Quilting Daily

Win a Year of Art Instruction from Craft Daily

Cate Prato — Fri, 24 May 2013 06:36:00 GMT

As I hope you already know, we recently launched Craft Daily, a fun and educational website where you'll find more than 100 hours of full-length craft video workshops and tutorials from world-class instructors on beading, crochet, jewelry, knitting, mixed media, quilting, sewing, spinning, and weaving.

Plus, we're adding new videos every week. With a monthly or yearly subscription, you can watch as many videos as you like, as often as you like.

We've already received many positive reviews for this site and want to reward our audience with a sweepstakes.

Here's how it works:

Between now and June 6, 2013, enter to win via the Quilting Daily community or on Facebook.

On June 7, 2013, we will select three winners to receive a year-long subscription to Craft Daily, worth $200.

If the winner should already have an annual subscription to Craft Daily, they will get a second year free.

That's all there is to it! So enter now, and good luck!

Surface Design Technique: Sun Printing with Stencils

Vivika_Blog — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:29:00 GMT

Now that the sun is shining in New England and summer is nearly officially here, I'm feeling the tug of nature and the need to try a new outdoor fiber art project. Although I've experimented with sun printing and dyeing techniques, there are many variations that I haven't tried. I am especially inspired by the beautiful quilts made by Gail Ellspermann from her sun-printed fabrics using stencils.

Quilt by Gail Ellspermann.

Gail shared two of her techniques for fabric painting with sun printing in Quilting Arts in Stitches vol. 10. Today, I'm offering you the first technique here.

Sun Printing with Stencils by Gail Ellspermann

In this method, the fabric is painted with Pebeo Setacolor fabric paint, covered with a stencil, and sun printed. Setacolor Transparent has a property that allows it to "develop" in the sun. The process is simple and very reliable--and slightly addictive!

Note: It is important to remember that when sun printing with Setacolor, the parts of the fabric that are exposed to the sun become brighter, while the areas covered by the stencil become lighter. This result may seem counter-intuitive, as fabrics typically tend to fade in the sun rather than become brighter.

Materials:

• Plastic to cover work surface
• Pebeo Setacolor Transparent fabric paint (found at art supply stores on online)
• Water
• Small plastic cup
• Plastic spoons
• PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabric
• Foam paintbrush
• Large sheet of foam board
• Stencils
• Masking tape
• Iron and ironing board
• Pebeo Setacolor Lightening Medium (optional)

Sun printing the fabric:

1. Cover your work surface with plastic.

2. Pour 1 teaspoon of the Setacolor into a plastic cup. Add ½ teaspoon of water to thin the paint, using a plastic spoon to mix them together and to remove any lumps. If you want the color of the paint to be lighter, add Setacolor Lightening Medium.

3. Place the PFD fabric on your covered work surface. Use a foam paintbrush to apply the diluted paint. The fabric should be saturated but not dripping.

4. Move the painted fabric to the foam board. Place the stencil on the fabric, gently patting it so that the stencil adheres slightly to the wet fabric. Tape the stencil at the corners to hold it in place.

You can layer stencils, and sun-printing fabrics, for complex effects. Art by Gail Ellspermann.

5. Repeat the previous steps with additional fabric pieces until the foam board is covered with fabric and stencils. Move the board to a sunny spot, and leave it for one hour to fully expose the color. The hotter and brighter the day, the more intense the colors will be when they dry, and the more contrast there will be between the covered and uncovered areas of the fabric.

6. After the fabric is completely dry, remove the stencil and iron the fabric to heat-set the color.

It's fun to experiment with layering the stencils and using different paint colors to get different effects. If you've never made sun printings, now's the time to try a new surface design technique.

You will find lots of advice, tips, techniques, and gorgeous art in our in Stitches emags. Download one--or more--now.

P.S. What's your favorite outdoor surface design technique? Leave a comment below.

Finish Fused Art Quilts the Easy Way

Vivika_Blog — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:41:00 GMT

How many quilts have you slaved over, only to leave them in a guilty pile because you haven't gotten around to finishing them? I don't even want to think about mine.

A quilt that is going to be used and washed needs a proper binding to keep it together. But with quilt art that hangs on a wall (such as mini-quilts) or is meant for other artistic purposes (such as artist trading cards, inchies, etc.), your options are wide open.

Fused quilt art, like that of Frieda Anderson and Laura Wasilowski, lends itself to easy finishing especially well.

On their Quilting Arts Workshop^TM video Improvisational Fused Quilt Art: Create Beautiful Art Quilts the Easy Way, these experienced, award-winning quilt artists show several options for finishing their quilts.

Here is a very simple technique that Frieda demonstrates.

1. Create a frame by fusing fabric to both sides of a piece of Timtex® interfacing. Timtex is a good choice because it is firm without being bulky and you can stitch and cut through it easily, says Frieda.

2. Fuse a label to the center back of the sandwich and stitch it in place. Add a loop of ribbon for hanging.

3. Stitch your fused quilt top to the Timtex sandwich. Note: Before fusing, you can finish the edges of the mini quilt by trimming the edges with a rotary cutter and decorative blade, satin-stitching the edges, or using the pillowcase technique.

4. Trim the edges of the frame with a decorative blade. Or, add more free-motion stitching to the frame to complement the stitching on the art quilt. Then trim the edges. Frieda always steam sets the finished quilt. This activates the fusible and glues any cut threads in place so they won't ravel.

That's it! Frieda and Laura show you several other ways to finish your fused quilt art on their video. You get double the advice and techniques because they comment on each other's work, adding tips and hints.

If you have any questions about fused art quilting, from fusing basics to finishing, Laura and Frieda are sure to answer them in Fused Quilt Art: Create Beautiful Art Quilts the Easy Way.

Free Tutorials for DIY Screen Printing, Monoprinting and More

Vivika_Blog — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:38:00 GMT

Printing on fabric is one of the easiest ways to create your own unique textiles. In our free eBook, Techniques For Printing on Fabric: Free Tutorials for DIY Screen Printing, Monoprinting and More, you'll learn how to make a silk screen, how to screen print, gelatin and collograph monoprinting techniques, and more.

Learning how to screen print may seem intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. In Super Simple Silk Screening: Surface Design with Everyday Supplies, Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum shows you everything from how to make a silk screen, to how to make a design, to printing on fabric. You'll be silk screening at home in no time.

Thermofax screen printing techniques are also easy, as Lynn Krawczyk demonstrates in Thermofax Printing: Easy Methods for Unconventional Surface Design. She shows how to screen print with paint and how to use screen printing screens with discharge paste, thickened dyes, and Xpandaprint.

In Flight of Fancy: A Gelatin Monoprint Process, Frances Holliday Alford takes you through the gelatin printmaking process, from how to make gelatin plates from scratch through constructing an art quilt from the monoprints.

Collagraph monoprint and stitch by
Heidi Miracle McMahill.

Cynthia St. Charles turns monoprinting techniques into Child's Play with finger painting on fabric. She uses a glass plate technique and a gelatin printing technique to get her results, which are free and fanciful.

Collagraph printing (also known as collograph printing), is an easy, low-tech monoprint process. In Collagraphs: Monoprinting with Texture Plates, Heidi Miracle-McMahill offers tips on how to create a plate, printing, paint choice, color selection, and more.

Lynn Krawczyk demonstrates
Thermofax Screen Printing.

DIY screen printing and monoprinting is fast, fun, and creative. With Techniques For Printing on Fabric: Free Tutorials for DIY Screen Printing, Monoprinting and More, you'll have no excuse not to print on fabric anymore.

P.S. Do you have friends who like to print on fabric? Forward this link to them so they can download their own copy of Techniques For Printing on Fabric: Free Tutorials for DIY Screen Printing, Monoprinting and More.

Learn to Use Sheer Materials in Fabric Collage - New Webinar

Vivika_Blog — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:58:00 GMT

Do you know the difference between tulle and mesh? Organza and chiffon? Sheer fabrics can be a sheer delight in your fiber art. But there are special tricks and tips to selcting and stitching sheer materials in fabric collage.

Fiber artist Deborah Boschert will introduce various sheer fabrics and talk about the different features of each in her Quilting Arts webinar, Using Sheer Materials in Fabric Collage.

She'll discuss how these different features might affect design decisions, offer tips for designing with sheers and enhancing transparency with layering and stitching, and walk you through the collage process.

Join us May 22, 2013, from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ET.

In this webinar, Deborah will also talk about:

How to distinguish between sheers
How to create a reference cloth for easy identification
How to layer sheers for maximum impact
How to print images on sheers
And much more!

Everyone who registers for Using Sheer Materials in Fabric Collage will receive a link to the webinar recording to access after the event, plus a discount on Deborah's Interweave products. In fact, you don't have to attend the webinar: just register before and then wait for your email with the discount code and recording that you can watch at your leisure.

An example of using sheer materials in fabric collage,
by Deborah Boschert.

More about Deborah: Deborah Boschert is a fiber artist, list maker, and brownie baker. Her art quilts and fabric collages have been exhibited all over the world and in many books and magazines. She is a co-author of Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. She hosts the Quilting Arts Workshop^TM video Contemporary Fabric Collage: Design, Stitch, and Finish. Deborah has lived in ten different states and currently lives in Maryland with her husband and two kids. Read more about her life and art on her blog.

Don't miss this chance to learn about the art of using sheer materials in fabric collage. Register now.

Get Expert Quilting Instruction On Demand

Vivika_Blog — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:44:00 GMT

I've always found quilters to be a generous bunch, always ready to share a technique or some fabric from their stash.

Quilting instruction, surface design techniques, or even spinning
or mixed media: the choice is yours on Craft Daily.

But, I'd hesitate to call any but my best quilting buddies in the middle of the night if I had a sudden, sleepless urge to learn soy wax batik or needed instructions for a last-minute gift project.

Of course I have my Quilting Arts back issues and my Workshop^TM DVDs, but even my quilting library doesn't cover the complete gamut of techniques--not to mention craft techniques and projects outside the realm of fiber art and surface design.

But now I--and you--can have access to 100+ (and counting) full length craft video workshops from your Mac, PC, iOS & most Android devices like Kindle and Kindle Fire any time you like, as often as you like, with our new website, CraftDaily.com.

Craft Daily is simply the best source for art and craft video workshops and tutorials that you'll find.

With a subscription to the online Quilting library, you can access everything from full episodes of "Quilting Arts TV" to hour-long videos on fabric painting, machine stitching, digital design, and more. Plus, by subscribing to the full Craft Daily library, you can learn about beading, crochet, mixed media, spinning, knitting, and more, wherever and whenever you want.

A subscription to Craft Daily is like having open admission to your favorite artists' studios or having the best instructors in the world on call. Whatever art instruction you're craving, you can have it with Craft Daily.

P.S. What art or craft other than quilting would you most like to learn about?

Embellish Your Art Quilts with Laminated Imagery

Vivika_Blog — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:08:00 GMT

Of all the embellishment techniques you've used in your quilting, have you ever tried laminated imagery? I know I haven't. But when Stella Belikiewicz submitted her tutorial for using lamination to embellish her art quilts, we were captivated by the results.

Stella Belikiewicz's quilt shows six ways to attach
laminated quilting embellishments.

Writes Stella: "I love to use unusual materials in my work, and after experimenting with a laminator at the print shop where I worked, I discovered I could add texture and dimension by stitching laminated images directly onto the surface of my art quilts.

"The laminated images are durable and shiny, and the colors pop in the most beautiful way. I have developed several techniques for working with these images that can be used alone or combined in limitless ways."

Stella attaches these quilting embellishments in different ways, sometimes sewing embellishments on the quilt and sometimes using jump rings or pouches.

Her quilt "How Nature Embraces Imperfect Specimens (#1)" is a sampler, of sorts, of the six methods she likes to work with. Clockwise from top left, they are:

Machine Stitching: If your sewing machine has a strong motor, it should be able to pierce the laminate. Use tape to hold the image in place and stitch slowly. I recommend an 80/12 universal needle and a slightly longer stitch length than the 2.5mm standard. Use a high quality cotton or polyester thread.

Tacking: Pierce the laminate with a needle to make a few strategic holes and hand stitch.

All-Around Hand Stitching: Make many regularly spaced holes around the image and hand stitch.

Sheer Fabric Pouch: Do not punch any holes in the laminated item. Cover the image with sheer fabric and stitch around the outside by hand or machine.

Swinging Freely: Punch a 1/16" hole at the top of your image, slip on a metal jump ring, and stitch the jump ring to your quilt.

Decorative Thread Stitching: Hand stitch using decorative fibers such as novelty yarns or thick decorative threads.

Stella says you can laminate almost anything that is flat, such as photographs, original drawings, text, glitter, collages, and hole-punch discards. She even makes her own laminated signature labels that she stitches to the backs of her quilts.

If you're looking for new embellishment techniques to try, laminated images might just be the thing that makes your art quilts pop. Read the entire article in an upcoming issue of Quilting Arts Magazine.

We have many more ideas for quilt and fabric embellishment coming up in the next few issues of Quilting Arts. Subscribe now so you don't miss out.

P.S. What is the most unusual item you've ever used as an embellishment? Leave a comment below.

The Joy of Fabric Art Pet Portraits

Vivika_Blog — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:35:00 GMT

A note from Vivika: While I'm on medical leave, my dog, Elvis, has been keeping me company. His presence--and frequent antics--lift my spirits. Pets are so important in our lives--and often in our fabric art--so today I thought I'd share this Q&A with Quilting Daily Community member Martha Tabis from 2010. Martha creates cheerful 12" x 14" portrayals of cats and dogs that are full of character and reveal a fondness for her four-legged companions. Here, she discusses the animals--and the techniques--behind her pet portraits.

Martha Tabis

QD: Please tell us about the subjects of your textile art.

MT: Wiley and Ivy, Boston terriers, were my family's first pets, so they have a special place in my heart.

QD: Each of the backgrounds has a very different, very distinct color palette. How did you decide upon these?

MT: The backgrounds reflect each dog's character. Wiley (on the orange background) was a four-legged wild man: energetic, rambunctious, playful. Ivy (on the hot pink background) could bounce like a spring and found mischief everywhere, but could also morph into a little lady.

QD: Please briefly describe the process/processes used to create these portraits.

Ivy (top) and Wiley (above), rendered in fabric art
by Martha Tabis.

MT: For all of these pieces, the backgrounds were created by overlapping raw-edge cottons, synthetics, satin, tulle and organza. I used cotton flannel for batting to minimize bulk. I used minimal free-motion stitching to set the background fabric in place before adding the figures.

I used a photograph as the pattern, printed on tear-away stabilizer and also plain paper. I laid the printed stabilizer over my pieced background and stitched outlines of the animal's shape and major features. I used the plain paper print to cut out pattern pieces from stabilized fabrics, then fused the pieces to the background. I chose true-to-life fabrics for Wiley and more whimsical prints for Ivy, such as a dot print for the white areas of her face and a floral print for her black areas. The fun part began as I thread-painted each pet's features and shaded areas.

I made the fabric sandwich, then quilted the background, and outlined the figure one more time with stitching to add dimension. To finish front-view portraits, I bound the edges in the traditional way and mounted them to fabric-covered frames. For back-view portraits, I zigzagged the quilt edges and added decorative yarn.

QD: Do you have plans for future portraits?

MT: Friends and mentors liked the portraits and encouraged me to sell them, so I started a business this year doing custom work. I'm drawn to making these portraits by the appeal of interpreting a beloved pet in fabric. It's a joyous process for me.

There are many ways to make your pet the focus of your fiber art. In the new Quilting Arts Workshop Fabric Postcard Pets: Three Easy Ways to Make Mini Pet Portraits, Pauline Salzman shows you fast, fun techniques using fabric scraps and images of your pet. Watch a preview and pre-order your copy now.

P.S. Do you make pet portraits? Tell me about them!

How to Bind a Quilt with a Whipstitch Binding

Cate Prato — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:40:00 GMT

When you make a quilt, at some point you will have to consider the quilt binding. You may opt for an elaborate binding that makes an impact on the overall design, a simple and subtle binding, or no binding at all.

When binding a small quilt, such as a postcard, it's usually best to keep it simple. Two of the easiest quilt binding techniques for small quilts are the satin stitch and the whipstitch bindings.

Postcard with a simple quilt binding by Melanie Testa.

Fiber artist Melanie Testa demonstrated the whipstich quilt binding on an episode of Quilting Arts TV. Here are her directions:

Preparing the edges of small works in preparation for a whipstitch binding helps contain loose threads and batting, and inserting gimp into the edging helps create a sturdy, substantial finish.

Gimp is a coarse, thick thread that sometimes has a piece of wire in its core. Almost anything can be used as gimp--string or yarn--as long as it has body and will hold the edge of the quilt firmly in place.

To create very square corners, you will want to sew off the edge of the work.

Turn 90 degrees, creating a small thread loop on each of the four corners. For best results, use this technique for both a straight stitch and a zigzag stitch.

To prepare the edge

Straight stitch a 1/8th" (3 mm) seam allowance on all four sides.

1. Satin stitch over the gimp, concealing both the gimp and the straight-stitched line at a 2.5-stitch width.

2. Trim the gimp.

3. Do an additional satin stitch at a 3.5 stitch width. Now you are ready to whipstitch the binding.

To whipstitch the binding:

1. Starting from the front of the work, thread the strand from front to back. The knot will be at the front of the work.

2. Hold the knot and tail aside and whipstitch to conceal.

3. An occasional length of buttonhole stitch is an appealing addition.

4. There is no need to knot off when you come to the end of the strand. Turn the work to the wrong side, bury at least a 2" (5 cm) strand in the previous stitches, and then trim.

5. Continue to whipstitch around all four sides until finished.

Melanie is particularly adept at combining innovative surface design techniques with stitching and finishing. In her book Inspired to Quilt: Creative Experiments in Art Quilt Imagery, she shows you, step by step, how to transform a concept into a finished art quilt using new and innovative ideas. Whether you make large quilts or small, you'll definitely be inspired.

P.S. How do you bind small pieces of fiber art? Or do you? Comment below.

Make a Quilt Supplies Wish List and You Could Win

Cate Prato — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:23:00 GMT

Treat your mom (yourself, or a friend) this Mother's Day!

What quilting supplies do you wish for?

Fill out her crafting WISH LIST with up to $50 worth of product from the Quilting Daily Shop. We'll pick one lucky winner to receive everything on their list! Winner selected May 7.

Choose from items like QATV DVDs, Workshop^TM videos, quilt and surface design books, and more.

Get the rules and all the other details now. And hurry: May 7 and Mother's Day are approaching fast!

Good luck!

Host Your Own Outdoor Dyeing Party

Kristine Lundblad — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:46:00 GMT

Last year about this time, I was inspired by a group dyeing adventure at the Interweave offices to host my own dyeing party at home.

An invitation to dye.

Ranging in age from 13 to 70-something, our band of seven women--most of whom had never tried textile dyeing before--dyed silk and rayon scarves and other textiles using several techniques including shibori, low-water immersion, and ice parfait dyeing.

The whole experience was a blast! There was a lot of planning and organization, I must admit--plus, I made them lunch and snacks--but it was all worth it! And the experience resulted in a stash of many of the supplies needed to safely dye more fabric.

As the weather warms up here in New England and across the U.S., I thought it would be a good time to share some of the tips I learned from my fabric dying party experience.

Know your guests and plan accordingly. If most are inexperienced dyers, start with a small project such as a hemmed silk scarf that has been prepared for dyeing (PFD).
Have clean-up cloths available on each table. If you use PFD fabric, these cloths--which are sometimes the best dyed pieces of the day--can have a life after the party.
Using alphabet beads, string your guests' initials onto a large safety pin and have them ready to attach to the fabric. After the pieces come out of the dye bath, you'll know whose is whose.
Provide take-away bags filled with a small amount of synthrapol, an extra set of gloves, and written instructions on rinsing, washing, and drying the hand-dyed fabric.
Supply plastic bags or containers for safely transporting the freshly dyed fabric home.
Be sure to dispose of dyes responsibly at the end of the day.

Textiles from the fabric dyeing party.

The article I wrote about my dye party experience, including more how-tos and a practical advice, is included in the new eBook from Quilting Arts, Dye Your Own Fabric.

Dye Your Own Fabric includes 10 tutorials on how to dye fabric, including ice dyeing, ice-parfait dyeing, flat dyeing, snow dyeing, techniques using thickened dyes, and shibori techniques. With dyeing season approaching, this eBook is essential for a colorful, hand-dyed season.

Kristine

P.S. Have you ever hosted or been to a dye party? Add your tips to mine in the comments section below.

Let Your Sewing Techniques Take Wing

Kristine Lundblad — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:46:00 GMT

While Vivika is on leave, guest bloggers are filling in, and we're also revisiting some of our readers' favorite posts. This one, Vivika's first as editor of Quilting Arts, looks at how she makes her bird quilts look so realistic through fabric choice and sewing techniques. ~Kristine Lundblad, Quilting Arts assistant editor

Detail of on of my robins captured in fabric and stitchery.

The more closely I watch birds, the more fascinated I have become with trying to capture their colors and textures using fabric and stitchery.

I have developed a design and sewing technique for "capturing the moment" in cloth and quilting stitches.

Here is the basic overview of how to sew a quilt that will "take wing.":

You will need:

A copyright-free pattern of a bird or a simple drawing (I like to use ones found in coloring books)
Tracing paper
Freezer paper
Fabric glue
A selection of fabrics to match your bird (and branches, flowers, etc., if desired)
Iron
Background fabrics or papers
Sewing machine and thread
Optional: Embellishments and hand-stitching supples

1. Trace the drawing onto tracing paper.

2. Trace each individual piece of the bird separately onto the dull side of freezer paper.

3. Roughly cut out your pattern pieces and iron them onto the right side of your chosen fabrics.

4. Cut out each pattern piece on the marked line.

5. Carefully peel the pattern pieces from the fabrics. Place each fabric piece onto the traced pattern.

My 'Robin and Apple Blossoms' quiltlet.

6. Glue the bird together, beginning with the body and wing. (Gluing is easier than sewing appliques. However, you could stitch them or iron the pieces onto fusible web and press them in place before stitching.)

7. While the bird is drying, make your background; cut, glue (or fuse), and stitch it in place.

8. Place the bird on the background exactly where you want it. Attach with a bit of glue and iron. Then machine stitch. Machine quilting stitches add depth and detail to your bird. You could also add details with hand embroidery. I sometimes use hand embroidery techniques to sketch in the bird's features and add texture to branches and feathers.

9. Embellish with beads, etc., as desired.

Fabric Selection Tips

There are many considerations in choosing fabrics for small compositions. Keep the following in mind:

Loosely-woven fabrics are more likely to fray and should be avoided.

Textures and geometric designs in fabrics often add interest and suggest movement when used appropriately.

Your composition will be examined closely--give the viewer something interesting and unexpected.

Scraps are your friends. Look at large- and small-scale fabric prints for transitions of color, shading, and feather pattern.

A new book I want to get my hands on is Mollie Makes Feathered Friends: Creating 18 Handmade Projects for the Home. In it, Mollie shows how to make bird-themed art and craft projects with sewing, quilting, applique, and crochet techniques. My creative imagination is already soaring.

P.S. Do you use bird motifs in your fiber art? What's your favorite avian subject? Leave a comment below.

New Webinar: Using Unexpected Materials in Fabric Collage

Cate Prato — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:20:00 GMT

Fiber artist Deborah Boschert loves to include unexpected and surprising materials in her fabric collages-window screening, telephone cording, paint chips-it's all fodder for her fabric art.

Register now!

In her Quilting Arts webinar Using Unexpected Materials in Fabric Collage, Deborah will share some of her favorite materials and give you the inside scoop on where to find them. Join us Tuesday, April 30, 2013 1-2 p.m. Eastern Time to learn her secrets.

In this webinar, Deborah will also talk about:

How to attach unique materials using various techniques
Ways to design a fiber collage to highlight the unexpected
How to include items like magazine clippings, paint chips, silk flowers, and more when you create your fabric art.
Considerations for stitching through and around found objects

Everyone who registers for Using Unexpected Materials in Fabric Collage will receive a link to the webinar recording to access after the event, plus a discount on Deborah's Interweave products.

More about Deborah: Deborah Boschert is a fiber artist, list maker, and brownie baker. Her art quilts and fabric collages have been exhibited all over the world and in many books and magazines. She is a co-author of Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. She hosts the Quilting Arts Workshop^TM video Contemporary Fabric Collage: Design, Stitch, and Finish. Deborah has lived in ten different states and currently lives in Maryland with her husband and two kids. Read more about her life and art on her blog.

Don't miss this chance to learn how to find and use unusual objects in fabric collage art. Register now.

P.S. Save the date: To learn more about fabric collages with Deborah, tune in to her second webinar, Using Sheer Materials in Fabric Collage on May 22, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. EST. Registration details coming soon. See you there!

Thread Sketching and Thread Painting - New Free eBook

Vivika_Blog — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:12:00 GMT

The sewing needle is the fiber artist's pencil: you're simply drawing with thread. When you hand stitch, you can guide the direction of the thread to make a design. And when you lower the feed dogs on your sewing machine, you can stitch in any direction, too.

In The Art of Thread Sketching: Free Thread Drawing and Thread Painting Techniques, five quilt artists show you how to turn machine stitching into drawings with thread. Depending on the style and density of the stitching, thread sketching and thread painting can stand on its own or be combined with other techniques to give your quilt motifs dimension and life.

Art quilt expert Susan Brubaker Knapp shows how drawing with thread can make your quilt designs look positively touchable in Thread Sketching 101 Focus on Texture. Susan also gives advice on needle and thread basics for successful thread art.

In Nostalgia Series: Stitched Sketches and Ephemera in Art Quilts, Jane LaFazio shows how to interpret drawings with threadwork, ephemera, fabric scraps, and mixed-media techniques to create lovely fabric art.

Thread sketching and thread painting can create touchable texture, as on this quilt by Susan Brubaker Knapp.

Fiber artist Karen Fricke shows you step-by-step how a heavy-duty stabilizer can make thread sketching easier In Thread Sketching on Stabilizer. You can print your design right onto it, then stitch your thread sketches over the image.

In her article Sketchbook Quilts, JJ Foley demonstrates two techniques for turning sketches into stitched designs: digital and direct draw. Her easy thread sketching techniques will inspire you to draw more--and stitch more!

Thread painting example by Carol Watkins.

Carol Watkins' thread-painting tutorial will show you how to turn a photograph into thread art with machine stitching. She describes her technique in Thread Painting: From Photo to Stitched Artwork, and also offers tips on choosing machine embroidery thread.

With The Art of Thread Sketching: Free Thread Drawing and Thread Painting Techniques, you will look at imagery, machine stitching, and your fiber art in a whole new way.

P.S. Do you have friends who are interested in drawing with thread? Forward this link to them so they can get their own copy of The Art of Thread Sketching: Free Thread Drawing and Thread Painting Techniques.

Speed Thrills: Machine Stitching on the BERNINA 7 Series

Vivika_Blog — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:43:00 GMT

My husband bought me a cute little Italian car as a present recently. It's fun, efficient, and I can really buzz around in that thing (while still obeying all the traffic laws, of course). I look for the same qualities in a sewing machine. (OK, it doesn't have to be cute, but that wouldn't hurt!)

A bigger bobbin means more
time stitching, less time
reloading.

So imagine my excitement when I read about the BERNINA 7 Series. With innovative new features and a sleek design, the 7 Series machines allow you to sew longer and faster with fewer interruptions.

Here's what Bernina has to say: "With the launch of the 7 Series, BERNINA presents a world's first: the BERNINA 9 Hook (B 9 Hook). The B 9 Hook sews high-precision stitches up to 9 mm in width with speeds up to a 1,000 stitches per minute. And the bobbin has 80 percent more thread capacity than our standard bobbins, allowing you to sew longer without interruption."

The BERNINA 7 Series

For me, the 9mm width of stitching also translates to more variety in stitch width and creative sewing. I can see using the wide zigzag stitch as a finishing technique as well as being able to couch over chunkier threads. I could also use the wider decorative stitches on my machine.

But as much as I like the idea of the bigger bobbin and stitch width, the thing I am really most intrigued with is the speed . . . up to 1,000 stitches a minute? I love the concept of having a machine that could sew precisely and evenly at any speed and can't wait to try my hand at controlling the 1,000/minute BERNINA.

In the meantime, I'll hit the road with my new Italian friend.