I use it on all of my fiber art pieces, for a very simple reason.  Free motion quilting gives you so many options for embellishing your piece of artwork.  I can use it to create simple lines, make a densely-embroidered surface or to tie a composition together.

image: C Findlay-Harder

If you’d like to try your hand at free motion quilting, or if you’d just like to improve your technique, Quilting Arts Magazine has a cool gift for you.

They’re offering a free e-book, written by Robbi Joy Eklow and Frieda Anderson.  The book “Free Motion Quilting, 67 Machine Stitching Tips & Motifs” is a great resource, with everything from basic thread selection to setting up your machine.  The writers discuss different free motion motifs, along with good photographs so you can practice them on your own.

You need to subscribe to their email newsletter to receive your e-book, which is also an excellent resource.

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Get a Free E-Book & Polish Your Quilting

Here’s my palette for my next machine-embroidered piece of fiber art:

That’s so yummy I think I could eat it with a spoon   I’ve got sari silk ends, raw mohair, carded mohair (from a farm just down the road from me) silk caps and silk roving.

I love the different textures and hands that you get from using different types of fibers in one piece.  The silk acts differently from the mohair, which has a different shine than the raw mohair does… and then there’s the sari silk…

Next time you’re planning a piece of fiber art, try something different that you haven’t tried before.  You might be surprised at the results you get

image: C Findlay-Harder

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inspirational fibers

I asked you to get some candy-colored felt, along with a heart-shaped cookie cutter (or other heart-shaped template) in my last post.

Use the cookie cutter as a template and trace around it – using a water-soluble fabric marker.

Cut out more hearts (you don’t have to – but they look so charming as a grouping)

Using a water-soluble fabric marker (non permanent) write out different Valentine’s day sayings.  It’s going to be easier to embroider if you go with something short.

Place the heart cut-outs onto tear-away stabilizer or heavy weight interfacing.  This makes it much easier to free-motion embroider.  Drop the feed dogs on your sewing machine and switch to a darning or free-motion foot.  You can also hand-embroider if you prefer.  I used plain, red sewing machine thread – I want the felt sweethearts to look like the candy ones.

Here’s how the hearts turned out after I trimmed the backing, snipped off the loose threads and used a damp cloth to remove the marker.

I’ll show you how to finish them tomorrow

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how-to of the day: embroidered felt sweethearts

It’s definitely worth checking out

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Fiberella

After the paint has dried thoroughly, heat set it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.   I used three colors of thread to free-motion embroider around the outlines of the pumpkin, moon & leaf:

I used lime green & white polyester sewing machine thread and a glossy bright orange machine embroidery thread for the outlines.  Tomorrow we’ll sew it into a bag.

I did this in about 10 minutes – have fun & don’t get too fussy about this project!

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part 2: mini Hallwe’en bag tutorial

I did simple free-motion machine embroidery outlining the butterflies.  I used rayon embroidery thread, which I love using for projects like this because of the sheen.

If I had more time, I would get more detailed with embroidering the butterfly wings – but I don’t

I’ll show you what I’m using the embroidered fabric on tomorrow!

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part 2 of rubber stamps and embroidery

Check out this clip, featuring the designer Manuel, doing free-motion embroidery!

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video clips online

I think it’s time for a nap   I ended up running out of time and didn’t get anything new sewn for me or my fiance to wear.  And I only got half of the napkins done for the bridal shower…  But at least I got half of them done!

Here’s how I finished them off:

I used a variegated rayon machine embroidery thread and stitched over the pattern twice.  I wanted them to look subtle, but still pretty!

Here are the four that have been completed   I still need to get four more done as well as a matching table runner, but not today…

I thought that the napkins would look cute tied with coordinating ribbon.

As far as I’ve heard, my new sister-in-law likes them!

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part two of embroidered napkins

I’ve offered to make their guestbook… I would like to make myself a new outfit  and am trying to  make a set of linens as a bridal shower gift.

I think I need more coffee

This is what I’m doing for the napkins:

The napkins are already hemmed and I’ve placed the iron-on pattern approximately where I’d like it on the napkin.

I’ve got the tranfer face down on the napkin and will iron it 0n, according to the directions that came in the transfer book.

I wasn’t careful enough and managed to get a patchy image on the first transfer.  It’s not a big problem, because the ink  will be covered by thread when I’m done.  In order to avoid this in the other napkins, I need to make sure that the iron is flat on the surface (I had the iron resting on the napkin hem) and don’t move the iron around – it will blur your image!

Here are all 8 of the napkins with the celtic interlace ironed onto the corner.  The next step will be free-motion embroidering the interlaces… but that’s for tomorrow!

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embroidered napkins

That snow wasn’t there yesterday.  I’m not impressed to say the least…  It’s supposed to be lovely & sunny tomorrow!

Now that I’ve whinged at you all, let’s get to the fun stuff!  I enjoy doing origami, and am even folding 1000 butterflies (with the help of my mothers ) for my upcoming wedding (I spend a lot of time folding paper in the evening!)

One technique that’s fun to do is machine embroidering origami paper.  I use varigated sewing machine embroidery thread (I’m quite partial to Sulky) and drop the feed dogs on my machine to get this effect:

It turns plain paper into something quite lovely!

Here are two close-ups of the paper:

It’s best to be gentle & go slower than you would normally if you were using fabric.  The paper is more fragile & needs a little more care

Don’t forget to change the needle after you’re done!

I’ll show you what I’m using the paper for in my next post.

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embroidered origami paper