Category Archives: Art Making

What We’re Stitching 3

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My students in the Mi Casa es Su Casa class at the Asociación Española de Patchwork festival soon find that improvising a design is thrilling! And that free-cutting shapes or using found shapes makes the artwork uniquely their own.

As you follow along with my class, you see that I’m adding layer after layer of shapes like this blue felt house stitched to the ground with a blanket stitch. The blanket stitch is not only utilitarian but decorative too.

The next layer is the rooftop. I like the zigzag shape around the edge provided by the fly stitch. It’s another stitch that decorates as well as holds a fabric into place. There is much more embroidery to come but the foundation is made. Think of it as a canvas waiting to be painted with thread!

What We’re Stitching 2

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I love working with felt! It is so easy to stitch into and never frays. I’m hoping my students in Mi Casa es Su Casa class at the Asociación Española de Patchwork festival enjoy it too. Follow along and you’ll see one of the methods I’m showing them for creating their own designs.

The cloud is stitched to the background fabric and now I’ve added a grassy knoll. The green felt is stitched with a variegated size 8 thread called Lime Frappe. Blanket stitches are placed across the base of the knoll and I’m peppering the rest of the fabric with the scattered seed stitch.

I’m also adding a few French knots to the knoll to cheer it up.

I can’t wait to see what my students create with their kits of felt fabrics!

What We’re Stitching

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Would you like to follow along with the class I’m teaching for the Asociación Española de Patchwork called Mi Casa es Su Casa? In this class, students free-cut shapes from felt fabrics and add intense hand embroidery. I’ve made up kits using Commonwealth Felt. They are suppliers of beautiful bright colors. I recommend felt with at least 20% wool content.

The process for creating their little felt casa begins with a background fabric. I picked this wine colored felt as a challenge to myself. It’s so dark and moody!

But I cheered myself up by placing a large billowing cloud on it. The cloud shape is free-cut to shape and held in place with large running stitches. Around the edge, I’m adding blanket stitches using a size 8 Ocean thread.

Although you’ve seen the finished product above, trust me. This design is completely improvised. Which is what I’ll be asking of my students. Improvisation makes the design unique to each person.