Ten Top Tips for Successful Creative Thread Sketching

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1 deborah wirsu: textile artist Ten Top Tips for Successful Creative Thread Sketching Kick-start your creative thread sketching journey! Deborah Wirsu Textile Artist Deborah Wirsu

2 Ten Top Tips for Successful Creative Thread Sketching Deborah Wirsu Textile Artist Kick-start your Creative Thread Sketching journey with my ten top tips for making your free stitched art totally awesome! There are so many ways to use thread sketching, thread painting and free machine embroidery in your work. They are techniques that offer truly unlimited scope for creativity. And being creative is what we re all about! When you use your sewing machine like a pencil to draw with thread, you are entering a wondrous world where almost any effect is possible. And you need to be open to going with the flow - letting your stitching follow its own path. In this way you ll achieve wonderful - and interesting - results! In this free ebook Ten Top Tips for Successful Creative Thread Sketching you ll start off right and get some great ideas for injecting a little (or a lot!) of your own personality into your work. So, let s go with my Ten Top Tips for Successful Creative Thread Sketching! Deborah Deborah Wirsu

3 #1 - STABILISE! If you want your thread sketching to be trouble-free and look fantastic, then ensure that the surface you are stitching on is stabilised before you begin. Starting out with the right stabiliser will help you avoid problems as you stitch. How do you intend using your completed stitched art? Is it a stand-alone picture, or a thread sketched design on a larger quilt? Is your thread sketch an insert into a larger quilt design, or an entire work in itself? The answer to these questions determines the type of stabiliser you will need to use. Free motion design on (e.g.) a bed quilt - Use a light fusible stabiliser, tear-away stabiliser or an embroidery hoop. Sometimes you don t need any at all! Medium or large art quilt that will be free stitched all over - Use a medium weight stabiliser. This may be fusible or non-fusible. Stand-alone picture intended as wall art - These can be as stiff as necessary, so use a medium-to-heavy weight stabiliser. This may be fusible or non-fusible. Use more than one layer if the piece is to be very heavily stitched. Or use a stiff Pellon stabiliser. Cut your batting, backing and stabiliser at least 2 larger on all sides than the finished picture size. Trying to stitch very close to the edges of your fabric may result in the fabric being pulled out of line. Press and smooth out all your layers, so that there are no lumps or wrinkles (unless you want these included as a design feature!). Pin, baste or fuse the quilt sandwich securely so there is no shifting of layers as you work. Taking the time to secure the sandwich will save you much frustration later. #2 - PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD! Your new best friend when doing creative thread sketching is the free motion foot. Not all machines come with this as an included part, so you may need to contact your sewing machine supplier to get one. But get one, you must! Deborah Wirsu

4 Using the free motion foot, and dropping the feed dogs, will allow you to stitch in any direction - a full 360º if you like. Most of us are taught to sew in straight lines and it can be hard to break this habit. Doing this for the first time can be exciting, stressful, exhilarating but enormously satisfying, and you ll soon get the feel for moving sideways, up, down, angles, circles, etc. All it takes is a little practice. Occasionally you may need to use the regular sewing foot, an embroidery foot or the walking foot, but these occasions will be rare when doing creative thread sketching. When using the free motion foot, remember to alter the stitch length setting on your machine to zero, or as close to zero as it will go (my machine goes down to 0.2 mm) and lower the feed dogs. #3 - USE THE RIGHT NEEDLE Choosing the best needle for the job can make a huge difference. To some extent, it s a matter of trial and error, to see what suits you best, but keep in mind that there is a vast range of specialty needles available, each with a specific purpose. My favourite for creative thread sketching is an Embroidery needle. Occasionally I will use a Top-stitch needle, Quilting needle, or Metallic thread needle - determined by the work I m doing - the fabric, thickness, stabiliser and type of thread (weight and type - e.g. rayon, polyester, cotton, metallic). If you re not sure which needle to use, then start with an Embroidery needle. And always make sure the needle is sharp. Thread sketching can dull the point of a needle very quickly, so always make sure you have a supply on hand. Deborah Wirsu

5 #4 - FABRIC INFLUENCES THE LOOK When designing your project, think about the look you want. Are you after a rustic look? If so, you may choose burlap or course, rough fabrics. Or would the elegance of silk or shantung suit your ideas better? What about velvet or corduroy for a really wild effect? Will you use hand dyed fabric or batiks, or go in a completely different direction by choosing commercial print designs? Yes, these can work wonderfully when thread sketching! These all have their place. Never be afraid to experiment! Keep in mind that cotton is the easiest to work with and slippery, silky or bulky fabrics the most challenging. But this is not a reason to avoid them! Some fantastic effects can be created simply by choosing a different range of fabrics. Deborah Wirsu

6 #5 - THREAD - CHOOSE WISELY! Just as your choice of fabric influences the look of your piece, so does your choice of thread. Heavier gauge threads will fill areas faster and create more texture, while finer gauge threads are wonderful for areas that need dense shading or blending of colours. Shiny or glossy threads are wonderful for thread sketching, but perhaps you don t want that glossy look. Then go for a matte cotton thread. Variegated threads come in a huge range of colour sets. Wonderful effects can be achieved. But always keep in mind that it s difficult to predict exactly when the colour will change as you stitch. Metallic threads add exciting highlights, but can be challenging to use - be sure to practice on another quilt sandwich first. #6 - TENSION I have a little secret to share! I hardly ever alter the tension on my machine. If your machine is well maintained and calibrated to factory settings, you should rarely experience any problems with tension. And if you do - before altering either the upper thread tension or the bobbin tension, try any or all of the following: Using the same thread in the top thread and bobbin should eliminate most problems. If using different weight threads in the top thread and bobbin, then make sure the bobbin thread is good quality. Check that your needle is in good shape. Try a different type of needle. Deborah Wirsu

7 Do you have a build up of fluff in the bobbin race? This can play all sorts of havoc on tension! Remember, you are not trying to manufacture fleece! Just get out that little cleaning brush that came with your machine, remove the stitching plate and clean out that bobbin race area. Your machine will thank you for it, and it will save a premature trip to the service centre. Make sure you are not stitching too slowly. If all fails, then embrace irregular tension and stitching and make it a feature of your work! Note: There are times when you do need to alter the tension, and that is when you re aiming for some special effects such as deliberately allowing the bobbin thread to be pulled through to the surface, but that s not something I m going into in this article. #7 - EMBRACE IRREGULAR STITCHING Forget the quilt police and stop worrying about whether your stitches are too long, or too short, uneven or bumpy. There is a way to use every kind of stitch. Do you find that your stitch lengths are not quite what would conventionally be called perfect? Never mind! Deborah Wirsu

8 Ok, when starting out, it can take a while to learn to coordinate your feet and your hands. The natural inclination when learning is to stitch more slowly if you find the stitch length is irregular, but this is totally the wrong thing to do! The trick is to speed up the machine (pressure on the foot pedal) and slow down your hand movement. By doing this, you ll avoid skipped stitches (which tend to happen when stitching too slowly), poor tension (ditto). The result will be more even curves, avoiding some of those angular circles that can so easily occur, and more regular stitch length. But don t think that you need to use a stitch length regulator for creative thread sketching. Sure, they can be handy if you re working more formal free motion quilting designs, but for creative thread sketching irregular stitching adds interest and texture and can be made into a feature of your work. #8 - STITCH IN MANY DIRECTIONS Forget stitching in one direction only! As I mentioned earlier, we are taught to sew straight lines and seams. With free motion stitching, you can use different stitch directions to create texture, realism and depth in your work. Think about how you would approach stitching a glass window, as opposed to an old stucco wall in an Italian village. Or a wild meadow with long, flowing grasses blowing in the wind, compared to a manicured suburban lawn. Use short and long stitches. Change the direction, Change the colour. Break the rules! Deborah Wirsu

9 #9 - ARE YOU PUCKERING UP? There is nothing more frustrating than preparing a beautiful background or surface on which to stitch, only to find that, as you stitch, the fabric draws up, puckers, bends, bubbles and buckles and leaves you with an ugly, lumpy and uneven surface. So how can you avoid puckering: Before you begin, check that your work is thoroughly stabilised. Unless working on a single layer quilt top, err on the side of more stabiliser rather than less. Select base fabrics that have a higher thread count - these are easier to work on and will pull up less than lighter or sheer fabrics. Are you aiming to do a lot of dense thread painting on your work? If so, then use a finer thread (and don t forget to check that stabiliser!). As you stitch, keep your hands placed evenly on each side of the needle, so that you can (gently) pull the fabric taught under the needle. Don t overdo it though - stay relaxed as you work. Begin stitching in the middle of the design, as much as possible, and work outwards. If the entire surface is to be thread sketched or thread painted, work lightly over the entire surface first, then go back and add more detail and denser stitching. #10 - THE THREE P s - PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE! Go easy on yourself! If you ve never done this before then it s likely that your first attempts will be interesting! Learn to laugh. And breathe. Keep practising. Learning any new skill or technique can take a little time, so stay patient. Have a pile of quilt sandwiches on hand for practising techniques. Textile artists and free motion thread sketchers always practise first on a separate piece of fabric before embarking on a major work. Deborah Wirsu

10 Test out ideas, designs and styles. Test out fabrics and threads. Get used to stitching with a freestyle, relaxed hand action. Think about how you can turn anything you consider less than perfect into a great piece of art. Yes, it can be done! How, I hear you ask? Well - one of my favourite methods is simply to stitch over it all again! Add more colour, even more fabric. Create layers. And stitch it again. Obviously, there comes a time when enough is enough, and I have my fair share of abandoned work! But every time you sit down at your machine to try just one more thing, you ll get a little more comfortable. It s like learning to drive a car, or play the piano, or dance the tango. It all takes practice! So now go have some fun with Creative Thread Sketching! Deborah Learn more about my: Online Courses: Thread Sketching in Action video series: Contact Deborah: Deborah Wirsu