Category Archives: Art Making

Year of the Stitch Begins!

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I declare 2024 the Year of the Stitch!

This year I resolve to embroider more and worry less.

This is likely the only resolution I can live up to. I guarantee my other resolutions will dissolve and disappear by January 2. Sigh…..

But onward to the stitching!

Beginning the Year of the Stitch!

My first stitch project of 2024 is this whimsical art quilt measuring about 8 inches wide by 10 inches high. It’s made using my favorite method of construction, improvisation. Cotton fabrics are fused and then free-cut into shapes for the design. It is steam set to wool batting and ready to stitch. This is so exciting!

To begin the hand embroidery I start with the focal point, the house. Blanket stitches outline the door shape with a thread color complementary to the door color. Orange and turquoise, don’t you love it? I’m using a size 12 Oranges pearl cotton thread and a size 5 hand embroidery needle. So far, so good. Next up is more……stitching!

If you’d like to learn how I created this type of quilt, please join my online class, Fused Art Quilts Tiny Homes. And if you’d like to see how this quilt comes alive with hand embroidery please continue to tune into my Year of the Stitch!

Simple Stitches that Surprise: Lazy Daisy

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The Lazy Daisy stitch is often used to create flowers but it has the potential to create pattern on the surface of fabric too. Here you see rows of the Lazy Daisy separated by lines of the Stem Stitch. I’m using a size 12 Lettuce thread. Lettuce is a fresh green, turquoise, and chartreuse variegated thread.

If you make the loop of the Lazy Daisy stitch wide enough you can fill it in with a French Knot. This builds even more pattern on the fabric surface. These knots are made with a size 12 Oranges thread that offers high contrast with the dark green background fabric and fresh greens in the Lazy Daisy stitches. Isn’t this a beautiful pattern created with the Lazy Daisy stitch?

A Note about Fusible Web

The fusible web I’m using for all the silk fabrics in this design is Misty Fuse. Misty Fuse fusible web is a very lightweight mesh of glue. When you apply it to shear fabrics the glue does not penetrate the silk and appear on the other side of the fabric like the heavier fusible webs used on cotton fabrics.

Misty Fuse does not come with paper. So you must use silicone release paper or parchment paper to transfer it to fabrics. (Please test parchment paper before using.) An added advantage to using Misty Fuse is that it is easy to stitch through. I recommend it highly.

Simple Stitches that Surprise: Running Stitch

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One of the easiest of embroidery stitches is combined here with one of the most frustrating. The Running Stitch is a linear stitch used to create dashed lines on fabric. Here I’m using a size 8 pearl cotton thread called Oranges to make rows of Running Stitches. Easy peasy!

And then comes those frustrating French Knots scattered between the rows. Why do I find them frustrating? Because I have to carefully and slowly draw the thread through the knot to finish it correctly. How am I supposed to do that and watch a movie at the same time?

Despite my tiff with French Knots, I do love how they pop off the surface of the fabric and add pizzazz to our humble Running Stitches. They are the swiftest means of texturing fabric or adding fleece to a sheep. More on French Knots later.

A Note about Batting

The piece I am working on in this series is fused to wool batting using Misty Fuse fusible web. I am stitching just through the quilt top and the wool batting. Later, the backing fabric is added. Why use wool batting?

  • Wool batting gives body to the work so you have something to grip while adding lots of embroidery stitches.
  • It does not have a scrim so you don’t have to worry about the quilt rippling. (Learn more about scrim in my class, Fusing 101.)
  • Wool batting is much easier to stitch into than cotton or polyester batting.
  • It lets you carry threads behind the quilt surface without tying them off and it conceals the carried thread.
  • Wood batting adds dimension to the quilt surface which is what quilting is all about!