Tangled Thread

July 2nd, 2008

free festive fireworks craft & needlework patterns

image: Stock.xchg
It’s the season for fireworks - in fact, I’m expecting to hear them start any minute now :-)
Do you want to express your creativity with some festive projects?  All of these designs are free and available for download - just click on the links to check them out!
Paper-pieced fireworks motif from Four Twin Sisters:

 image: […]

By Chloe -- 20 comments

March 14th, 2008

useful links - how to embroider shisha mirrors

A Joyful Abode has an easy to follow tutorial on how to embroider shisha mirrors.  What are shisha mirrors you ask?   They are little mirrors that are used to embellish clothing, textiles and home accessories - most commonly found in east Indian textiles.  Go check it out!
image source
Tags: Embroidery, embroidery artists, free-patterns, hand-embroidery, How […]

By Chloe -- 0 comments

January 25th, 2008

stitch of the day - baseball stitch

I’ve had some reader requests to explain how to make the “baseball stitch” used in the heart softies tutorial.  It’s an easy & fast stitch for making a flat, almost invisible closure.  It’s great for 3D projects like stuffed animals.
For the sake of clarity, I’m going to be using left & right to designate which […]

By Chloe -- 1 comment

November 30th, 2007

playing with igolochkoy

Sorry about the lack of posts - my internet has been down for waaaaay too long!
Of course, when I’m not able to check my email or write, I do have a chance to play with techniques in my studio :-)
I finally picked up an embroidery hoop (actually I got three) and have been working on […]

By Chloe -- 3 comments

March 19th, 2007

monogrammed stationary part 2

Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday - I had about half an hour yesterday to deal with email… and that was it!
Here’s photos of the four finished cards - like all my work posted here, these are copyrighted & cannot be copied for sale or donation without my express written permission.

I used watercolor paper […]

By Chloe -- 0 comments

March 17th, 2007

making your own monogrammed stationary

I’ve had a set of silk swatches sitting (boy, say that fast 3 times!) on my studio desk for awhile now:
I decided that they would be perfect to use as my background for the embroidered cards. I ironed on a heavy-weight fusible interfacing (not necessary, but it’s sooo much easier this way!) and trimmed […]

By Chloe -- 2 comments

March 15th, 2007

machine fusion fabric part 7

I’m going to quilt this piece of fabric onto a fabric backing, using quilting stitches to echo the look of the leaves.

I also like to mount these on stretched canvas:

You can also turn the raw edges under if you prefer a cleaner look.  I like the soft, frayed edges that the raw silk & wool […]

By Chloe -- 5 comments

March 12th, 2007

machine fusion fabric part 2

In my last post, we had started to build the background layers of the fabric.  Now it’s time to build some decorative foreground layers:

I’ve cut out several printed flowers (yes, my stash does tend to look like an enthusiastic moth was in it :-) )  And placed them on the wool/silk layers from before.

I’ve gently […]

By Chloe -- 3 comments

March 10th, 2007

machine fusion fabric - step 1

I’m using a lot of different materials for this project:

I’ve got 100% cotton fabric, heavy-duty interfacing, water soluable fabric, hand-dyed raw silk & wool, silk floss & yarn trimmings.
For your first step, cut a rough square out of your fabric and fuse the heavy-duty interfacing to the back:

Now for the fun part!  Tease the raw […]

By Chloe -- 1 comment

March 7th, 2007

playing with felt

I’ve recently started working with felt squares & fabric.  I love the no-fray & easy-to-handle nature of it - of course, the fact that it also comes in pink polka-dots & sparkles is a bonus too!
This is a series of cards I’ve been working on, using felt, embroidery floss & buttons:

I wanted to play with […]

By Chloe -- 0 comments