After a month of piecing I really felt the need to do some FMQ, so I decided to repeat the little exercise that Patsy Thompson had set in SewCalGal Freemotion Quilting Challenge in December 2012. This time I chose black fabric...(see my previous version HERE)
Also tried Don Lin's method of marking the fabric with black tulle which was demonstrated on SewCalGal Freemotion Quilting Challenge during April 2012...yes, that worked absolutely fine. I used a white marker to trace the design on the black tulle, heat set it and transferred it to the fabric with a silver pencil. To spice things up a bit I decided to do some trapunto...now that was interesting. Probably should have done a bit more reading around that. I only used one additional layer of cotton batting and secured the design with water soluble thread. I cut away the batting with my little embroidery scissors and was quite amazed that I did not cut into the fabric...after layering and basting the piece I then chose a light orange thread to stitch out the design, trying to stitch next to the white water soluble thread...this was really hard to do and I must say the white thread was very distracting. Once finished, I sprayed the design with water and the thread dissolved, however....yes, there is always a however, the thread might not have been the best quality and while it dissolved, it left some sort of sticky residue in some places and I also noticed that in some places it had pulled up the bobbin thread slightly, so I had these tiny white dots everywhere. Also, in retrospect, I should have put two pieces of batting behind the design as it hardly showed at all...
Not to worry, I then stitched over my design in white thread and again in the light orange thread just for good measure (as you can see I had quite a bit of fun with it) to have a look what this would look like and to cover up some of those more suspect areas. To my amazement it turned out quite nice...if you like your design to show up like a chalk drawing (ha, ha...). And then I played...this was so relaxing...did some microstippling and started filling the piece with various borders. My stitching is a bit 'wonky' in parts, not having FMQ for a while, but I soon got back into the rhythm of it.
I just love FMQ...the effects you can achieve with thread are just amazing.
Linking up to Leah Day's Freemotion Quilting Friday to have a bit of a look what others have been up to.
Karin
Your quilting looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis is really fun! I love the bright contrast on the black. So would you use this method again? Would you put the water soluble thread in the bobbin, too?
ReplyDeleteI like the heavy thick thread buildup in the wreath. It looks very good. Sometimes the things we do to fix a problem turn out to be the most creative thing in the project. We are forced to think outside of the box.
ReplyDeletewow! This is beautiful! I love all the different quilting designs, and your center motif looks perfect. Is that from a template or did you just happen to make all of those feathers exactly alike?
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a table topper with a similar center, and mine does NOT look like that. LOL!
Very nice design. It looks great.
ReplyDeleteIf it's possible to travel stitch over the initial trapunto stitches, is it necessary to use water soluble thread? I'm not sure I totally understand why it's used.
Hi…the water soluble thread is used to attach the additional batting to the back of your motif…so you marked your motif on your fabric, then place a piece of batting behind it (Just a little square. I think you are supposed to use two squares of batting which I did not) and stitch this in place with the water soluble thread. When you are stitching this on, you have no backing attached to it, just your piece of batting. After it is attached you trim the batting to just the motif. After this, you layer and baste your quilt as per usual…you now have two pieces of batting under your motif, hence making it puffier when you quilt over it. You now stitch out your design with your normal thread. When you spray it later, the water soluble thread will disappear and you are only left with your ‘normal’ stitching.
DeleteNot sure whether this explains it well…I was thinking of taking some photos while I was doing it, but got too immersed in the process. Will have to do some more reading on this myself, as mine obviously went a bit wrong.
it looks great! I, personally, never bother with the water soluble thread when doing trapunto, but it is a personal preference.
ReplyDelete