FREE MOTION TUTORIAL -5

Hi everyone, here are a few more fun things to try.

Trapping sequins under a sheer fabric.
1. Draw a shape onto a paper backed fusible web such as Wonder Under, say a butterfly wing.
2. Cut out the shape leaving a 1/4 inch border.
3. Cut a smaller hole inside the shape of the wing. This is where you will place your sequins so that they can move under the sheer.
4. Iron the cut out paper backed fusible web to a sheer, watching the temp of your iron and using a teflon sheet or parchment paper under the sheer and under the iron. Sometimes the glue from the fusible web will come through the sheer. You can imagine what kind of a mess this can make, so protect your iron and your ironing board. I still need to buy a new ironing board cover quite often as I forget this step now and then in my hurry to finish something.
5. Take the paper from the sheer, and lay it down on your backgroung.
6.Slip some sequins under the sheer where you have cut away the paperbacked fusible web.
7.Put your teflon sheet or parchment paper on top and iron it down.
8. Free motion around the edges and there you are, a fun and glittery applique.
9.This works really well on wearable art projects.

Cutaway applique.
1. Draw a shape on your background onto which you have placed some kind of stabilizer.
2.Stitch with a very small stitch .15 mm on the line.
3. Cut the inside away leaving the stitching intact.
4.Apply a see through washaway stabilizer to the back and the front of the hole. Pin or baste it in place.
5. Set up for free motion and so across the hole using any design that you may wish making sure to catch the edges. Finish the edges.
6. Stitch to your hearts contenct and when satisfied wash away the stabilizer.

Copying cartoons.
Take any simple line drawing and try to copy it. Don't worry about it being perfect as this is just for fun.The gentleman looks like my husband. He is quite cute.

Taking a fabric and using the shapes from the fabric.

Same as above, also all of these projects can be done on quilt sandwiches. Try them all, and keep your samples for future reference. I also write with a marker on the sample how I set up my machine to get this effect. If you are anything like me, I will forget what I did when I want to achieve the same effect again.

Have fun!!!

Any questions, email me - catelaw@sympatico.ca

FREE MOTION TUTORIAL- 4

Some more fun things to try.

1. Set your machine to a zig zag stitch, drop the feed dogs and get ready to play.
2. If you move your fabric in a vertical direction you will get a zig zag stitch. If you slow your fabric down enough you will eventually get a satin stitch.
3. If you move it from side to side or horizontally you will get a fat uneven line.
4. If you move the fabric diagonally you will cover a lot of the fabric and lay colour down quite thickly.
5. Try to make a leaf shape. The effects can be quite fab. Check below.

Now , find a design, back it with a fusible web like Wonder Under, cut it in half and iron it onto a quilt sandwich. Now the fun is to free motion the shape and then add the missing half. It doesn't need to be perfect as it will look quite artsy.

Cut out some flower and leaf shapes from fabric scraps that have a fusible web ironed to them. Finish the design with free motion.

If free form cutting is not your thing , cut the flowers from a floral fabric.

Have fun playing. If you have questions you can contact me at catelaw@sympatico.ca

STRETCHING YOUR CREATIVITY-5

On Saturday we also finished our third day for the second class. Below you will find the work. Many thanks to Cate, Peggy, Pauline, Joanne, Sharon, Suzanne, Jane, Linda, Carol, Linda, and Marlene, for and enjoyable time. It was fun to meet all of you and you are to be congratulated on your work.
The portrait after the background fabrics were chosen.

The subject who came for a visit.

A cow with her calf and a familiar barn in the background.

Great work from a student who had never free motioned before.

Lovely fabric choices and delicate cutting. This is one of four cats. Notice the interesting background.

The photo and the fabric piece. Love that tongue.

Here is trouble once again. The background fabric is the same as the quilt in the picture.

A totally framed and finished piece.

A fabulous rooster with excellent fabric choices.

While we were busy sewing inside ,there was a lovely show in the back garden outside at the Country Quilter. Below is the finished piece welcoming everyone in.

It was fun to see old friends and Elaine was artist in residence for the event.

Quilts on clotheslines, what a lovely picture!

The weather was perfect!

STRETCHING YOUR CREATIVITY-4

I am so pleased with the results from my Pic To Quilt Class at The Country Quilter in Richmond.
This a process that is not too difficult but takes some work. If you can trace , you can do this.
Below is Olli's chrysthantimum. She started with a pic of one of her own flowers, it is fab. As you can see there is a lot of detail and when the fabric ( silk) is put together it all just glows. Can't wait to see the finished project. Heather has been working on her favourite feline friend. She has captured the colouring with her fabric choices.

Virginia went for a large scale portrait. Her piece will have great impact once it is hanging on a wall.

Vikki paid great attention to detail in her piece. She has captured this fabulous animal very well.

Jan choose a floral subject, below you will see the pic and the piece. I love the colour of the shadows on the wall.

Same piece with more stitching and quilting, Don't you love the colour and fabric choices!!!!

Everyone is to be congratulated, at times it was daunting but if you persevere, this technique does work and the results shown on this blog certainly show that.

Thanks for a great time ladies !!!!!

STRETCHING YOUR CREATIVITY-3

More pics from the second class. At this stage of the projects all the pieces have been fused together so that the animals are now one unit.

A little pencil crayon brings life to the eyes. This one looks like trouble, what mischievious eyes.

Great work everyone!!!

More to come.

STRETCHING YOUR CREATIVITY-2

Since I am preparing for the last class in this series I thought that I had better post last week's pics. This gruop came to The Country Quilter last Friday.We are now taking all of our pieces and fusing them together on a teflon sheet or parchment paper.This is what all the numbering has been about. This is also the last chance for changing your mind about fabric choices.

Dogs are a favourite subject.

It is amazing to see the animals come to life.

Love the depth this flower has.

And now for choosing threads.

In this work you have to make a lot of decisions as you work through it. These choices then truly make the piece your own. It takes courage to make this leap so applaud all of participants in this class.

FREE MOTION TUTORIAL-3

Try this really fun way to practise free motion. Find a print that has clear images, layer it with batting and a solid colour backing and pin or baste together. Put a pretty contrasting thread in the top of the machine and the same in the bobbin. Then free motion around all of the shapes. Don't even cut the thread when a shape is finished, go ahead and travel to the next space.

Turn it over and your design has been transferred to the back. make a jacket or placements but don't show anyone the back. Who will ever know????? You are a genious!!!!

STRETCHING YOUR CREATIVITY-1

Here we are at the Country Quilter in Richmond starting our first day of the
From Pic To Quilt Class a little over a week ago. The students are using their own pictures to design their own piece of fibre art. Although this may seem dificult at first, and everyone thinks that they have to be able to draw, if you can trace and are willting( I mean willing, it was really hot and steamy on this day) to do a bit of work the results are fabulous as you will see when we have finished our third session.
At first we look at the picture and trace our design onto artist's tracing paper.

This is quite intense as everyone really consentrates on their work. Flowers are always a lovely subject.

How about using your pet as subject matter? If you love your subject you will really be pleased with yourself when the project actually looks like your animal.

Here we are making colour choice to bring the piece to life.

More to come.

FREE MOTION TUTORIAL -2

To get really great at free motion is really very simple.
Practice,practice and more practice.
Make yourself about 10 quilt sandwiches. That is layer 14 inch squares ( aproximate - I use my leftovers and scraps) of fabric, batting and backing and pin or sew them together on the edges. Then cover them completely with free motion. Number them from 1- 10 and by the time you do the 10th one you will see the improvement when you compare it to the first one.
This is what you can do after you have had some experience. Click on the pic to get more detail.

SUNDAY REFLECTION

Here it is Sunday a.m., my husband and son are off playing golf, and I am on my computer reflecting on what has been a busy spring. I had to cancel a few things to my regret , as I am still 30 years old in my head but my body is 62. I have promised myself that I would limit what I will book next year but how do you choose?
I love to do the work, and I love to teach. I have just finished two days at The Country Quilter in Richmond where we had such a great time. The project was difficult but by the end of the day, everyone got it. I will post pics of the work as we get nearer to completion.
Below is the result of another workshop that took place in my studio here at home. We are working here on my " Driving in the Country " piece. It is colourful,whimsical and lots of fun. Irene used lots of prints and used a fun buttrfly fabric for her car.

Eleanor came up with some farm animals and a racoon.

FREE MOTION LESSON 2

Here is some more fun designs to try.

1.To make a zigzag you move your fabric up and down stopping for a couple of stitches to make the point. If you don't stop you will get a wavy line.
2. Stippling is also fun. The object is to quilt the fabric down so you randomly cover it with puzzle like shapes.HINT I don't worry about crossing over lines, if it happens, it happens, who cares anyway.
3. Try making a loop up and then following it with a loop down. if you can't get it on your machine, try it with paper and pencil first.
4. The same goes for the heart shapes.

5. Now we can realy be creative. Try a line of flowers.
6.Try some stars. Make a V shape, go through the middle of the next line,go through the middle of the next line,and then go back to the beginning.
7.Try some shapes all in a row.
8. Now for the most fun, write your name. Give it a few tries until you find out what works for you.
HINT If you don't want the connecting lines to show on your quilt when you are free motioning things like stars, take a few stitches in place when your star is finished, raise your presser foot which disengages the tension, then you can move your fabric to where the next star should be. After you are done then you can cut away all of the connecting lines.

ENJOY!!!!

FREE MOTION TUTORIAL -1

Here are some things to try with free motion. The first two are the easiest to do. Cover a whole quilt sandwich with these two until you get a feel for it. HINT -make sure that you leave an inch all the way around the quilt sandwich as you need to have something to hang onto.

The spirals are interesting. If you go into the center without stopping you will get the smooth circle on the left. Try going into the center and then back out. To get square corners stop where you want the corners to be, take a few stitches in one place and then move to the next corner.

Loops are lots of fun. Try e's, l's and upside down loops. Don't worry if you are wobbely, the more you practise the smoother your free motion will become.

CAN"T SLEEP

Can't sleep tonight so I thought that I might start my next series of lessons. During June I am going to share with you what I have learned about free motion quilting and embroidery.
This is what you can do. Now all of you free motion virgins, don't be faint of heart, we will start at the beginning. Click on the pic to see the stitching on the flower which has been done using free motion.

FREE MOTION LESSON-1

Free motion is a technique where you drop the feed dogs of your sewing machine, put on your darning foot and sew using your hands to control the stitch length. When you move the fabric slowly under the darning foot you will produce small stitches. As you move the fabric more quickly, your stitches will become longer. The beauty of this technique is that you are able to go in any direction that you wish. Think of the possibilities!

This is what you need

1. A sewing machine in good working order with darning capability.

2.A darning or free motion quilting foot.

3. Two 14” x 14” quilt sandwiches (quilt sandwiches #1 and #2). Layering muslin, cotton batting and a scrap of fabric makes the quilt sandwiches. These layers are pinned or sewn together around the outside edge.

4.Regular sewing machine needle size 80/12.

5. Have the same thread on the top of the machine and in the bottom (polyester or cotton).

6. Set up your machine.

7.Divide each quilt sandwich into four parts using a fabric marker or a pencil.

Instructions


1. Free Motion Routine-This is a good habit to get into, it will prevent problems later.

a)Put fabric under presser foot
b)Put presser foot down.
c) Bring bobbin thread up.
d) Start needle up and down a few stitches, and then move the fabric. Stop and cut off the thread tails.

2. Now push and pull the fabric up and down a few inches so that you are making a very long and close together zigzag. You will be very wobbely at first and that is because the feed dogs are down and you are controlling the stitch lengths. You are also learning a different and new eye hand co-ordination.

3. Now try going from right to left a few inches at a time. This will be a little more awkward but persevere .With practise you will improve.

Tommorrow I wll post some samples and some more excercises for you to try. Again, if you have any questions email me at catelaw@sympatico.ca

Now off to bed.