Fabrics

Updating a blog about Interfacings and Stabilizers

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Fabrics, From the Archives, Supplies, Tools

I just saw an ad for what is probably a great class with Threads Magazine on interfacings.  It appears to be focused around interfacing for clothes making.  It made me go back an read what I had said in an earlier blog about stabilizers and interfacings and I decided it needed just a little bit of tweaking and updating, so I am providing the update here.  Mine is focused mostly around fabric art and quilting, but not entirely and it is just a brief capsule of this large, sometimes bewildering subject.  Even after my many years of sewing and quilting I have almost certainly missed some new developments and uses for this important part of my craft.  Anyway, see the edited and updated version of that original blog below.

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A friend of mine asked me about the use of interfacings and  stabilizers and what was the difference. I consider interfacings and stabilizers both indispensable in fabric art creations of various types.  They make the difference between a successful project and a lackluster or even failed piece. Understanding them is one of the basic skills for everything from fashion sewing to quilted art.  I can fully understand her need to know more about them and this is a quick and dirty rundown of the subject.

The Byzantine world of stabilizers and interfacings can be very confusing,  because there are so many of them and they all have different uses.  Adding to the confusion is all the different brands that are out there and may be named something different and what do they mean by “lightweight” anyway?

The Back Wall of Home Dec Fabrics at G Street Fabrics

First of all, let’s discuss her question of what is the difference between interfacing and stabilizer.

  1. Well, for one thing, stabilizers do not always stay in the project, but sometimes they can.  They are largely designed to assist in making machine embroidery work both in the hoop and free motion thread painting.  They are also useful for decorative machine stitching.
  2. What makes this confusing is that interfacings can also serve as stabilizers but they are designed to remain in the project and interfacings often look like stabilizers.
  3. You may need both or even two or more for specific projects.
  4. You can even use spray starch or other spray products like Terial Magic to work as stabilizers.
  5. And then there are those clear plastic looking stabilizers of varying weights made with corn starch or similar ingredient that washes away.  They have a variety of interesting and helpful uses in the fabric artist’s studio in addition to stabilizing…you can mark on them and use them for free motion embroidery on the top of your fabric, then wash it away for instance.
  6. Interfacings provide stability for fabrics that have a tendency to disintegrate, spread the stitching in an unattractive way, or simply need a heavier hand for the project you are making.  They help to properly shape clothing, and are particularly required for any high-end sewing like fine couture sewing, tailored garments, wedding dresses, simple dressmaker jackets or vests, and shirts with buttons and collars.  I use interfacings extensively in both my clothes making and art quilting to make my wide selection of fabrics work together or my pieces hang right.

Sew I am focusing this discussion by using popular brand names  just because it is easy to identify and I know from using them they are a good product, but there are other brands that are also fine and some that are just terrible (shrinking, bubbling, disintegrating, wadding up with use). The lesson is to buy a good grade of these products, and test it too so it will be successful for a long time.

I have a handful of interfacings stabilizers that I keep stocked in the studio so I have them when the need to sew or quilt hits me in the middle of the night.  Does that ever happen to you? It also helps to save lots of time.  Also by stocking, I can save a lot of money by buying them when a good sale goes by.

Interfacings

I try to keep at least three yards available of the following four weights of interfacings on hand and replace when I use them. I buy the first two of these by the bolt when they are on sale because I use a lot of them.  They are usually much cheaper–three or four times cheaper–by the bolt, and even more if you hit a good sale.

  • For stabilizing (there’s that word that helps make this all so confusing when talking about interfacings) such fabrics as silks, very light weight cottons, dupioni,  satin polyesters, unusual specialty fabrics, and some light wool or wool-like tailoring fabrics, I stock a woven fusible lightweight interfacing like SF101 Shape Flex by Pellon. This nice woven interfacing does not have much affect on the hand of the fabric and, if quilted, it helps the fabric to drape better and to be smoother and more attractive. It can be used for shirt making also, but you may want to use a heavier weight for more tailored parts of some shirts.
  • For an even lighter hand (fabric drape and feel) backing up fabrics that need a little help, such as silk dupioni or cotton lawn I like one of the nearly sheer nonwovens, such as Pellon 906F sheerweight.
  • For a little heavier interfacing that you might want to use for crisper collars in tailored shirts, or costumes, for instance, I like Pellon 931td.
  • For bag making or some such with leather (artificial or otherwise) or heavy upholstery fabrics when you want to quilt it I use Pellon’s naked foam. I thank the illustrious Nina McVeigh for alerting me to this product on her fascinating The Quilt Show show (if you aren’t a member, you are missing a lot).  I layer it with the leather or heavier upholstery fabrics and add a cotton backing fabric.  This is approaching a batting discussion that will be a future blog post, but I felt it fits well in the interfacing discussion too.
  • For high-end or couture tailoring, especially with wool  or raw silk projects like coats and jackets I usually, but not always, move away from Pellon and toward Hymo.  I will say that tailoring interfacings are a broad subject and there are more types one might use for this, and sometimes multiple types in the same project.  Note that I have already run a few blogs about tailoring coats, and plan on making a wool slacks suit and a raw silk tailored jacket for fall and winter and will blog the making of those, since I have some beautiful fabrics on hand that I should use before they age out.  You can easily obtain high quality and varying weights of these from tailoring supply houses online.  I generally buy these by the project.  So you will want to first consult your pattern or a tailoring book to get the right thing.   Here is a link to a good source for tailoring interfacings B. Black and Sons a wonderfully supplied company where I buy most of my tailoring supplies.  You can even get coat front interfacings all prepared and precut for use.
  • And B. Black also has these lovely canvas/cotton interfacings that I have used with success for lighter wool, linen, or light summer tailoring:  Canvas/cotton.

Stabilizers

I use several different stabilizers for my fabric art projects and even for embellished clothes.

  1. The primary stabilizer I use for my in-the-hoop embroidery and free motion thread painting for my quilted art pieces is either OESD’s Ultra Clean and Tear Fusible or Madeira Cotton Stable, which I have a slight preference for but it is increasingly hard to find and has gone up in price. Both of these stabilizers give the fabric enough stability to take a higher amount of stitches than most of the stabilizers will do and they both tear away easily after stitching while remaining in place when you are stitching.
  2. A heavier film wash away stabilizer, such as OESD’s Badgemaster,  and a slightly lighter film stabilizer Madeira Avalon is especially useful in the studio.  I use both Madeira and OESD film stabilizers.  Washing it away can be interesting.  It’s like a science fiction slime creature at first.LOL.  I just soak it in clear cold water and then rinse it well in running water.

I really like OESD’s Aqua Mesh Washaway, that looks like an interfacing, works well for marking designs on,  and is easy to use for stitching a free-standing thread motif, applique, or free standing lace.  In such cases I will almost always add a layer of black  or white nylon tulle on top and a double layer of Aqua Mesh Washaway.  Then when you rinse it away, your piece will hang together and you just cut closely around the veiling, which basically disappears to the eyes on the fabric you applique it on to. Black veiling or matched to the background veiling works well for this. It is especially useful when you are embroidering or even free motion couching cords and yarns to build a heavy design to make them free from the main project and applique them on.  It helps deal with the pull and keeps your main project nice and flat (after a little pressing upside down on a wool press mat).

I embroidered this freestanding lace star on blue nylon veiling with a double layer of wash away stabilizers and then appliqued it on.

Fusibles can sometimes act as a stabilizer/interfacing

When you are making a fused on applique for a wall project, for instance, you may wish to keep the fusible whole rather than windowpane it (cutting out most of the middle of the fusible leaving just the edges) if you are going to do a lot of heavy stitching on it later.  Then it serves for a combination interfacing and stabilizer that does not get removed from your project.  So you have to give some thought to how you are going to complete the project and how it is going to be used.  Be sure to use either a needle that works well with fusibles such as Superior Titanium top stitch needles or Schmetz nonstick needles.

There are several high quality fusibles on the market and everyone seems to have their own preferences.  I really like steam-a-seam 2 lite with the two sides of paper.  One side has one inch squares on it and that’s the side that you draw your design on, cut roughly around the design about 1/4 inch away, peal off the plain side, stick the side with the grid and the drawing onto the back of your fabric, and cut it out. After that you remove the paper and you have an applique with a lightly sticky side that you can move around until you have it just right before hitting it with a steam iron that glues it in place ready to stitch.

Recently I have been using Heat N Bond Lite fusible when I cut things with my Brother Scan and Cut.  It is nice and lite, adheres easily with a small amount of pressing, and stitches well.  It does not, however provide a sticky side you can move around until you have it where you want it.  It does stick down nicely with just a light touch of the iron. Both types of webbing have their uses.

Sew happy everyone!  Have a wonderful time in your studios!  Feel free to ask questions. I might know the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online Fabric Shopping

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Fabrics, My business, My Studio / 2 Comments

Hi everyone!  Earlier this week Fabric.com closed suddenly.  This was difficult for me because even though I have access to three more or less local quilt fabric shops that cover my quilting fabric needs, none of them carry things I use for abnormal quilting fabrics, clothing, very little for bag making and other assorted giftable-type items.  Fabric.com was my go to for these things that I must order online if I am going to get them at all.  It was an adjunct Amazon business and had a fabulous supply of fabrics at reasonable prices and great search engine to find them with.  So this set me on a mission to find replacement resources.  Here is what I have found so far, but I am still hunting:

  1. I have yet to find a supplier that has everything they had and no company’s search engine is a good, though some have reasonably good ones.
  2. Hancock’s of Paducah has a nice selection of about half of the non-quilt cotton fabrics, so it is a good place to start if you are on the hunt for certain fabrics.  Besides, I have bought things from them for years and they are in my “trusted” category.  I know from past purchases that they are a little slow in getting your order to you and aren’t particularly good about letting you know if they have something on back order until after you have ordered it.  But besides that, I like them.
  3. Farmhouse Fabrics fills in a lot of places when you are trying to get the supplies for something special like a Christening gown or a Victorian heirloom sewing by machine dress or blouse, for instance.  They have exquisite fabrics, trims, and laces, though I think they are a little pricey.  After this month’s Threads Magazine where they have cotton velveteen on the cover, and one of my best friend’s passion for velveteen I found that fabric almost impossible to find until I found it a Farmouse.  I have used them in the past and they are fast and efficient.
  4. Then there is Fashion Fabrics Club where one can often find a great bargain piece and they have a lot of fabrics.  I have also used them for many years, and have sometimes gotten a great piece for a bargain price.  The fabrics are normally wonderful, but occasionally, the quality is not quite as high as it should be, though this is rarely the case. The prices in general make up for that rare time though I think.  I did not like some silk dupioni I once got there, and ended up using it only for practice pieces, but the wools I bought there are fabulous, and I have bought a lot over the years.
  5. I have found that if you want a good quality denim, cotton twill, or something for draperies for instance you may want to take a look at sellfabric.com.  I found this by getting in touch with Carr Textiles that manufactures a particularly nice brushed denim I sometimes want and used to get through Fabric.com.  They directed me there for their fabrics.  The shipping cost is a little pricey but since I was unable to find the brushed denim I wanted anywhere else after much looking, I think it is the only option at this point.
  6. I did take a look at Mood Fabrics, and saw they have fabulous fabrics, though I thought the prices were a little high.  I’ve never used them, but they seem to have some of the things I will miss from Fabric.com.
  7. Then there is my good old friend G Street Fabrics, which I have used for decades, have some close friends who work there, and it is where I bought my Berninas.  I love the store, even in its lesser version after it moved to the current place in Rockville, MD.  It used to be so magnificent, but it is still the best fabric store around in my humble opinion.  The problem for me has become getting there, because I have gotten a little older and the trip from here to there takes about an hour through rough dense traffic and I find it stressful, so I don’t go anymore.  Nevertheless, they are offering a lot online of their exquisite, often out of my budget, fabrics.  But take a look.  You will enjoy seeing some of what they offer I suspect.  Hint:  One yard of something expensive but magnificent can go a long ways when carefully used or make you happy just to have it to pet in your stash.  They also still have gorgeous buttons.
  8. Amazon still has some of the fabrics and especially notions I like, but often precut into links or sizes you may not want. It says to me that it is likely someone who doesn’t understand our industry is now in charge of the fabric offers from or through there.  It’s likely someone who is not aware how this is a living, growing industry with lots of interest by young and old alike.
  9. And of course there is Joann Fabrics we all know.  I have found they have the best prices on interfacings, especially Pellon brand.  There are a few other things I like, but I am not a particular fan of their fabrics, which are quite frequently a lesser quality.  You can still get some nice fabric there with careful shopping.

I am quite sure there are other places that some of you have found that are great I haven’t mentioned, or maybe you are one of the lucky sewers who have a great fabric store nearby or live within reach of a fabric district.  But I think I know know where I can find most of the things I will be missing from Fabric.com.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio and have fun shopping.

Advancing One’s Fabric Artistry

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, Classes, Design Work, Embellishment, Fabrics, feet, Food for Thought, Machines, My micro-business, skill building, Threads, Tools / 2 Comments

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.

Capturing An Explosion of New Ideas for Future Projects

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Art Quilt Techniques, Deep space quilts, Design as you go, Fabrics, Food for Thought, Paint, Project Management, Quilt Journal, Show Quilts, Tools, Videos, Wool

Hi everybody!  I think we all need a diversion and some quilting to help deal with the roiling of events in the news lately.  As for me, I have been starting two new projects after my last one that was going to be entirely on painting quilts took a nose dive.  By the way, if you want to know about painting quilted fabrics stay tuned. I will still present these techniques scattered throughout my other projects as needed, but not a whole video series for those techniques after all.  Mostly I have to work on camera placement and filming techniques for painting quilted fabrics. The problem was entirely related to painting while filming.

Sew what are these new projects?  Well, one of them, and the next video project, is a second dive into wool applique by machine in which I will be making a pretty scene with a Kingfisher bird on black wool that will be sized for use as a decorative pillow top.  I am nearly finished making the pattern and I will be using my Scan and Cut digital cutter to cut the pieces.  The downloadable pattern will be available on my shop for a small amount and will include both a pdf file for those who do not have a digital cutter and the svg files divided by color for those who do.  I will be providing videos showing how I do them for this project, including the use of my new Scan and Cut.

The second project is a new “show quilt”! Sew there will be a video exhibiting only some of the making of this quilt and there will be no pattern.  I am  making my fourth deep space quilt and as soon as my fabric arrives this week I’m ready to start construction.  I will be using Deep Space II #98 Peppered Cotton designed by Pepper Cory to build the scene, inspired by NASA photos of M51 Galaxy (there are many), which is a spiral galaxy that has a second spiral galaxy farther away and kind of behind it on the edge, making it look like a small spiral is attached to the larger M51’s tail.  Unlike most of the other peppered cottons, this one is not a shot cotton but is yarn dyed intensely black. It makes me happy that the name of the fabric is “Deep Space II”. Thank you Pepper for bringing it to my attention.  I love making deep space quilts.  They are a whole cloth quilt, built entirely with free motion stitching and almost no marking.  It includes a  little paint, a large Angelina Fibers applique, and covered with black veiling, then quilted together in ways that make sense, and adding some free motion embroidery to represent the space dust. After that, I add a lot of hot fix crystals, kind of using the NASA photo as a guide for placement to represent stars. Some of the larger stars or star clusters are sometimes backed with an embroidered representation of the light that shoots out around it from the lens flair often in a cross shape that is highlighted on the NASA photos. This adds to the interest and beauty of the quilt in my humble opinion.

Practicing for making a deep space quilt.

 

I like having two very different style projects going at once because it allows me to move from one to the other when I need a break from some aspect of a project.

Sew this past week I spent a fair amount of time thinking about and updating my Quilt Project Plans spreadsheet for the remainder of this year and into next year.  It is way more than I can possibly do in that space of time perhaps, but it is wonderful to look forward to the near future projects and be able to pick from some of those I have already thought through a lot.  I also keep a handwritten notebook where I describe most of the projects more fully and sometimes keep outlines and notes to help me make them.  I have been doing this for many years.  Way back to when I only did clothing designs and sewing.  It’s sometimes fun to take one of the old notebooks and look through them to see just what I actually made of the many plans that have floated by.  I sometimes pull a long-forgotten project out and make it.

Here are some pages from my Pendragon quilt project that I did complete and that was shown in several prestigious quilt shows, including Houston.  The sample shown here is a test for the upper left corner of the border.

Sew happy everyone!  And remember, sometimes you need to abandon a project and not feel like it is a fail. Doing so can often open up an explosion of new ideas when you realize you no longer have to struggle to complete something that just isn’t working, and sometimes persistence through the challenges helps you to finish works and you come out with a real winner.  Give yourself permission to take the path that works best and be sure to have fun in your studios!

 

“Hand Work” by Machine

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, Design as you go, Embellishment, Embroidery, Fabrics, Food for Thought, Hand work, High-Tech Studio, Machines, My micro-business, skill building, Videos / 2 Comments

I am sure you’ve noticed that there is a recent renewal of interest in embroidery and quilting by hand.  I can appreciate this.  I used to do a lot of it myself.  It looks wonderful and can give the stitcher a sense of meditative happiness and quiet, plus you end up with a beautiful piece to quilt and/or put on the wall, make into a pillow, or frame for a gift.  These are often small and exquisite little jewels that are a great pleasure to make and view.

As wonderful as these are, I am thinking that with today’s machines, specialty threads, specialty feet and attachments, plus a community of sewers and quilters who are constantly developing new techniques, it is possible to create equally exquisite little pieces by machine.  Mind, I am not advocating giving up hand work, just using it as inspiration for some extraordinary stitching by machine, or using both together on a single piece. While this might enable one to make such a treasure in a  shorter space of time, it may not be that much faster, but interestingly challenging in a different way.  Machine work is especially nice if one is facing arthritic or injured hands that make doing the hand stitching difficult or painful. Yes, it will almost certainly look a little different, but the texture and beauty that can be accomplished may be equally extraordinary.

I have two sources of inspiration that has made me want to try this.  Alex Anderson recently ran a free class on The Quilt Show and YouTube called Make It Your Own stitch along lessons.  I watched it.  I did not make one, but I found some of the results truly beautiful.  Trying to make a similar piece  by machine may be very interesting.

The second one is the Royal School of Needlework posts in Instagram. Their work is truly incredible. I am particularly fond of their gold work which is often a combination of couched on gold cord and padded embroidery. But I also love many of their other colored embroidery pieces. Can I approximate the looks of these pieces?  Well, I don’t know, but it is worth a try.  I do know that it is possible to do padded embroidery in-the-hoop, and I have done a lot of couched work on all three of my machines.

I will do a little experimenting first, and then demonstrate some of the techniques on my YouTube channel.  What do you think?  Would you enjoy that? This will take me months before I am ready to record the work, but I will keep you apprised here on my blog of my progress.

The first thing I need to do, and, in fact, am already doing, is to make myself an interesting “library” of stitches I can do on my machines using different threads, different settings, and including the default settings.  This actually came about because I ended up with a small stack of sheets of fabric all prepared for testing decorative stitches that I had put together for a class that I never ran due to the pandemic.  They are nice white on white quilting fabric backed with a stabilizer and I drew in lines and added a selection of needles up in the corner.  I think I will add some darker fabrics and interesting designs that I can get from my Bernina 880 plus.  Once I get this done, I will be better able to decide how to make some of my ideas and draw up instructions or a pattern.  I tell you, it is almost equally as meditative and calming to me to stitch these library sheets as it would be by hand.  I think the key is to not try to rush this project, but to sew at whatever speed it takes to get things to work right.

I am using all kinds of threads and weights I have in my stash, primarily from Wonderfil Threads (a relatively new passion of mine), but also from Superior Threads (which I developed a huge stash of over the years.  It differs a bit from Wonderfil, so they work well together).  I believe my thread stash is bigger than my fabric stash at the moment. When I finally get to the first project, I will give you a list of the threads I use so you can try them if you want.

In the process of putting together the right fabrics for these types of projects I thought you might like to know favorites that I’m sure you would love too that would make great fabrics for such projects (beyond our stand by of high quality quilting cotton).  These include Kaufman Essex Linen, a wonderful linen/cotton blend good for a multitude of sewing projects, and Kaufman silk/cotton Radiance.  Surprisingly, I also found that faux silk polyester dupioni (the 58 inch wide) makes a wonderful choice, but it needs to be backed with a lightweight iron on fusible such as  Pellon SF101 iron on woven interfacing.

Sew happy everyone! Have fun in your studio.

 

 

Busy Developing New Projects

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Design Work, Fabrics, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Machines, Paint, Panel quilts, Quilt Journal, skill building, Videos, Wool

Test and practice piece using all wool machine applique and embellishment

Hi gentle readers! As the title says, I have been very busy lately developing new projects that I hope you all will fully enjoy when I publish them here and in my YouTube channel.

For the first of these projects…exploring painting on quilted fabric…I will include any additional information that accompanies my video(s) that you might want here on my blog.  So the the entire exploration information and demonstrating videos that result in a handful of painted quiltlets will be free to you.  I am really having fun doing all the prep work for the videos and practicing the techniques and am nearly ready to start “filming” the videos.

For years I have been exploring how various types of fabric paints, artist crayons. and pencils, work with different types of fibers and weaves that are already quilted.  Or rather, I already know more or less how this works so I will be show the matching of the types of paints, crayons, and pencils with the different fabrics to get the best results.  I believe that by doing this, you will be able to take what I share and use it to get the looks you want on your own projects, or at least to explore your own ideas with some success. I am hopeful to get these published in April and May. 

In the process of working out the sampler quiltlets I came up with an idea I want to make for a cuddle lap quilt that I may or may not put into a video if I make it.  I haven’t decided if I can fit it into my work plan or not, but if I do make it, at the very least I will share it here on my blog. It involves in-the-hoop quilting designs coupled with free motion quilting and possibly quilt-as-I-go construction, but I haven’t fully decided on all of that yet.  It’s just an idea at this point.  I will be able to use some of my pretty threads for this project.

Anyway, in addition to working on the painting project hours daily for some time now I have been trying to design some new wool applique by machine projects to present on my channel for fall and winter. One will be quick and less complex and presented sometime soon, and others will be presented across the rest of the year.  But  I am also working to come up with a really good design with dimensional texture that uses the wonderful characteristics of wool for a small very artistic wall hanging. It will be what I think of as 2 1/2 D rather than 3D.  LOL

3D stump work dragonfly I made in the hoop has wire hidden in the stitching on the wings. This was so much fun to make, I want to do more in-the-hoop stumpwork.  Would you like a video on how I do this?

I am thinking, after much consideration, that the background fabric for this textural wall hanging will be on cotton, and the appliques will be wool.  I also am considering adding some couching of  wool yarns and maybe even some wool roving that I would needle punch with the needle punch attachment on my little baby machine, my Bernina 350, which I usually use for piecing and travel, but it also has several attachments I like to use on that machine because it has a 5.5 width maximum stitch that allows some interesting results.  I might also add stump work object that I make in-the-hoop from lighter fabrics.  Anyway, I’m working on a complete design that I am very hopeful will be really beautiful and interesting to watch me make on my YouTube channel.  It would be so delightful if some of you decide to make one yourself because it is so interesting and the result will be lovely.

If I get the design right, it will involve the use of three of my machines…my B350, my Bernina 880+. and my Bernina Q20 sitdown longarm, but will be doable on a single domestic machine and a hand needle punch tool if that is all one has or wants to use.  For this project, I will be developing a downloadable pattern that I will sell in my website store. This pattern would include svg files for cutting out the appliques using a digital cutter and line drawings for use with scissors.  Anyway, it’s rumbling around in my head and I am working on various designs to come up with the best one.  It should be fun.  I have long known that it takes me longer to design a project and develop the pattern than to make it.  So this project will take some time, consist of multiple videos, and hopefully will be published over the summer.  It would make a wonderful present for someone, even if it is for your own sewing space.

Sew you may want to know where the third and last video of my two birds project is. My video director and editor has had some minor delays in getting it done as work and life got in the way.  We are hopeful that it will be out sometime in the first week of April. There is a downloadable pattern for this project available for only $5 on my website shop, but as of this writing I have only sold one copy, even though I have almost 400 views of the first two videos.  Since it would be very difficult to make this project without the pattern, I guess my hope that some of my viewers would try to make it themselves has not yet happened.  I am still hopeful that some quilters will decide to do the project and share their results with me so I can show you all.  Maybe they want to see the finish before they decide.  Or maybe people are not aware that it is almost a complete book on how to do this kind of project that they may find informative and interesting even if they don’t make it. It is accompanied by svg files for cutting the appliques.  You don’t have to have a digital cutter though, because it also has the line drawings to cutout the appliques with scissors.  Here are the links to video one and video two.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to Use Some of My Fall and Winter Fabrics

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Embroidery, Fabrics, Making Clothes, Sewing Clothing, Videos, Wool

Hi everyone!  So today I started thinking about fall.  I am probably a little late on this, but we had a cooler rainy day that seemed to be appropriate for fall thinking.  Then I got an email reminding me that the pattern sale for Butterick patterns was going to expire today.  It was a really good sale, and so I bought several of the new fall patterns that I had seen earlier that really appealed to me, plus, they came in my size!  I probably will have just a few adjustments, but maybe I can just lay out the patterns and mostly simply cut them out without having to redraft the patterns.

I have a nice stash of some silks, woolens and blends for fall and winter that I will try to use for these projects.  I prefer sewing clothes for fall and winter with these wonderful fabrics.

Here are two of them.  The first one is patterned for knits, and I have some black slack weight ponte knit that has been lounging in my stash for a while.  It’s not enough for both the slacks and the jacket, so I will probably get a different color fabric for the jacket, but I will search my clothing fabric stash first to see if maybe I have something that will serve.  I also got the coat and dress combo on the right, although I have pretty much given up wearing dresses.  This was such a lovely combination and I have fabric that would work well for this, so maybe I will make it even if it is a dress or at least I will make the coat and turn the dress into a top to wear with dressier slacks. They will look great, but perhaps not as great as on those models.

Then I got this really nice blouse pattern. I may not have the fabric for this, but I will check first. If it turns out as nice as I think, I will probably make several.

And I also got this tailored jacket for a project I am thinking of making with in-the-hoop embroidery using fabrics in my stash.  I will use this project for videos.  I have everything I need for this as I envision it.

 

Sew I am also working on some project designs for video projects and making progress.  Taping for some of these will begin next week, since I have finally finished the pattern for the first one.  Should I video the making of at least some of the clothes?  I’m wondering.  Tell me what you think.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studios!

 

A New Stitching Adventure

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Art Quilt Techniques, Embellishment, Embroidery, Fabrics, My micro-business, Quilt Journal, skill building, Techniques, Threads, Tools, Videos

Birds at Play Detail from Pattern

Hi gentle readers,

I am almost ready to start making and filming a fun new wall quilt that focuses on stitching…both free motion and some with feed dogs up.  It also has a small amount of appliques behind some of the stitching and 9 pieces of fabrics to make a simple style quilt background to put all this stitching with some appliques and some paint onto.  The picture above is a single tile from a multi-tile downloadable pattern with instructions and supply list. This project was inspired by a page from a Dover Publications coloring book.

I got the missing fabrics this week and they are all washed and ready to go.  I am still working on the pattern, but the hard part is done so I will be publishing that for sale at a moderate price on my website store to go along with an undetermined number of free YouTube videos to take people through the project…fun to simply watch, and fun to make with me if you want.

I will be adding a page to this blog site with links to my recommended supplies that apply to ongoing projects.  Once it’s there you can just click on “Supply links” above and you can go shopping!

Sew I am excited about making this piece.  I will be testing some products I have not used before I make it and will tell you about them as I go.  This includes some new specialty threads from Wonderfil Threads I have only briefly used and Sulky’s Sticky-Fabri-Solvy printable self adhesive water soluble stabilizer. I think it could be a real blessing for limiting the amount of marking I have to do for this project and stabilizing the stitching.  I might do a 60 second shorts video on my test of all of this just so you can see it even if I decide not to use it for this particular project.  Would you like that?

I should be publishing the first parts of this project in a few weeks.  We’ll see though.  It takes a while to film the making of a complex project like this and get it edited.  In any event, I will let you know how it stands with my next blog post.  Let me know what you are working on.  Do you have any special requests for techniques to discuss? (Please comment here.  I love comments because it helps me know if people really view and like my blog efforts here and the comments stay with my blog if I look back on them a few months later for reference).

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio!

 

Wool Applique by Machine with Video Demos

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in A Little How-To, Applique, Art Quilt Techniques, Classes, Design as you go, Embellishment, Fabrics, Quilt Journal, Techniques, Threads, Tools, Videos, Wool

 

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.

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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

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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

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Classes, Design as you go, Embellishment, Fabrics, Food for Thought, Threads, Videos

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!