Line Upon Line; Thread Paint Tip #3

I Want to Dye, So I Paint It is time to gather your tired needles

Line Upon Line; Thread Paint Tip #3

Fireworks in the bedroom with this easy bed wrap stitchery

These pretty ribbons from Renaissance Ribbons inspired this thread Painting exercise.

The thread is Coats and Clark Dual Duty XP, 5 different colours.

When just starting out, or if you have a particularly finicky fabric, try using an 8 inch hoop to create this radiating design. A layer of fusible stabilizer and additional layers of tear- away also help. You might find that another one or two layers of tear away need to be added after a while of stitching.

The neat trick to this design is that it does not have to be worked in free motion. If you are a little shy to start, you can go with the forwards and reverse method with the feed dogs engaged. It can be a bit tedious after a few hundred pushes of the reverse button- but that might be just the nudge to move into free motion stitching : )

METHOD:

1. Mark two chalk lines at 90 degree angles. These cross hairs will help to keep you progressing in a nice circular motion.

2. Starting on one of the lines, move out from the centre and back again. Pivot slightly and then repeat. Do not stitch too tightly together. Instead, plan on repeating around the circle a second or third time to fill in areas.

3. Thread up the next color and work in the same fashion. Leave space. Work back into the first color and outward with slightly longer lines.

4. Gently press the fabric from the back, face down, over a towel covered ironing board so as not to crush the stitch lines.

5. Repeat stitching with color 3. At some point, you may need to stabilize again. It might be poor form, by I am not afraid to add more layers! This is not a bed quilt to sleep under, so a little extra stiffness will not hurt. Repeat again with colours 4 and 5.

et Voila! You, are thread painting!