Drawing with Thread

Last fall, while on a camping trip, I visited a small-town quilt shop and, to make a long story short, came out with a used short-arm quilting machine and frame.  It came with a bunch of pantographs - or is it pantograms?  I never remember -  a laser pointer, a "Cruise Control" thing, and a DVD showing how to thread the machine.  It was just too good a deal to pass up.

I could not wait to get home and try it out.

I loaded a "sandwich" of old bed sheets and left-over batting into the frame and started practicing.  It didn't take long to figure out that pantographs (?) and laser pointers are not for me.  It makes me nervous not to watch the needle as it moves across the fabric.  I pulled up a chair, sat down in front of the machine, and soon realized that I could "draw" with thread.  My pantograph shelf is now a "stuff" shelf. 

The picture to the right is a shot of an "iris garden" quilt I'm working on.  The quilting machine did all of this.  It is a mish-mash of trial and error, but it's much more forgiving of the errors than one might think.  This is just the top; it has batting and backing behind it, but I intend to cut most of that away before making the final "quilt sandwich" for the quilting process.  (I'm hoping for a trapunto effect.  We'll see.)   Batting and backing are not necessary, as I learned while doing the borders without them.  Here are some other things I learned in the process:

1.  Stabilize the fabric you're about to embroider.  I did not stabilize mine, and am noticing some pulling around the design.  (Hopefully, this will "quilt out.")  Next time, I'll try something like iron-on interfacing or embroidery stabilizer. 

2.  Water-soluable stabilizer is great for transferring patterns to the fabric.  Draw/trace right onto the stabilizer and then pin it to the fabric.  It stays put very well.  Glad "Press & Seal" wrap also works well, though there'll be some debris to remove.  Paper patterns can be pinned or taped to the fabric and sewn over, too.  One word of caution:  if you intend to re-trace the design, whether on paper or Press & Seal, pull the paper off after the first stitching, as re-tracing the design will most certainly create tiny "bobble pockets" which won't want to give up the paper. 

3.  If your frame has any bumps - bolt heads, or seams in the metal - fix them before you start.

4.  Try the foot pedal rather than a speed controller for delicate or tight areas.

5.  Keep good tension on the sides of the fabric. 

6.  While "painting" the design, keep in mind the direction/shape of the object you're painting, and move the machine in that direction; when filling a circle, move the machine in circles.

7.  You don't have to fill every speck.  In fact, you can use empty spaces for highlights, just as you can when drawing with a pencil. 

8.  Create shading by putting down more thread on the dark side of objects, or by switching to a darker thread.  If a dark thread seems too dark, sew a lighter shade on top of it. 

9.  Vary your "filling" patterns for different objects.  Use long straight lines, meandering lines, tiny circles, cross-hatching.  You get the idea.

10.  Use whatever kind of top thread you want, but fill your bobbins with embroidery bobbin thread.  You won't have to change bobbins nearly as often.

11.  Do an internet search for "thread painting."  There are technique videos out there.  Some of them are done with machines that have a zig-zag stitch (my quilting machine does only a straight stitch), but you can still get ideas for filler patterns, etc.