Practical Thread Magic

Getting Together

2011-12-02T14:49:00.001-06:00

Normally December would be a time of getting things into place. Getting them together. Tax receipts. Almost finished quilts. Articles that have to go out. The teaching is done for the year, and all those tasks impossible in the travel have to be done.

This December, add to that I'm getting ready for Thread Magic Garden, my new book from C&T publishing to arrive in January. There's a flurry of newsletters, articles and new work that has to be in place.In the middle of that muddle, I'm trying very hard to realize that the best task is simplification. So with that in mind, I'm putting all my blogs into one place. I know that some people just want information, some people want stories, some people want a place to check for schedules, and some people just want eye candy. You'll still find it all here at the Art Outside the Box at ellenanneeddy.blogspot.com blog. I've put in a cloud label so you can find what you need easier. And I'm very curious as to what you think. I'm hoping you'll let me know.All the blogs have been fed into this one. I'll still show you wonderful Lunatic Fringe people, color studies, funny stories, fabulous techniques and amazing embroidery. But, we're getting together. Right now.

To Kit or Not to Kit: A Teacher's Dilemma

2011-11-26T09:46:00.001-06:00

The decisions we make as artists are so different than the decisions we make as teachers.
I came out in the seventies with a primary degree, ready to teach first grade.
It was after several breathtakingly bad years substituting when I finally got a job, only to find I was really bad at crowd control. It doesn't help when you're personally leading the riot.

But your life finds a way. I worked in a fabric store and quilted insanely, until someone asked, "Could you teach a class on that?"
Well, when teaching adults, it's ok to be leading the riot. It's kind of what they hired you for. They want excitement and new ideas and that roller coaster feeling of a whole new stash of toys they've never tried before. I'm exactly where I should be.
But the decisions I make about class are almost in opposition to decisions about the studio.

When it comes to materials, I believe that more is more. More colors please. More resources. More options. Certainly more choices. So when I've taught, I want that for students too. So how much and what do you pack? I used to bring whole bolts of stabilizers, fusibles and piles of books for design.
Strangely enough, it comes down to weight. The new luggage fees have changed that world and I have to think like a teacher, not like an artist. It's very strange to pack what I'm sure you'll need. And to leave the things that you might want back at the studio.

So I am proud/sad/confused/and conflicted to announce for the first time in my life I'm kitting classes. I'm still bringing fabulous fabrics I personally dye, hand-dyed threads you can't get anywhere else, hand-dyed cheesecloth and a collection of the most beautiful commercial threads I can find. But I'm kitting up the stabilizers/fusibles/and patterns to make your life easier the day before class. I'm also producing small classroom books for project classes that cover the material, give you pattern, how to illustrations, tips, sources and gallery photos all in one one pretty little booklet. Simplification really is a math project.

This is my first year to do that.You as students and fellow artists will have to let me know how that works for you.

The downside is that you can't always be sure what that kit will cost. Your group will ask me for a cost for that perhaps a year before class, usually when they book the class. Prices can raise dramatically in a year, and I've usually sliced it down to give students the best break I can. So if shipping or the price spikes, I have no choice but to adjust the kit fee. What I've told students is that if the extra means you eat peanut butter for a week, I'll offer you a dispensation. I can absorb the extra for one or two, but for twenty it becomes a problem.
Like all works in process, I'm trying to figure this out. So as students and artist, what do you prefer? Do you want to strictly find and bring your own supplies? Do you prefer a kit? and can you handle a small price adjustment if it's needed?
This little dragonfly was started in my Dragonfly Sky class, a class built and streamlined with kits, a set pattern, and a booklet to help people on their way.

The booklet is available separately at
www.ellenanneeddy.com
Dragonfly Sky
or at Amazon
If you order from Ellen you get your book personally signed.
Or you can ask your guild to bring Ellen to teach you to make your own dragonfly sky. Ellen's Teaching information

Designing Ways: Ornamenting Grids: The Zentangle Dance

2011-08-02T08:19:00.001-05:00

"A good artist should be able to draw with a berry on a fence." Tim Powers, Reach for the Sky

Like everyone else, I'm in love with the whole Zen Tangle thing. I tend to find these things later than everyone else. I finally lift my head up and see what's been going on for a long long time.
But I've always been a full believer in more is more. I'm in love.

What I've enjoyed most about this is the division and ornamentation of space. I also love the whole low tech part of it. These are done with a ball point pen on notebook paper.

All of this started with a simple grid. We quilters tend to thing in terms of squares and rectangles, but really there are no rules.

Here are a series of different grid fills. Left to right, we've filled in with spirals, a wonky ninepatch, a spider web, scallops, and a larger spiral. How fun is that?

How does that translate to quilting? We're still filling in space. Only with thread.Can you say "stipple?"

You'll find some very cool books on Zen Tangling on Amazon. See if it doesn't expand your thinking about space, design and the filling of space.

You'll find more of Sandi Steen Bartholomew's work at http://beezinthebelfry.blogspot.com/

Designing Ways: The Container and the Contained

2011-07-06T09:58:00.002-05:00

" Mother, Mother, May I swim? Yes my darling daughter. Hang your clothes on the highest pin and don't go in the water."

In the same way we read mystery and horror novels, and watch romantic comedy, we flirt with edges. Come hither, hold on tight, don't let go, what really is at the edge? There's a lot of drama to be gained from art in the process of making a box and then breaking out of it.

We need the box. We need the safety and the security of it all. But we crave the excitement and drama of the edge. Where one thing starts and something else ends. When that edge is clean, straight and clear, it's very tidy. But it leaves us wanting to break out.

Nature, life, the world, the universe is not full of a lot of straight edges. We impose those on our world, but they impose right back at us. A good example is mint in your garden. You may have planted it in a small plot in a straight line. Blink twice after a good rain and you'll find it across the yard and down the hill has well. My feeling is that I might as well just go along with it.

So within art it's worth building both. You build the surface of your work, which is a container. Then you break out of that container,as nature itself is bound to do. The stripes here create a sense of order as well as filtered sun, but the leaf refuses to stay in place. It pops out and our ladybug comes right along with it.

The vine here creates the border here, and our lady bug nestles within it. But it too refuses to stay just on the surface. It pokes out just enough that we know it's a living thing and not about to follow a ruler.

This bug is contained by the flower she's on. But not entirely. She's clearly heading for the edge.

Finally this bug and leaf create the border together. They are the container and the contained all in one.

Wrapping it up:
As quilters we're used to square corners and straight edges. We depend on them. They make a container for our images. But as we make borders and let our work edge right off them, we can take our contained work and put it in motion, by breaking out of the border and refusing to be contained.

Designing Ways: Dancing in the Grid

2011-06-29T19:10:00.001-05:00

Back to fabric design. We've all watched Dancing with the Stars. Once we're done with that and Steve Goodman, how about Dancing with Butterflies? Remember the Arther Mury patterns on the floor? Basically they were just moving in squares.

Just as an exercise in design, I took a butterfly drawing, colored it and went dancing with it in squares.

As I was playing with the placement, it wasn't long before I recognized that it was just like playing with a triangle quilt design.

Angling the butterflies as triangles and making them different sizes turned them into instant quilt squares. Who knew? Designing fabric is really designing quilts.

I did this in Illustrator, partially because I'm trying to learn the program and it was as good an exercise as any. But it would be so much easier in something like Electric Quilt 7. I flipped them, shrunk them, turned them, and made them dance.

Then I added a curlicue.

Fabric design is rhythmic pattern across a surface. It dances as it repeats itself, in the same patterns or in patterns that reflect or flip the original shape.

Like all dancing, it's endless, built for improvisation, but always in place with it's on rhythms. Am I there yet? I don't think so. I need to practice with Arthur Murry, just a bit more.Want to dance?

Wrapping it up: Designing both quilts and fabric is about rhythmic patterns in and out of a grid.

Find more information about designing fabric on Spoonflower.

Find really cool design software at

Electric Quilt 7 or Illustrator.

Designing Ways: Gravity Meets Geometry

2011-06-08T15:12:00.000-05:00

What makes a shape move? We acknowledged that graphically on paper, things move strictly in our head. After years of things falling down around us, we can look at shapes at certain angles and say, "Yep. That's falling." We observe that it should be moving, and our mind makes it do that.
So what makes a shape itself mobile(moving) or static(staying still)?

In the same way angles make things move, symmetry makes things stay in place. A square is the ultimate stable shape. Nothing about it suggests movement. Because it's even sides it doesn't even move the eye from the center.

That changes a bit when we draw it in three dimensions. The third dimension adds an angle just in the drawing, and we see it move a bit.

If we elongate the square into rectangles, the shape is much more mobile. As we go further from equal sides and symmetry, our shapes are more mobile.

But when we put them in a line and change the size the movement is in place and active. The eye connects them into a shape with one side much longer than the other, making things move.

Of course if we put them in at extreme angles, they tumble across the surface.

How does this translate to quilts that never have a square in them? All shapes are geometric shapes we manipulate into organic shapes. But the shape of the quilt itself, is the strongest one. A quilt designed with an elongated outline is in motion from it's inception.

Wrapping it up:
Symmetrical object are stable. They do not move unless you put them at an angle or unless you use them to create a shape that is longer on one side than another.
Non-symmetrical shapes aways have the suggestion of movement built in to their form.

Designing Ways: Gravity and Motion, Movement in Design

2011-06-01T10:27:00.001-05:00

We talk about designs moving. But in reality, unless you're dealing with a series of images, they can't. A two-dimensional image is stuck in one place forever. What moves is not the image. It's our imagination of what happens next to the image. We imagine the movements that must, in our experience happen after where the image is now.

We have a life long experience of gravity. We know when things are going to fall. We also can see from that same life experience when something appears balanced and stable. Our life experience supplies the suggestion that something is moving. The picture itself stays stable.What is the defining element? The angle of the object.
Our tree moves here because she's off balance. Her yellow background is at an angle against hers and the feeling is that she's in extreme motion.

Our tree here is reaching up at a slight angle. But she's not really moving because she's stable against her background.

This tree is completely rooted and solid where she is. Her angle is straight and vertical to the sides of the work. She's

not going anywhere.

Summing it up, all movement in design is an illusion formed from our memory and experience of gravity.
If we recreate the feeling of falling or motion in a design, the design will appear to move.
All movement is created in the angles we apply to our designs.

Next, Moving in on and around a grid.

Designing Ways: East Meets West

2011-05-31T09:01:00.002-05:00

It's almost impossible to talk about our art without talking about the art that comes before us. Before we talk about design, it's worth saying that there are many different design aesthetics. It's not that a design is good or bad necessarily. It's designed to be part of the statement. The notions that fuel our art choices are a statement loud and clear past subject matter and past our technical handling of fabric and thread.

As quilters, a lot of us have backed into art by accident. We started with squares and one day found ourselves with an odd quilt that somehow was an art quilt. Maybe it had too much orange in it or you found yourself like me, embroidering frogs and bugs into the borders.There's a tender soft spot in most quilter's artistic persona. The part that said that you should have gone to art school or studied water color. So our first designs spring out of a personal view. Later, as we become more facile, we realize that the choices in design are a huge statement all their own.

My first artistic love was the impressionists. I grew up near Chicago, and there was a pilgrimage every year to the Art Institute. I strolled through the halls looking for paintings like old friends. Since they were my first real introduction to art, they felt bland to me. Safe. Something soft and soothing out of my childhood.You know it's become mainstream when you see it on a birthday cake. This astonishing cake is by Megpi, a pastry chef in Silver Lake. California. You can see her work if you follow the link to Flickr.

impressionist cake, a photo by megpi on Flickr

Since you can buy Van Gogh's work on umbrellas and coffee cups, it's easy to miss the point that he was a raving revolutionary in his time. His work nauseated the current critics, got him hospitalized, was refused for all the important salon shows, and the subject of ridicule in the press. Time and familiarity have made him a lionized artist, but that was not who he was when he began.

I was immediately in love when I discovered Japanese prints. It was a while before I realized why. The Impressionists took much of their new artistic vision from the prints out of Japan. The first prints that came out of Japan hugely influenced them as beginning artists.

In contrast, this is a painting called Nocturne from around 1825 by Turner. Turner would have represented the design aesthetics from the early 19th century, that Van Gogh and the other impressionists and Post Expressionists blew out of the water.

Early 19th Century Western art was about permanence. It honored stability. It was a world of people in their proper places, forever and ever. It used Greek and Roman scenes and portraits of nobility as an way of saying we had an eternal understanding of a world that stayed the same.

Japanese art was about the moment. It moved. It created a path for the eye to follow. It went off the page. The impressionists saw it, fell in love with the concept and incorporated it into the designing of their art. And changed us all.

The decisions behind design are the most telling. Without a word they say so much about what we create, what we find important, and what we value. The way we structure our art is at least half the story we tell.

Designing Ways: An Exploration of Design in Fiber Art

2011-05-30T08:36:00.002-05:00

http://youtu.be/eNAcJ9o4XP0

Just recently I've been looking at the Spoonflower website. At Spoonflower you can design your own fabric.

That sounded simple. You add cool elements from your quilts on a neat background. How hard can it be? How cool can it get?

Well I don't think it get's cooler, but it's not as easy as it looks. I'm not ready for prime time yet but it's reminded me how important design is, and how it changes when we have different things we want out of our designs. So I'm going to take some time to explore design myself and to talk about that in some posts.

So often when we create we get all caught up in what we're creating. A flower, a frog, a bug, a picture. But design is the hidden framework under all of that. There are different aesthetics to design, different theories, different approaches. So when we talk about good design, we need to ask the question, "For what purpose."Designs that repeat are a whole different set of considerations from designs that don't have to. I'd like to look at design over a series of posts, from the point of view of pathway, rhythm, framing, and balance. Next time, East Meets West.

In Search of Peacock Colors: Anatomy of a Color Study

2011-02-26T21:03:00.000-06:00

Confessions of a color junkie. I get drunk periodically. Not on alcohol or ice tea or even ice water. But I do get drunk on color. Every so often I find myself swimming in a color combination that is just plain intoxicating. It hits me viscerally. Color is visual emotion. It's a language all its own.But just because I find a color combination exhilarating doesn't mean I understand why.

Whenever I find a color combination I can't leave alone, I like to work with it until I understand it.I've always loved peacock colors. I don't necessarily feel like quilting a peacock at this time. But the colors.....
So I went in search of peacock colors. Dyeing fabric is one of the best ways to understand color. So I went out to dye some peacock colors.

Peacock colors have always mystified me a bit. They're an analogous range (a row of colors in a line) but there's something odd about it. When I charted it out on the color wheel it began to make sense.

That's when I find it's time to chart it out on the color wheel and to see why these colors do what they do. The color wheel is a family tree for color. It shows how colors are related to each other. The basic color is teal, with bright blues, purples and greens. But fooler is that olivey chartreuse green. It's a dulled out sun color in a range of clear cool colors. In another way, the contrast in the combination is the olive that leans towards the sun while all the other colors lean to the shade.
No wonder it's so exciting.

So this is what i dyed!

Mystery solved! I used an analogous range of procian dyes including turquoise, teal, robins egg, chartreuse, jade, cayman island green, and sun yellow. The chartreuse is the olivey contrasting sun color. I stalked the wild peacock. Now those colors are mine!
Don't be afraid to hunt for the big game: the fabulous colors that rock your world and move your furniture. Use them, chart them, put them where they can excite you and illuminate your world.

If you want to explore more of the world of sponge dyeing and how the color wheel works, check out my book, Ellen Anne Eddy's Dye Day Workbook. Not just a dye book, it explains why the colors do what
they do together visually. It's available on my site at www.ellenanneeddy.com

Beadaliscious: Eye candy and puctuation

2011-02-23T15:45:00.000-06:00

I have a love affair with beads. It's such a good thing that at least one thing I truly love has no calories to count, packs up small and delights me every time. I'm not strictly a beader, but I still have a collection of fabulous beads, and they still find their way into my work.

As addictions go, it started small. I worked in an antique mall for a while where there were several people working in old Czech glass beads. I can ignore most gem beads. I can ignore crystal. But Czech glass can empty my pockets so fast it's like there's a hole. I made my fair share of necklaces and earrings and found myself way too involved quilting to play endlessly with beads.

But beads sneak in. They're so pretty. They're shiny. They're almost like candy without the calories. They also make fabulous details. When I did the embroidery for Tigrey Leads the Parade, almost all of the flowers in my gardens were great glass beads.
Where do they come from? I never pass on a bead shop, no matter where I'm traveling, but the bulk of these beads came from an amazing store that's literally down the street from me.
Blue Stem Beads. They're in my little town of Porter, but their collection is mighty and for the size, it's one of the best bead stores I ever saw. Almost all the beads for this book came from there.
These were hand stitched onto tea towels I embroidered. They were fabulous flowers and too much fun. You can see and purchase Tigrey Leads the Parade at my web site www.ellenanneeddy.com
You'll find Blue Stem Beads in Porter,Indiana (just an hour out of Chicago. It's an astonishment.
For the next few posts I'm going to talk about other cool and wonderful ways I've used beads and seen beads used in quilting.
You'll find

Blue Stem Beads at

300 Lincoln St # 1X

Porter, IN 46304-1894

(219) 926-9004

In Praise of Pockets!

2011-01-10T08:46:00.000-06:00

Ellen, Birdy and Ivy

"What has it got in it's pocketses?"
Golum's riddle to Bilbo the Hobbit

I'm from a story telling family. My mother was Irish. She had many shortfalls, but she could embroider a story until it glowed silver and gold. My father, being of English blood almost never spoke at all.But he read constantly. And when I was a child they both read constantly to me.

One of my mother's favorites was Katie No-Pocket.This child's delight is about a kangaroo who has no pockets and a very tired out baby who she can't always hold when she's traveling. She discovers aprons in her travels and has so many pockets she carries all the other neighbor animals as well.

I think the stories we tell are cement that could fix the world. The stories we tell ourselves can change our fears and our expectations of ourselves and of the world. The stories we tell our children meld theirs. We should always tell stories, but I think we need to understand that they are powerful and wildly unexpected forces. Certainly they teach us how to turn our daily woes into wows.

I know there are somewhere, neat little girls who grow up to be neat adults. I never was one. I made mud pies. I still kind of do. So aprons are a huge part of my life. I don't need an apron to cover my waist or my front. Preferably the 360 degree cover all is what's required. I love aprons for that reason.

But best of all, THEY HAVE POCKETS!

I can lose almost anything. I lose things in front of me as a specialty. So anything I need all day goes into my pocket. My phone, my daily do list, my pen, dog cookies, a rotary cutter, a snack, a book, a flash drive, my camera,the TV remote. But it's all there, somewhere. I have my scissors clipped on at my neck. If it's on my body, it's not lost.

Does that sound like a big pocket? Well, yes. And it does clank.

Here's my favorite apron pattern. I make 6 of these every six months and have them hanging in my kitchen. When they get tattered, I take them to the kitchen and garden. I do make the pockets bigger ( imagine that!)

The only downside to this pattern is that it takes 6 yards of bias. I cut mine from a bias tube (in whatever yummy fabric I want) and put it on with a serger with fusible thread in the lower looper.

You'll find several great kinds of fusible thread at The Cotton Club

You'll find instructions for no-hand-stitch bias on a serger in my booklet, Machine Binding Techniques.

You'll find my favorite apron pattern here or at your local pattern store. My Favorite Apron Pattern
You'll find other apron patterns here.
Search Amazon.com for apron patterns for women

You'll also find Katy No-Pocket (Sandpiper) at Amazon.com. Read it for yourself or share it with your babes. It's a story that changes worlds.

Get ready to get messy and not lose anything. How good is that? The book should fit in your pocket.

Bobbin Work: On the Loose-Dealing with Distortion

2010-09-22T08:51:00.000-05:00

If you've been following this thread, we've covered almost all the information about doing bobbin work.

As you've seen, the possibilities are endless entertainment. Bobbin work is easy, fast and fun.

I hope you got out your machine, played around, looked through your thread box and started to explore this great new world.

But there is a dark side. Any time you've put that much thread through a fabric surface you can be looking at some serious distortion. It depends largely on how much you fill in. If you're just outlining things or stippling, it's probably not a problem. If, like myself, you got a bit crazed and did a four foot cricket, it's probably ruffling up like a child's party dress.

I don't believe in giving recipes for cakes that don't rise. I might forget to tell someone an important ingredient but I'd never deliberately leave it out. I hate games where you can't win, and I won't ever do it to a student, a friend, a stranger or stone cold adversary.

So here's the extra ingredient. If we're working on a dense piece of embroidery, we can always cure it by cutting.

Any larger image (over 3 square inches) I'll do on a separate sandwich of felt, fabric, and stabilizer and treat it like an appliqué. When I'm done, I cut right on the edge ( don't cut through the stitching) and zigzag free motion around the edges with black thread to make it all pop. We cut of the distortion and life is so much better. What problem?

You'll find the information for preparing your felt and fabric sandwich on a previous blog Fabulous Felt: Unthinking Interfacing.

Your sandwich, top to bottom is
   Surface fabric
   Steam-A-Seam 2
   Polyester felt
   Totally Stable

Steam iron it well so that your Steam-A-Seam 2 is melted, sticking things in place and won't gum your needle.

My hoop is Sharon Shamber's Halo Hoop.You'll find more information on it in a previous post Hoop-Dee Do.

Wrapping it up:

Really dense bobbin work may ruffle and distort your surface. Do it on a separate stabilizer sandwich and cut the appliqué out. Use the free motion zigzag stitch to apply it to your quilt.

The Trees Speak!

2010-08-12T10:16:00.000-05:00

Are books dead?

My first impulse is to grab every child I see on the street, bake a big batch of cookies, sit them on my porch and read to them. Reading is the window to the world. Can you tell I came out to teach primary? Well, yes.

It's actually deeper than that. My mother taught school and was president of the library board. Both she and my father read to me nightly. Of course she read me The Little Gray Squirrel. My father read me whatever he was reading. It ranged from the Jungle Book, to Argosy Magazine to Gods Graves and Scholars. I was around three at the time. I can't say I understood it all, but it cemented my love for books. I can't imagine a world without them. I can't go to sleep without one either. The smell of ink, the touch of paper, glossy and full of color and impact, still is electric for me. The stories are often my only company for days.

Technology often scares me. I went through a phase where I refused to learn how to use my voice mail. It was childish, but I felt overwhelmed. My ten year old neighbor is teaching me how to text. I'm not a quick study.

So when you tell me books are dead, my panic starts to rise like sap up a tree. I have images of all of us rushing into book stores and saving the books!

But books are not just paper and binding. Really what a book consists of is a story told, an event explained, a technique discovered, a life explored. Books are information! Information is always holy and always needs to be preserved.

Having written several books, in the current age, I can tell you that they are completely set up digitally now. When I finish a book and it goes to the printer, it goes simply as a PDF file, electronically sent and received. The printed form is simply one of many ways it can be distributed.

Technology changes. As daunting as I find technology, I no longer rush to my herbal books when the dogs are hurt. I go on the internet. The search for information is eternal. The formats will change in time and space. I have an image of monks rushing a printing press saying that it couldn't possibly produce the kind of books they had over the years. They would have been right. The printing press a huge open door they could have never reached with a pen in their hands.

Lately I've discovered Audible.com. You can download books to an mp3 player and listen. I'm in love. It's as if my father is back reading to me. My player holds around 20 books at a time. And my mp3 player fits in my bra. How many books can you carry in yours?

Wrapping it up:

The technology changes, but the need for information is eternal. Books will go on and speak for ever.They may just not be made of paper any more. And since digital storage isn't anything like a library full of books, they may well be much more available for longer periods of time and in ways we can't imagine.

You'll find MP3 books at Audible.com

You'll find more of my books at Amazon or on my web page at

www.ellenanneeddy.com

Color Theory for Thread: Basic Shading for Embroidered Appliqué

2010-07-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

When I embroidery images,every so often someone will say to me, "Do you really need all those threads?"Well of course!

Now, don't be silly. We know the answer to the age old question, "How many mushrooms do you put in a quiche?" The answer, of course, is" How many mushrooms do you have?"

But it's not exactly that reason. You don't pull in a million colors because you could. You do because it's how nature is. It's all about variance.

If you're going to shade something, you start with some color decisions. First we zone our design. Zones are areas that are fundamentally different colors.His tail and eye ring are one zone, his body and his ear others. His eye is separate because we'll do it in Sliver thread to make it shiny.

In each zone, you'll need a dark, medium and light value. If it's a larger piece you can have separate out your areas as having darks mediums and lights of their own. I've drawn lines to separate the areas, but they're not hard and fast. I'll just start adding lighter threads into the mix at those lines.

To weight the embroidery, I'll add a shader at the bottom of each area. A shader can be a darker complement to the color or dark blue, grey, brown, green or purple.

To lift the color and make it more exciting, we'll add a shocker right before the last color. It can be a bright complement to the basic color or orange, lime, hot pink, or bright purple.

Here's the range of colors I chose for this squirrel. He's basically orange, but all those colors go into making him shine and shimmer. Purple is my shader and the blues make a great shocker to keep the eye happy and entertained.

Wrapping it up:

Pick a wide range of colors from dark to light for each zone. Go way lighter than you intend for highlights and way darker than you might to weight the piece.
Pick a complement or very dark color to shade your piece.
Pick a complement or very bright color to shock your shades.
End with the color you want to see the most. You will.

Shading images is endless fun. Feel free to pick wild and bold colors. Thread is tiny. You can be very bold with it.

Basting: It's Not Just for Turkeys

2010-06-28T10:58:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago, I went looking to order another basting gun. They don't last forever. Even with new needles, there's a day when the pin bends. I was appalled to be told my supplier wasn't carrying them anymore.

These are a love/hate item for a lot of quilters. Do they leave holes? Yep. They can. Do they jam? Yep, they do.Why am I insistent on having one? Because they're still the most hand-friendly way to baste out there.

Case in point. This piece is still in process. I'm still at that point where I move things, look at them, move them again, and look again. I could pin them. I also could go through a box of band-aides sewing them down.

In comes my tack gun.I can tack things up, look them over, clip out whatever doesn't work. Problems and all, I'm still in love.

There's another side as well. Tack guns don't hurt my hands. I have a small amount of carpel tunnel that is not forgiving about safety pins. This is much easier. And it did solve the problem of the cat who would take the pins out and try to eat them. He still tries to take them out. He still tries to eat them. But they're much less likely to do him harm.

The Quilt Basting Gun is a good design tacker. It's perfect for basting large elements to your quilt.

You might want to consider the Micro stitch for basting quilts. The tacks are smaller and leave smaller holes. I usually steam a quilt and the holes all pull together.

Either way, I feel the baby is in danger of going out with the bath water here. They're not a perfect tool, but I can't imagine being without.

Fabulous Felt:Unthinking Interfacing

2010-05-11T22:12:00.000-05:00

It's funny how inflexible our opinions become. After having worked seven years at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL, I thought I knew everything about every fabric in the main room. I may have come close back then. It was the best fabric education available that I know of.
The main room was the ordinary sewers room. It had domestic cottons, polys, wools and test tube baby fabrics like satins and lace. It also had the craft fabric, with a huge wall of felt.

Felt has gone through a lot of reincarnations. In the 1980's I would have given it the most useless fabric award with bells and ribbons on it.

The original felt of felt skirts and jackets was pure wool. It was a delicious fabric to work with. It was strong, bright and beautiful. By the 80's it also cost the earth. So it was replaced with a hybrid of wool and rayon. This nightmare fabric had curly wool fibers mixed in with straight tree bark fibers (Rayon is made from tree bark.) What a tactical error. Instead of being strong and vibrant, it was always pulling apart( curly and straight fibers don't make a good combination.) At some point I completely wrote it off as a fabric I would ever use again. It didn't even paste together well.
When the first poly felt came out it too was thin and nasty. So I've ignored felt for neigh on 15 years.

So I was completely surprised when Lauren Strach (a fabulous quilter out of St. Joseph, MI) came in with some embroidered flowers where she'd used the new poly felt as a stabilizer.

I began to experiment. I've been making a stabilizer sandwich with hand-dyed fabric, Steam-A-Seam 2,and a final layer of Totally Stable as a pattern. The hand-dye is the surface that the embroidery shows on. The Steam-A-Seam 2 fuses and stabilizes the felt. The felt is fused on to the surface fabric with Steam-A-Seam 2 and then the pattern, made with Totally Stable is ironed onto the felt.
So the sandwich, top to bottom is
   Surface fabric
   Steam-A-Seam 2
   Felt
   Totally Stable

I've used it for both bobbin work and for embroidered appliqué. It creates a solid easily applied embroidery where all the distortion is cut off the edge.
You can use wool felt as well. It's pricey and the poly works just as well.

The other thing that makes this work is Sharon Schamber's Halo hoop. This weighted hoop supplies extra support without having to be clamped or unclamped. See my blog Hoop de doo for more information about this fabulous tool.

Wrapping it up:
Poly felt makes a fabulous stabilizer for embroidery. And keep your mind open. Fabrics change all the time. There's no knowing when you'll a new use for something old.

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Shopping at Quilt Stores:The Care and Feeding of Community

2010-04-27T09:14:00.000-05:00

Every time I write something about a product or a quilting toy, I find myself first looking for an online link for it, and then writing this disclaimer that it's always best to shop at a local store. It feels a bit schizoid to offer those two bits of information. But I never know what will be needful. I know there are people who live at the back of the beyond. The internet is the world's largest market place. You can find anything there if you hunt long enough. I love the ability to read reviews. I hate vacuum cleaners. This may sound like a non-sequetor , but it's not. I just bought one I love, courtesy of Amazon and the three million reviews available. It's got it's place.

So why should we ever shop anywhere else?

There's a delusion that a store is only a place to buy something. I say it's a delusion because that may be it's primary purpose, but it's not its job. Stores create community. A great store is the beginning of a great community.

How does this work? It depends on the store. It depends on their attitude and what they offer their clients.It depends on the client's willingness to join in.

Do you need to know where the local quilt guild is?

Ask the store.

Do you need someone to fix your machine?

Ask the store

Do you need someone to show your quilt to before you bust?

Take it into the store.

Do you need someone to help you match the thread or fabric?

Ask the store?

Do you need to know about new products?

Ask the store.

Do you need to know a great long arm quilter who will finish your quilt?

Ask the store.

Are you beginning to see how this works?

But past that, it's a place to meet other quilters, take amazing classes, find out what's new, share your joy, and be with people who love what you love.

Whenever I travel I ask to see the local quilt store. What I find there tells me a great deal about the community I've come to teach in. I can see if they're traditional or arty, active or passive. The store is not about the store strictly. It tells me a great deal about the people it serves.

Much sadder are the places where the store once was and is now gone. The chain stores have a bit of everything, but never the focus or range you can expect from a store specialized in quilting. It makes a huge hole in the community when a store closes.

One of my favorite quilt stores is Glacier Quilts in Kalispell, Montana. This is not an easy place to get to. It's tucked right next to Glacier National Park. And it's completely worthy.

They have a mountain of fabric. That's always good.They have a brilliant sewing machine mechanic. That's always better. They've got a wall full of notions, and books, and all the fixings.

So what makes it better than that?

They have children who are part of the store. There's a large playpen for your child and they'll let you borrow their's if you're suffering from baby withdrawal.

They have machines set up for people to just come in and use. You can work on an aids baby quilt or bring in something you're working on and do it in company.

They host amazing classes.

They bring in snacks and lattes at need.

They're right next store to a outfitters store where your husband can be parked.

They have brilliant other quilters working there who will share their opinion if asked.

They create a community where people can go.

This is one of many great stores I've seen. It's one of the very best. This is what the internet cannot bring you: community in your community.

What is the price for this community?

If you don't support little stores, they can't support you. That's also true of vendors at quilt shows. They take big risks to bring you what they have. When you see bolts and bolts of fabric, you see not their wealth but their debt. They're prices may be a bit higher than a chain store because they probably can't buy in the same volume.

But if you're running off to the chain store 3 times out of 10, the chances are your little store won't be there in a year. So for perhaps 50 cents less, you can lose your little store.

We recently learned the Walmart lesson. Walmart put in fabric in their stores and undersold everyone. Everyone bought at Walmart. No one else could compete with their buying power. Many small stores failed under that weight. Now Walmart tells us it's just too much trouble to sell fabric. After all, it takes people who help you.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a good thing. Perhaps we'll have room for more great little stores where people meet for classes, learn cool things, and care for each other.

Wrapping it up:

If you're in Kalispell, visit this shop because you'll think you went home. Visit your local store and see how they make you at home there too. Shop the internet as a last resort because it really is that. It can't ever make you feel at home. Because home is where the heart is and the internet is not a place of the heart.

Glacier Quilts
125 Hutton Ranch Road
PO Box 7274
Kalispell, MT 59901
Phone: 406-257-6966 Fax: 406-257-6969 email: info@glacierquilts.com
www.glacierquilts.com

Enough Ironing Board: How Board Can You Be?

2010-04-24T09:01:00.000-05:00

Every so often I go on a quest. I look at a situation and decide there has to be a better way. There usually is. It's just often outside the quilt world proper.

My father used to say if a job took too long, was too nasty, or didn't work right, you had the wrong tool. He also said you could use a hammer for a saw, but it was hard on the hammer and hard on what you were sawing. He didn't often say much, but he was surely right about this.

I have a small table I've used as an ironing board for years. I covered it with cotton quilt bat and some muslin dipped in boric acid solution as a way of making it fire retardant. It's so much easier to work than an ironing board. It also never falls over.

Did I say it was a small table? I don't often work large but when I do, I do. I'm working on a piece that's around 68"x50". Since all of that has to be backed with a stabilizer, I've been wrestling with it on that small board.

I also have a lovely old Create-A-Space table I bought over 20 years ago. It's about 48" by 74", and it came with a cutting mat.

I morned the day they stopped carrying these. Mine is a bit rickety but a worthy studio companion. There are smaller versions of this available, but this was worthy.

The smaller versions have an ironing board cover you can order. I did, not thinking the smaller issue would count. I've always been in the headset that you can always stretch things. Not that much.

It had an interesting grid and a foam sheet to put under it. And it fit just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine. It was useless.

As I was making my plans to buy some really wide muslin and get some boric acid, I walked past the linens isle in the discount store. The twin mattress pad fit perfectly.It was cotton with poly bat. It cost around $8, rolls up in the cupboard when I need to cut on the board and doesn't have a odd foam sheet for me to lose in the studio somewhere.

Follow this link to E how, where they talk about how to make fabric flame retardant with Borax, boric acid, and a spray bottle. Easy and low tech.

Wrapping it up:
If you've got a table the size of a twin bed, and you have a mattress pad, you can have a ironing board pretty much the size of God. And if you can think outside the box, you can do just about anything.

Say Cheese: the Wonders of Cheesecloth

2010-04-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

I'm always on the hunt for cool new sheers. Why?

So many things really are see through. Flowers, water, air, smoke, fire and ice are all if not see through, translucent. So it makes sense to use see through and translucent fabrics to represent them.

In the quest for the new, some while back, I discovered something old. I wish I remembered the name of the lady who showed me. I was in Athens, Georgia, teaching. A lovely woman from Germany pulled out a wad of cheesecloth. I was in love! What a wonderful fiber!

This is exactly the same cheesecloth that you use in the kitchen. It's 100% cotton so it dyes beautifully. And because it's so thinly woven, it's sheer. But because it's hand-dyed, it can have all the amazing mottled surface of hand dye.

This rose and its leaves are almost all cheesecloth. They've been put on with Steam-A-Seam 2, my favorite fusible. And then stitched with metallic and polyester 40 weight threads.

There's no trick to dyeing cheesecloth. It dyes perfectly with fiber reactive dyes, just like other cottons. The trick is in washing it out. It's a bad boy and it needs to be kept isolated to make sure it doesn't tangle or shred. I put mine in a tied nylon knee high, and then stuff it in a nylon laundry bag. That keeps it from getting mangled. The one time I had a whole bag of cheesecloth get loose in the washer, it became a solid mass of cheesecloth. For a while, I wore it like a fox wrap. Then I gave it to someone who made paper with the fibers. There's always a use somewhere.

And like most wonderful things, it can be used in other ways. I've always offered the idea of using lime green cheesecloth on a turkey for those special Thanksgivings where you have to deal with a relative you're less than thankful for. For some funny reason, they don't seem to come back after that.

It's cheesy. I've never really done it, but sometimes the fun is just in the imagining.

Working with the Weird: Can I Put that on My Quilt?

2010-03-05T13:16:00.000-06:00

Fall Fanfair was part of my Dancing Tree series. I had intended to needle punch wool yarn into cotton. Well, you never know until you try. I really never let anyone else tell me something is impossible, unless it's also unappealing.

Of course it didn't work.After I'd proved that with about 10 hours of ineffective needle punching, I layered it with Aqua-Film over the yarn and stitched it all down with mono-filament nylon. I was declared stubborn as a child, but our childhood faults are often our adult virtues. Now they say I'm determined.

I fused on Silk Leaves (I'm not sure but they were probably from Joann's, Walmart of Big Lots) with Bo Nash Bonding Powder. I love this piece. But it was a case of using some things you don't always find on a quilt.

After years of doing all kinds of things to materials most folk don't try to quilt with, it seems a worthy question. How do you know if you can put it on your quilt?

If we're talking fabric, it's a shorter list of potential woes and issues. For starters, it's probably flat. The big questions are:

Will it melt?
Is it too thick to stitch through? If you can't stitch it, how will you put it on?
Is it knitted?(Knitted things are harder to fuse and much harder to stitch)
Is it rayon?( if it is it's probably not light fast.)

Lace, brocade, organza, sheers, fused Angelina and Crystalina, and all kinds of fabrics work excellently with Steam-A-Seam 2 or other fusibles. Velvet is a special problem because the nap hides stitches and fuses poorly.

Natural objects have one basic problem. Will they break? Feathers, leaves, sticks, whatever, it will dry out and then they're likely to break. Particularly if you're sending it out and showing it.

Unnatural Objects. This sounds much worse than it is. But things like plastic toys, odd bits, old jewelry are all possibilities if they get through this list of issues.

Is it sticky?
Will it break?
Will it melt?
Will it bend permanently if I fold it?
Can I fuse it?
Can I stitch through it?
Will the objects rip the quilt surface?

The real issue with all of these things is, what you need this quilt to do. Where will you show this quilt?

Is it going straight on your wall, never to move? You can feather it,bead it, attach sticks and stones, put plastic cruddies on it and not even blink.

Is it aimed for national shows? You need to think about how you're going to send it. And how they will send it back to you ( Not always the same thing).

If you're selling it, you need to at least let the buyer know what's possible. If things will either melt, bend or break, let them know.

Think about where your quilt will be while you choose its odd embellishments.

Wrapping it up:
The world is full of wonderful weird fabrics and things that probably should end up on a quilt somewhere. Just make sure they'll go along with your plans for that quilt.
And remember that our stubborn streaks as a child make us fully determined and able (and probably dangerous) as adults. You're the only one who ever gets to tell you, "no".

You'll find Bo-Nash Powder at Amazon.com if you're local store doesn't carry it. But always try your local store first. They deserve you're support and make your quilt community. Help them be there for you.

Glue it to it: My Favorite Fusible

2010-03-03T11:13:00.000-06:00

One of the odd things about having quilted long enough is that you have a living history of the march of products. I've been at this since 1975 which means I've gotten to see them all come and go. The techniques change a little. What marches that change most is the available products. This was never so true as with fusibles.

I personally welcomed all the changes, and once the new one came out, promptly gave away the old product to someone who didn't care. The changes were that good.

My first adventure in non-sewn applique was in 1975 and it involved scotch tape. Which melted, but not in any way you would suspect or want. As you can imagine, I didn't try that again.

Somewhere in the early 1970s Stitch Witchery arrived. I started using it in the early 1980's. It was an unbacked glue web that spread everywhere and created a fabric surface just like cardboard. It was the only game in town for those of us hopeless in hand-applique. We used it, or tried to and pretended it looked fine.

Wonder Under was a big step up from that. It had a paper back. You ironed it onto your fabric and cut your shapes and then ironed them down. At least the glue stayed put. It created a fused surface that held it's edge as you stitched it by machine. It was functional. And it was paper backed, which meant the shapes matched your fabric shapes and you didnt' smear your iron.It also glued up fabric you might want to use in other ways and created a whole new stash category of pre-glued fabric.

A few years after that, Aileen's Fusible Web showed up. If you looked at it next to Wonder Under the difference was immediate. It had at least twice the amount of glue on the surface but was no more stiff. It was wonderful. And it was also paper backed. I used it until their factory burned down and then we were left with Wonder Under again.

Until the Steam-A-Seam came out. I often miss the beginnings of new products because I live in a studio and not at the store. Most of the studio supplies are ordered in from wholesalers so that's why I'm often on the end of the wave instead of the vanguard. I don't get to see things until someone shows it to me.

So I missed Steam-A-Seam 1. It was tacky. And I don't just mean the fabric. You could tack it on to one side of the fabric and it would stick. You could also remove it so you didn't have a pre-glued fabric collection anymore. And it was paper backed. Ironing it made it permanent.

That was good. The second version (Steam-A-Seam 2) tacked on both sides. Ca-Ching!!! You could tack it on to your fabric. Then peal the back and tack it on to your piece. And move it endlessly. Only when it ironed was it on forever. They made a light version of it which is functional for cottons and miserable for the brocades, laces, and sheers I like to fuse with. But I still buy Steam-A Seam 2 in 25 yard boxes and go through something like four of them a year.

There are new fusibles that have come out, but they aren't paper backed and I just won't go there. I know I'll make a mess.

Things to know:

No glue holds things down indefinitely. You will need to stitch it in some way. I use mono-filament nylon for soft edges and either poly or metallic thread and a zig zag stitch to make it stay.
I am doing wall hangings, so I prefer my work to be stiff. You may have other druthers. Honor those. Use a product that gives you the right results for you.
Glues get old. Don't buy more than you can use in 3 months. If it does get old, you can use it old style by ironing it on to your fabric. But what a mess.
Odd fabrics like brocade, lace cheesecloth, sheers, an angelina fiber can all be fused but you'll need a non-stick pressing cloth to catch the glue.
In case you don't catch the glue, iron cleaner is your friend. I clean my irons around every week.

Wrapping it up. The glues just get better and better.I'm an unabashed fan of Steam-A-Seam 2 for it's tack and it's fusing capabilities.

You'll find Steam-A-Seam 2 at any fabric store worth it's salt. It comes in bolts of 12" wide, and then in packages of sheets and in small strips in rolls for hemming. I use those for making rod pockets. See Quick and Easy Machine Binding Techniques for instructions.

No-Tears Ripping

2010-02-13T16:35:00.000-06:00

I really am tired of certain fantasies. My least favorite is that the world has some sort of perfect somewhere and the rest of us our just falling down somehow.

Please. Real boats rock. Dip. Sometimes roll over. The question is not will it happen. It's what will you do when it does.

To that effort, I offer my favorite frog-stitch tools. (Rip it, rip it, rip it.) Everyone has a moment from time to time where they stitch down something in a way they wished they hadn't. For zigzag stitching, I recommend the Wahl Half Pint Mustache Trimmer. This little wonder works on a double AA battery. You turn it on, turn it over and shave across the stitch. Turn it off. Turn the piece over and use the blade head to brush off your stitching. That simple. Be still, my beating heart. There are several versions of this available at Amazon.com .

The small blue seam ripper is a surgical seam ripper. The flat blade slips right under straight stitching and lifts it right off. You'll find these at Nancy's Notions .
Of course there's lots of thread fluff after you rip. Take some masking or packing tape, tape the surface and the fluff comes off. You're ready to sew again. If you have big holes from your stitching, steam iron your piece and they should shrink right down.

If you have a local store that carries these, please support your local store. It's a treasure that deserves your support. They make your community. Make sure you support them, so they can be there for you.

Wrapping it up:
Remove zigzag stitching with a mustache trimmer.
Use a surgical seam ripper for straight stitching.
And don't let any one tell you it never happens to them.

Bling bling bling! Angelina and Crystalina, The Sun the Moon and the Stars!

2010-02-11T07:51:00.000-06:00

Every so often something comes out that completely changes your world. Don't think that's comfortable. It's marvelous, but like ice water down your back on a skillet-hot day, it's a shock. So sometimes it takes a bit of time to even try it.

Angelina fiber was like that for me. Pat Winter brought me a little envelope of it that must have sat in my studio for around 9 months before I got to it. If you don't know Pat's work, you need to. She's at Winter Gatherings, and her crazy quilting is like no one elses'.

Angelina Fiber is a test tube baby. Crystalina is a coarser version.I believe it's lurex, but it does resemble Easter grass. It looks like cotton candy in far too bright colors. That's all before you iron it. Afterwards it's the most reflective shiny bit of sunshine,flower petal or moonshine you could imagine.

I've used a lot of different sheers, organzas, laces and lame's for light. Angelina came along and those lights went dim.

How do you use Angelina?

First you arrange it on a non-stick pressing cloth. It comes in colors that can be mixed. You can add little thread bits if you put strands of Angelina over top of them.

Iron it on medium heat with a non-stick pressing cloth over the fiber. The pressing cloth will help protect the fibers from burning. The brown ones actually are specially for Angelina, and work even better.

Here's what it looks like ironed. After it's ironed, take Steam-A-Seam 2 and pat it on the back. You can cut moon, star, flower, or sun shapes after that to your delight.

Peel off the backing paper and you have moon crescents. Place them on your quilt and iron them again with the pressing cloth.

You'll find Angelina and Crystalina at Textura Trading

Ellen's book, Dragonfly Sky gives full step by step instructions on making Angelina moons, or see her video on YouTube

Who bent my scissors? Pelican Applique are bent for a purpose

2010-02-01T15:43:00.000-06:00

Probably the oddest tool I bring out of my bag at a class are my pelican scissors. These are not little scissors with pelicans on the handle( although I've seen something awfully close to that and it was cute.) These are scissors that are bent oddly and have a bill.

These are my warhorse scissors. They were originally made for rug workers. The bill in was made flat so you could cut the loops of the rug evenly. The bend makes the blade slip right along the edge where you're cutting.

What I love these scissors for is appliqué. You can cut directly on the line, as close as you need. I use them for almost everything. They're perfect for cutting shapes, cut-away and mole` appliqué and for those sad moments when you need to cut mats out of your cat's fur. Momo thinks it's a dreadful idea, but then again, he doesn't want to be brushed either.

Joking aside, and the cat trim is not a joke, they're perfect for cutting an edge you need to stitch around. The closer you can cut the edge, the tighter and neater your stitched edging around it will be.

Do I have a separate pair for paper? That would assume I was organized enough to find two pairs of scissors at the same time. I'm afraid that doesn't happen.I just buy a bunch of them and use them until something awful happens to them.

Sadly, they do not come in a left-handed version. It is unfair, and I apologize.

Gingher makes the best version of these and they're worthy. You can sharpen them on a stone, if they get dull. Don't drop them, though. They can spring out of alignment, and that's the end of that.

Amazon has them available. They're listed as

Gingher G-6R 6-Inch Knife-Edge Appliqué Scissors

But it's always best to buy from your local sewing store if you can. You're local store is a treasure that deserves your support and patronage.

Wrapping it up:Pelican appliqué scissors are perfect for just that, cutting the best appliqué edge.

Thread Savy-Why dye! The Case for Hand-dyed Thread

2010-01-29T13:55:00.000-06:00

We've talked about the commercial thick metallic threads. They're yummy.As your asking yourself, "What more could you need?", think of this. They don't come in very good variegations.

Variegated thread is sort of a mixed blessing in almost all the commercial threads. There are two basic types. There are threads variagated through rainbow colors. These make great stippling threads. The color changes carry your eye across the surface and they're very interesting for that. But they're miserable to shade with. Who, over the age of three, wants a random rainbow colored anything? It's a serious limit.

They also come with small variegations, that range around one color. Again, it's a limited effect. Finally you'll find pearl cottons that range in value from white to the darkest tone of the color. This works for flowers, but for anything else, it looks like it fades in and out. These threads were never made to shade solid images.

This is why I dye thread. I've learned that the best way to color an image is to have a range of colors, light to dark and then to add a shader for weight and a shocker for interest. With thinner threads, you pick your colors one by one. But thicker threads fill up quicker and don't have enough space to let you do that. So when I dye my own threads, I dye in that range and a shocker or shader( sometimes one color works for both purposes) so that thread will automatically shade as I stitch.
The threads I dye are #5 Pearl cottons. They're made from mercerized cotton and dye beautifully! And they're already washed out and needle ready( I wash out all my red threads an extra time, just to insure their color fastness). Slightly larger than the #8 metallics, they are a perfect thread for bobbin weight work.

It sounds complicated. But the dyeing makes it a simple coloring exercise. And I never stay within the lines, so I don't see why you should either.

You put these threads in an adjusted or bypassed bobbin and stitch from the back. The results are spectacular. I often add either black or iridescent white Candlelight for details and to outline.

Ellen Anne Eddy's Hand-Dyed Thread Club can checked out at The Cotton Club. These cute little kits can start you out with threads that will do the hard color choices for you.
You can see these kits at the Cotton Club or on my blog at
Thread Magic Events

Thread Savy- Thick Metallic Threads

2010-01-22T23:14:00.000-06:00

We've talked about all the needle usage threads. Thicker threads (sizes #5-8) can be run through the bobbin of your machine and are instant gratification.
The metallic thick threads are especially yummy. Because they're thick, they build up an image very quickly. And being metallic, shiny and gorgeous doesn't hurt either.

What's the catch? Well, it helps if you're dyslexic. Because these threads are sewed upside down.

There are three basic brands. Madeira Glamor, YLI Candlelight and Superior Razzle Dazzle are all identical in form and function, but the differing companies offer different colors. They work in an either adjusted or bypassed bobbing case (ask your mechanic and he'll help set that up. And you sew upside down. Use a matching polyester #40 thread through the needle. The thicker thread will look like it's been couched on. It's a very pretty look.

Is that hard? Of course not. Can you look through a slide backward? I use my drawing on stabilizer in the back and fill it in with simple straight stitch repetitive shapes. Or I've drawn on the quilt sandwich from the back and stitched along that.

The dandelion puff here is YLI Rainbow Candlelight.

Wrapping it up
Thick metallic threads work beautifully in a bypassed or adjusted bobbin case. Stitching with a straight stitch you can make wonderful filled in images or lacy textures, at your choice.

Thread Savy-Metallic Threads

2010-01-17T10:00:00.000-06:00

Metallic threads are different from all other kinds. Largely because they are hybrids. Rayons, polys and cottons are all of one piece. It makes them stronger. It makes them more integral. It's rare to even have a rayon (the most fragile of the three) that won't work easily and well through the needle.

Not so with metallics.Most people report they have trouble sewing with metallic thread. It's also always harder free motion. Why?

It's All in How It's Made
Metallic threads are usually a combination of lurex, viscose(rayon), polyester, and whatever else was in the test tube. They're usually wound together in the process. Of course, whatever is wound can be unwound. So it makes sense that under the stress of sewing, these threads are much more likely to break.
There are three basic forms of metallic thread

Flecked Thread
These threads are twisted with the components all together. They have an appearance of flecked sparkles.These tend to be the strongest of the metallic threads. My favorite flecked threads are the Madeira Supertwists.These threads work either in needle or bobbin, zigzag or straight.

Wound thread
This thread has a poly or rayon core with lurex or metal wrapped around it.These threads vary a lot, depending on what the core is, and whether the wrapping is glued on or not. My favorite wound thread are Superior Metallic, and Yenmet, which have a poly core and are glued supposedly with rice paste. These threads work either in needle or bobbin, zigzag or straight.

Flat Threads
These threads look like Christmas tinsel. They're flat and nothing but lurex. They're notoriously breakable.
But they are lovely. I use them in the bobbin only.

The Three Best Tricks
Here are the three best tricks for making metallic thread work better.
The Bobbin vs the Needle
Every thread that goes through your needle goes through it 50 times. That's a lot of wear and tear. If it goes through your bobbin it gets picked up just once. So if your thread is breaking, sew with it in the bobbin with a poly or rayon thread that matches it in color on top. Much less breakage.
The Right Needle
The best needle for all free motion embroidery is usually a #90 topstitching needle. The bigger eye and shart point make a huge difference. See my entry, The Needle Knows.
Sewers Aid
This silicon thread treatment makes threads infinitely stronger. You can use it on threads that need some help. Just drool it along the spool.
And as always
Garbage in, Garbage out
Nothing fixes either cheap or old thread. If it won't sew you can always glob with it. I'll show you that trick another time.
Wrapping it up
Metallic threads are a beautiful addition to your thread pallet. With special care and tricks they add all the glitz a girl can use.

Thread Savy- Mono-filament Threads

2010-01-16T10:07:00.000-06:00

Mono-filament threads are a whole other class. They are an embroidery thread of a sort.They are a war horse thread with specific purposes. But they do not really work for any classic dense embroidery.

Why?

Because they are so strong. In general, threads that are made of one particular thing are stronger than threads made of several substances twisted together. Metallic threads are always weaker than single fiber threads, because they're really not all of one piece. It's lurex, viscose, poly, and often a partridge and a pear tree. Metallics are not only a test tube baby. They are hybrids.Mono threads are one single substance that is stronger than the cotton threads of your fabric. Which means it can, if misused, cut through your surface fabric. So some caution and information is a real help here.

Early mono-filament nylon:
In the seventies, when we had the beginning of of knitted fabrics and sewing for knits, mono-filament came to the fore for lingerie and stretch knits. It was almost like a cord. It also melted easily with an iron.You could iron your garment and watch the seams separate. It was a heavier weight thread at around #20, which made it way too strong. It was wonderful for hanging sun catchers and that was it's very best use.Lots of the bad stories about mono-filament thread are in response to those original ones.This was the mono filament nylon they said could hurt your machine. It could. It came in giant cones. If you still have any of this left, use it for hanging pictures or make some mobiles. Please don't sew with it.

Mono-filament now:
We've come a long way.Because of the intense strength of these threads, it's recognized that they should be usually 40-70 weight (remember that larger numbers are thinner threads). They're perfectly safe for machines, both in the needle and bobbin.They also come in polyester and in nylon. The polyester ones are also available in colors.

If they aren't in colors, they'll come in clear and smoke. Clear is for white and pastel work. Smoke is for anything darker. Withing those formats, it really is invisible.

They shine as stippling threads. They work very well in both contemporary work and in traditional machine quilting looks. They are much safer for your surface fiber if they're done with a straight stitch.

You may be tempted to use the colored ones for zigzag embroidery. Don't. They're #70 which means they won't fill in well. And they will cut through your top fabric.

I do use mono-filament as an appliqué thread and for couching, with a zigzag stitch. But in both cases I never stitch densely. I stitch just enough to attach everything. Dense zigzag stitching with mono-filament will cut through your surface fabric, even now. But I haven't had one of the newer mono-filaments melt ever. They've licked that problem.

I also use them as a major part of bias application. If you check out my book, Quick and Easy Machine Binding Techniques, you'll see it used to sew down the top edge of bias tape. I'm not sewing those puppies by hand.

Wrapping it up
Mono-filament threads are brilliant for sewing things down invisibly, for stippling, and for straight stitching. They can be used zigzag, but with caution. And as always, garbage in, garbage out. You can't afford cheap threads.

Quick and Easy Machine Binding Techniques is available on my site at
http://www.ellenanneeddy.com/store-detail.php?cat=1&ID=3.

Thread Savy-Basic Embroidery Thread

2010-01-15T08:30:00.000-06:00

Thread information is one of the deep dark mysteries of the quilt world. It's so common we think we should know.

Like most things, it's more complicated than it looks. And like most things we should know, it's really unhelpful to should on ourselves.
There are many brands and I have my favorites. I'll talk about that another time.There are also whole lines of thicker threads, I'll cover later. But I'd really like to lay the basis of info you need to have about basic thread for machine and free motion embroidery.

Sewing and Embroidery Threads
Sewing threads are three ply threads made for holding pieces of fabric together. They are almost always an unacceptable embroidery thread because they are not made to lie on top of each other.If you sew over them consistently, you can make a surface similar to chain mail.
Embroidery threads are usually a two ply thread. They're finer and they are made to overlap and blend into each other.
Thread Sizes
Threads usually have two numbers on them. One will be a color number. The better quality threads are consistent color-wise and don't have dye lot issues.So you can buy the same color over and over with confidence.
But the other number is the mystery. We hear about 40 weight thread. What is that?

Thread sizes are an old measure system. It's really the thread count per inch. If you laid your threads side by side, how many threads would make an inch?
So a 40 weight thread would be forty threads, side by side. A thirty weight 30 threads. 200 count percale is two hundred threads to the inch.( The same system applies to linens as well). For embroidery purposes, any thread between 12-40 weight can usually work through a top stitching 90 needle( see my early blog on Needle Knows).
These threads can be used either in the bobbin or the needle, zigzag or straight stitch, computerized or free motion. They are the backbone of embroidery.
What's My Thread Made Of
Threads are made of a number of different fibers.Some are more successful than others. It's worth knowing how these fibers react when you choose your threads.

Cotton is probably the most basic embroidery thread. It's strong, comes in many colors and is versatile. It has one flaw that to my mind is unforgivable. It's not shiny. Magpie that I am, I will confess, I never use it.
Rayon is the most common embroidery thread. It has a lovely sheen and a fine color range. But it's never strong. Some brands are better than others. I use rayon that's in my sewing box. But I've stopped buying it for myself or for students, unless I simply can't get the color any other way. It's never as strong as polyester. In fairness, I do think it blends better than polyester. But the breakage is an annoyance I'm unwilling to offer to students or put up with myself.
Polyester threads are the gold standard of the 40 weight crowd. They're strong, and the color range is astonishing. They are my go-to, war horse 40 weight thread.

Acrylic threads truly lead me to ask the question, "Why?" These threads are so unstable I don't even want to see them in someone's stash. My personal experience with them has been too unpleasant for words. I can't recommend them. They seem to be set up for computerized embroidery, and perhaps they work better for that.

Garbage in, Garbage out
There are threads I consider a bargain. But when someone tells me about this wonderful thread they found that's so cheap, I do need to restrain my eye roll.Usually cheap thread is just that. It's not merely inexpensive. It's cheap. Save money on something else. You're time is valuable, and cheap thread usually wastes mountains of time in breakage and bad behavior. Old thread is also a case in point. It will get too old to use, and at that point is no bargain.

Wrapping it up
All that said, the real test of any thread is how it works in your machine.Keep track. You may find that your machine has very different opinions, and in the end, those are the only ones that count for you.

Hoop-Dee-Doo

2010-01-13T08:43:00.000-06:00

Most people who do even minimal free motion embroidery are familiar with the distortion issue. It's only natural. You run that much thread through that much fabric and your fabric ruffles like a child's party dress. There are a bunch of tricks that help, but nothing actually cures it. It's the same situation as having a cold. We can make it better but it doesn't go away. Stitch choices, and stabilizers help, and we'll talk about those another day. But one of the best helps is a hoop.

A hoop keeps your fabric from bunching up, going down the needle hole and all kinds of other bad behavior. In holding the fabric tightly, it makes your machine stitch better. And a hoop is something you can hold on to and manipulate easier than just your fabric. Good hoops last for ever and are worthy studio tools.

I have several hoops in my studio for different purposes. And several hoops I wouldn't use for anything but ring toss. The biggest issue with hooping comes down to two factors: How thick is your project? and How densely did you intend to stitch.

The Hoop That Came With Your Machine
A lot of times people will come in with the hoop that came with their embroidery machine. It's not a bad hoop. It usually has good grip and the sizes are usually sensible. They don't accommodate anything thick though. They're made for one layer of fabric and a stabilizer, maybe.

The Hardwood Hoop

I use a German hard wood hoop that has a screw. I'm not being nationalistic here. That's simply what they're called. I assume they do come from Germany, but I don't really know.They're made of a dense thin hardwood. These hoops are narrow and fit under the machine foot. They also have a screw with a slot on one side that lets you tighten the surface, which insures a better stitch.I keep an 8", and a 10" square one. Any hoop over 10" will not give consistent enough support and you'll get skipped stitches.

This is the hoop of choice for free motion embroidery on a piece of lightly stabilized cotton. I use them when I'm embroidering a sold image on a single layer of fabric. You can put a hoop on a project with more than one layer, but it get's harder as they layers add up.

Did you fuse on several sheers? Have a layer of cut away or embroider on the top as well? At a certain point your wooden hoop is hard to use.That's the time to bring out

The Halo

This is Sharon Schamber's creation. It's a metal weighted hoop dipped in a rubber substance that grips. Originally I believe she made them for long arm stitching and they're great for that. Instead of clamping them on, the weight holds them in place and you can slide it along as you stitch.

When I saw these, I bought three of them on sight. Two for the studio and one to travel. They are an astonishing help for free motion. I often have a piece where I've stabilized it with a layer of fused on felt or several layers of fused sheers onto window shade interfacing.I bring them into class because I consider them an essential studio tool. You can also stack two of them together for more stability.

They do not work for any embroidery that isn't solidly backed by stabilizer, so you'll want a wooden hoop for that.

Ring Toss Hoops:
These are the hoops that are cruel hoaxes. They have no use in machine embroidery. I take them away from students in class because I'm afraid they'll hurt themselves on them.

Spring Hoops

I never use a spring hoop, because they tend to do just that.Sprong! Right while you're sewing! I really take a down on anything that springs up out of my project while I'm stitching.I consider them dangerous and I take them away from students in class and let them borrow one of mine if they need to.

Cheap wooden hoops

You find these at craft stores. They're thick. The wood splinters and cracks. I believe they're made for hand-embroiderers but I wouldn't use it for that. They're not only inexpensive, but they're cheap too in their making. Who needs splinters?
Wrapping it up

Good hoops make your work easier, flatter, and much more fun. You can find Sharon's halo at her web site at http://www.sharonschamber.com/shopping%20cart/new%20products/newproducts.htm

You can find good hardwood hoops at most sewing machine stores. I bring both kinds to students in class when I'm teaching. A good hoop helps make for a good sewing day.

The Needle Knows

2010-01-12T12:49:00.000-06:00

The hardest working part of your sewing machine is your needle. Think about it. It's the contact point, the point to the exercise, the.heart of the issue. So it's worth knowing what needle you're using and why. Because I want to do machine free motion work with my machine, I want a needle that's going to help me do that best.
Are needles all the same?
Yes and no.
Yes, they have a shaft and a hole for the thread to go in.
No, there are huge differences in what that shaft and hole look like, that make them act very very differently.
We are, to be clear, talking strictly about home sewing machine needles. These always have a flat side in back, and that's one way to identify them.
Within that group there are several possibilities.
There are a bunch of specialty needles for certain things. I'm not going to touch on those, because they're labeled for those purposes.
Needle Brands
You can get needles that have every kind of sewing machine branded on the front. Basically Schmetz makes all of those needles. They are identical. Schmetz needles are an industry standard and well worth looking for. The only difference is Singer needles. Singer has it's own style and I recommend you use Singer needles only with Singer Machines. You can use a Schmetz needle on a Singer. But don't use a Singer needle on any other kind of machine. It may scar the hook.
Organ needles come in huge boxes and are suggested for free motion. They work quite well and are inexpensive. But they only come in point sizes and ball point/sharp variations. I think they're better used for computerized embroidery.
Point Styles
Sharp Point Needle
These needles have a sharp point. That means they have a clean punching power and create a smooth stitch line.They're set up for woven fabric. I always use a sharp needle for all free motion embroidery.
Ball Point Needles
These needles have a ball point at the edge. They wiggle through the fabric. They're set up to sew knitted goods without snagging. Because of how they're built, they don't really create a smooth stitch line. Although I don't use them with my Bernina's and Pfaffs, they are recommended for Janome/ New Home Machines for freemotion.
The Universal Needle
If you go into a shop and ask for needles and don't tell them what you want, this is what they'll give you. It' s a general multi purpose needle that does nothing really well.This is a combination of sharp and ball point needles. It's a horse designed by a committee. It kind-of sort-of works all the time, sort-of. It has a sharp needle shape with a gently balled end. Again, it doesn't leave a clean stitch line. I would avoid it for free motion. Better to use the right tool, than the almost right tool.
Needle Sizes
Needles are labeled with European and American Sizes. European sizes are 60.70.80.90,100,110. The American sizes are 10.12.14.16.18. Larger numbers mean larger needles.
For most embroidery I like a #90/14. If it's leaving too large a hole try a size smaller. If it's breaking constantly, try a size larger.
Topstitching vs. Regular Eye
A topstitching needle has a special big eye. This is so helpful. You can see it to thread it. But it reduces thread breakage massively as well.
Wrapping it up
My favorite needle is a 90 Topstitching needle. I find it reduces breakage and gives me a fabulous straight line to draw with. Try it yourself. I find it makes such a difference.