  I have found precut sets for somewhat reasonable prices in two places and there are several selections for you to choose from. You may have trouble picking because they all look lovely, so maybe buy more and plan on making two.  Here are some suggestions:
  3. Two yards of fusible lightweight interfacing to stabilize the background fabric. Either of these will work.
  4. Steam a seam fusible
  5. A selection of your favorite 40 weight embroidery threads, light weight bobbin thread that matches the background, Superior Monopoly, and 12 weight wool threads (if desired).  I use a wide variety.  Wool thread is expensive, so I suggest you start with the small spools set that will be suffecient for you to do this project and lets you see if you like using it before investing in larger spools.
  6. High quality Sewing Machine needles (these are the ones I use):
  7. Sew check my page Aids and Links at the top of this blog or on the menu if you are reading on a phone.  There you will find a pdf file with simple shapes for wool project that provides patterns for simple shapes if you need them.  Download this and print it.  Or, you can use your simple circles, leaves, and vines you may have in Accuquilt Cutter dies instead if you have these.
  8. A piece of batting that is not very thick large enough for the background piece.  This is a good place to use some of that leftover batting.
  9. Cotton quilting fabric large enough for the back of this little quilt and binding (if desired, though you may wish to do a finish edge with decorative stitching).

I am still very new at making these videos, so that is why I can’t figure out exactly when I will be able to publish them.  My tentative deadline for this is next Wednesday.  Of course, since it is a YouTube video, once it is published you will be able to use it any time and watch more than once.  This first class and the downloads are free, but it would be lovely if you use my links for your supplies.

Sew happy everyone.  Spend some time in your studio.

 

Back to My Beloved Studio

A couple of days after I got home from California I came down with a monster cold that has totally shut down my work for weeks.  I am finally emerging from that, though I still have a cough here and there.  Coughing, even though it is far less, does not work well with precision quilting.  LOL.  So for a few more days I will do a little video watching, a little writing, a little planning, and a little design work.  Still, it is progress for me to get back to work finally.  It is my sincere hope that you, dear readers, do not catch something like this. Apparently it is going around, since a lot of my quilty friends seem to have had it too. It’s a bear and antibiotics do nothing for it.

Sew we recently bought a ROKU device and I have been playing around with it while recovering. One of my favorite things is that you can get YouTube on your big screen TV with ROKU along with whatever additional streaming service you have subscribed to.  I have what came with Roku, Amazon Prime, and Netflix.  Yesterday, I found Alex Anderson’s Simply Quilts from years ago on the HGTV channel.  I also found It’s Sew Easy on Amazon Prime.  What a delightful way to be entertained while I lay around like a coughing couch potato.  I tell them where they could improve their techniques, and learn something to try later…hahaha.  I still have to watch TQS and my BluPrint and IQUILT videos on my computer, but I can connect to my tv with a cable for that. It’s just not as convenient.  I’m thinking I really need another day of video watching before I fully launch back into quilting and writing in my studio.

I did arrange with G Street Fabrics the other day that I will be teaching four workshops in April and May similar to the ones I taught last year. I have also talked with my oldest son Ken about helping me get fully set up for making some videos for YouTube on a regular basis.  He has designed and built a couple of camera holders that are attached to the ceiling and can manipulate them to give different angles for the cameras.  He just needs to install them.  I also need to purchase a second video camera to work with them.  I plan on launching a periodic video showing my techniques very soon, probably in early March.  I have slowly been assembling everything I want for this and am close to launch.

Beyond that, I will be spending most of my time making show quilts and samplers for my books all year, as far as i can determine.  I think I want to hang out at home and avoid any further disruptions to my work.  I am excited about that now that I am getting over the monster cold.

Sew happy everyone!  Stay healthy, enjoy your studio, and find a way to share what you learn.  Let me know what you think about my video plans.