Have you tried threadpainting?
It’s really lots of fun and a little bit of
“which way do I go”. Threadpainting is also referred to as free motion quilting
because you are the one directing the motion of the fabric. By dropping the
feed dogs the machine no longer pulls the fabric toward the needle, you do!
The first time I tried it, I must admit, I
was intimidated. I had completed a portrait quilt and knew it needed highlights
in the eyes and some threadpainting in the hair area, but I was really put off
by the thought of “messing it up”. All that work into the quilt top and the
idea of going wild with thread and not being able to “unsew” it had me a bit
concerned.
Once I realized the size of the quilt was
rather small and I had enough fabric to make another one if I had to, it was a
go. Experimenting on something else just didn’t work, so it was on to the real
quilt. Because I use a method I call “appliquilt” to quilt and appliqué at the
same time, it really was at the end of the process with quite a bit of work
involved that threadpainting was necessary.
Over the years and with lots of
experimenting my preferred method is to really “stomp” on that foot pedal! The
faster you go the easier it is to control! Can you believe it? It’s true. If
you go too slow you tend to move the fabric too fast and end up with not the
best result. So, hold on to the quilt with both hands and move it quickly and
keep the speed up.
You can threadpaint with a straight stitch
or even a zig zag stitch. If you look closely at the photos you can see that on
the kitten I’ve just followed the direction of the hair growth and used a wide
zig zag stitch and directed the quilt top where it needed hair. Turn the top in
any direction to get the desired look and texture you need.
The kitten pattern is a bonus in our print
and eBook, so if you are interested in giving portrait/pictorial quilts a try,
a pattern and more tips are awaiting.
For a few more tips, please visit the next
blog in the book blog tour.
We cover this and more in our “Step by Step
Portrait Art Quilts: Learn to Create Realistic Portrait and Pictorial Quilts”.
The book is both in print or eBook. This is a short link to take you to Amazon
for more information about the book.
This is the short link to the ebook on Kobo.
Thanks so much Margaret for dropping by...and friends, her book is good! I picked up a ton of good tips and tricks to accomplish portrait quilts. And because Margaret is a total sweetie, she is offering her e-book as a giveaway on my blog! Just leave a comment telling me something fun about quilting.
Here are the other blog hosts that you can tour and check out more fun tips and information:
