We’ve been talking about the variability of the zigzag stitch in free motion. Most of the time, I’m filling in a space where I want a line of color to show up. This is a trick that will give me a soft blend of color across the image without a hard line. I’ve heard it called the long stitch, although the old-fashioned description you hear with free motioners is the long short stitch. As with all free-motion zigzag stitching, the difference isn’t a setting on the machine. It’s how you move your fabric through the machine as you’re stitching.
Most of the time when I’m filling a space, I stitch a zigzag line at an angle around the edge, I shade the piece by stitching from side to side, and then I smooth the edges with a zigzag that moves straight through.
But when you just move from side to side you get a long blending stitch that flows into itself. The breast of the bird is done from side to side. The feathers are done with an outline, shading, and smoothing. You can see the difference.
After having worked for some while on Octopi Dance, I decided I needed jellyfish to add to the flow of the piece. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m obsessed with creating a visual path through each quilt as a significant design feature. That can be done a number of ways, either through the background, the flora around your subjects, or with smaller objects that the eye follows across the piece.
For the octopi, jellyfish were a simple choice. They float and can be pointed in any direction. And the purple, green, and iridescent qualities are perfect against all that hot yellow.
What I really wanted after all that very solid garnet stitching was something translucent. I can do that fairly with organza and lace. But if I glue organza to the background, the background becomes a major part of the jellyfish. Some of the transparency is lost.
So I decided to make jellyfish with only the organza on the back. There are several ways to do that. One is to use a dissolvable stabilizer.
Dissolvable stabilizer is usually made from some kind of starch. There are a lot of brands but there are really only two types. One is see-through, and one looks like paper. They both dissolve in water. The see-through variety is usually a topping, put over your piece so you can embroider details without having your foot caught in the textures. It can also be worked in a hoop. If you want more information about dissolvable stabilizers, Embroidery Online has a wonderful article about them here.
The paper varieties don’t dissolve quite as well, but they make a better stabilizer for embroidery. Since I didn’t want to fuss with a hoop this time, I used a paper dissolvable called Paper Solvy, available at Amazon. It comes in a pack of 8.5″ x 11″ sheets.
It’s hard to make a stable embroidery just out of thread. You have to be sure you’ve connected all of it to itself, or it will fall apart when you remove the stabilizer. So I glued the organza onto the stabilizer with Steam a Seam 2, partially for color and partially to make the pieces more stable.
You can’t stitch as closely with this stabilizer. It will either tear or jam or both. I also ran a straight stitch around the outside of the pieces and then stitched my zigzag stitch over it. That holds the piece together better after the stabilizer is removed.
There are some good and bad things about this stabilizer It did dissolve quite well. It stitched fairly well, although I had a lot more thread breakage. And one was not enough.
I tried one set with a sheet of Tear Away behind the Solvy, and had to tear away that background. Not recommended. It took forever and it tended to tear away the stitches as well.
I’m quite happy with the ones I did on two layers of Paper Solvy. They dissolved well and the stitching stayed mostly in place. They can join in the dance,
For more information on the visual path check out Building a Path.
Last week’s octopi are growing. And the stitch to use for anything as lumpy and bumpy as an octopus is the garnet stitch. The fun thing is how many variations there are.
Reviewing Garnet Stitch
Garnet stitch is not a stitch on your machine. It’s working free-motion and moving your hands in circles. You can make all kinds of circles or half circles to different affect. It works either straight stitch or zigzag. It sounds simple.
It’s defined by how fast you move your hands, how large your circles are, and whether you let them overlap or not. The range of effects you can get is stunning. Visually it stands out like nothing else.
zoning
The first thing you do with a project such as this is zone it. Usually, I zone for color. With this project, I’ve zoned for texture as well. For working purposes, I marked the tentacles dark and light, since that was a major concern. Light tentacles are sucker side up. The suckers are different from the main surface, which is different from the eyes, and also different from the skin between the suckers and the main surface. The colors slide through a range between a bottle green and bright yellow, with blue and purple streaks. Nothing subtle here. But zoning my drawing helps me to know where my colors and textures need to be.
The suckers are a bull’s eye garnet stitch: dense stitching in a complete circle with no overlap, There’s a small rim garnet stitch in purple to punch out the suckers.
The general skin is an overlapping loose zigzag with layers of color on it. I’ve topped it off with a seed stitch to make it truly lumpy.
There’s a ridge over the edge where the suckers meet the main skin. I put a red violet edge of garnet stitch overlapping on one side to build the ruffle on.
The suckers seen from the side and the ruffle are pure zigzag stitching.
Finally, I stitched a large seed stitch across the skin to get that lumpy bumpy look.
Octopi are made for garnet stitch! Next week, jellyfish.
I get caught in themes. I get excited by birds or fish or bugs, which I do for a while. That’s fun, and it lets me explore different stitchery. But every so often, something new lures me elsewhere.
I’ve been mesmerized by octopui lately. About their wonderful movements and their textures. I’ve been reading a book called Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt. It’s a delightful tale largely of an octopus and a cleaning lady.
I’ve lived almost all of my life with my creatures as my closest companions. Can an octopus and a 70-year-old lady be friends? I’m jealous. I’d love an octopus as a friend.
And Matisse. How do octopi and Matisse mix together?
Matisse did a lot of work that centered on movent and patterns. I deeply love his paintings for their rhythms and movements. Can you see how this starts to mix together? The alien grace of an octopus reminds me of these ladies in their dance.
I’ve always loved these dancers. Now imagine them as octopi. I know. It’s kind of an art joke. But I’ve been wanting to do this for months.
These are the octopus I have planned for the quilt. I think they should all join tentacles and dance. Again, it’s about movement together.
Both the quilt and the painting are about fluid motion, the dance between us as a group. So that must be what I’m working on. I rarely understand a piece until it’s finished, sometimes much after that.
Why do art jokes? Because they make us think differently. And that is largely what art is for. And things need to lighten up a bit right now.
I’ll be showing you more of these octopi as I go along. Next week we’ll talk about garnet stitch zigzag and straight and how to shade with it. Right now I’ve been doing sucker.
I taught twice over the last two weeks. I had a magnificent class with Gems of the Praire Quilt Guild and with a group of teen artists at the Peoria Art Guild. Seeing that I hadn’t taught a full day class for over ten years, it was a wild experience. I haven’t quite caught my breath. But I had a great time. I hope they did too.
At Gems of the Prairie, I did a classroom book for them, just because I hadn’t done one for that class. Over the years I’ve done a number of classroom books. I taught the Thread Magic Stitch Vocabulary Book, where we make a book out of samples of different kinds of free motion work. The booklet covered it all with step-by-step photos, tips, and tricks. It’s available now from Amazon in Kindle and in print.
Classroom books are not just for a pretty coffee table. I’ve always loved designing eye candy books. Who doesn’t like eye candy? And feeding your eye is an important part of any art. You need to see things that excite you to go on to exciting work of your own.
But classroom books are for a different purpose. They may feed the eye, but they’re there as a guide through a class and as notes for someone who doesn’t normally take good notes in class. Why would I do that?
Because different people learn in different ways. Some folk learn auditorily. They need to hear everything. Some learn visually and need to see everything. Some learn only by doing. In class, you hope all those modes will be covered. If I offer a comprehensive class guide, I’ve doubled down on the visual mode which is usually the most common
How do you know which mode is operating for people? They’ll usually tell you. “I see that…..” I hear that…”The kinetic mode is the least common, but it’s obvious when you see it. They have to touch everything. And they are the ones who probably take the most thorough notes. It involves physical motion.
None of that is good or bad. It just is. Most folk operate in all modes to some extent. They do better when you hit on all three, but they can absorb information from each mode.
Unless they are in some way dyslexic or distracted. At which point, it’s crucial to have a mode ongoing that they can utilize.
Why does that matter? I came out of school to teach first grade. I don’t believe in the bell curve. I believe everyone needs to learn their colors, tie their shoes and read. And have a fighting chance to learn what they want to learn. I believe in meeting a student where they are and leaving no one behind.
So rather than do dense note handouts on boring white paper, I’ve made classroom books for my students. Due to the wonders of print on demand, it costs as much to print a short booklet as to bring in handouts. And the handouts don’t have as cool pictures.
Sadly, the company I printed my other classroom books discontinued my books, when they stopped doing saddle stitched books. So they’re now out of print.
I don’t know that I’ll take up traveling to teach again. But I do think I’ll teach, just because it’s something I really like to do. And I think that the books I did for class are still important ways for people to learn whether I teach them or not.
The downside of a classroom book is that it’s meant to cover just what’s in a class. Usually, they have a supply list, patterns, step-by-step pictures and instructions, a short gallery, tips, and a source guide. They cost more because they are self-published. It’s a limited scope.
So I’m revisiting those books. I’m hoping on reprinting them, although the format needs to change a bit to accommodate perfect-bound books.
Because, even without class, a classroom book is there to share information, to teach whether you are there or not.
So I’m planning on reprinting these with booklets put together in a series of books called Skill Builders, What do you think? Is it something you’d like?
Like most little girls, I had a pink bedroom. Unlike most other girls, mine was seafood bisque pink with brown. Needless to say, I’m hesitant about using pink. I certainly don’t wear it..
But in spite of my feelings about pink, I know better than to dismiss a color from the color wheel. They’re all in relationship with each other. It’s like putting up with weird Uncle Fred because you really like his wife Ethel. They are deeply connected and you get the one when you choose the other.
And some things are just unabashedly pink. Like roseated spoonbills. So here we are.
She’s a nesting bird, and I loved her pink and brownish background. You can push past your color preferences when you try,
These flowers were mostly white sheers and lace, stitched over in pinks, cream, and whites. The white glowa behind and the thread gives a pink blush. To my mind, they register as white flowers but the shadows echo the burgundy background. It’s a delicate look.
I haven’t done lady slippers for a while. And I wanted a white creeping vine around the outside. But you can’t make something just white. It has no dimension. So this time I used white sheers to form the flowers, but I pulled in other colors to shade them. Because the background is fuchsia, I went for soft pink shading for the white flowers. For the lady slippers, I went into brighter pinks and burgundies, with the white shining through just a bit.
Now, what makes the color of a flower? Or any other thread work? Is it the thread? Or are there other factors.
No matter how much you stitch over something you always see the background. Always. Usually I am for a background color that accentuates the threadwork.
What happens if it doesn’t blend or match? It glows from beneath. I’ve started with iridescent white organza to create an inner glow for the lady slippers.
I stitched from both sides, leaving just a bit of plain iridescent organza in the center to round out the flower. The iridescent background creates an inner glow and a subtle pink.
Here I chose pink sheers and stitched over them with various pink/apricot threads. The effect is vibrant and full of color.
The background I stitch over is as much a part of the color as the threadwork. The differences are subtle but very cool. The combination of light and color creates dimensional blooms that glow.
This is a special week for me. After 10 years, I’m teaching in a guild again. I’ll be lecturing at Gems of the Prairie Wednesday, May 3rd, and teaching the class The Stitch Vocabulary Book on May 4th. The class is full, but I’m told the guild welcomes non-members for the lecture. You are all very welcome to come!
It’s my developmental lecture.: How I became an artist. That’s a misnomer by the way. We are artists by the way of being human. It’s how I stumbled into my own art, and where it has taken me.
Every year I try to do something I’ve never done before. for my birthday. This year, I’m teaching a lecture and class, after a ten-year hiatus.
And on May 5th, I turn 70. I’ve always dreaded that. It sounds so old. Yet here we are. And if you’re a contemporary, so are you. As someone quite wise said to me, “If you made it, you celebrate it.” I intend to.
My life has always been a bit upside down. I’m too dyslexic to do things in a rational linear order. I started doing my art in my 20s. I married at 62. I borrowed other people’s children, although I always gave them back. And I had a lot of physical limits. 10 years ago, I pretty much stopped doing art and wrote books instead. And then Don gave me his old house for a studio. And my art flared up like a forest fire. Only a bit less destructive. It was back.
Making art is an expression of vision. Teaching is the sharing of technique. They really aren’t very similar. But they balance each other on the see-saw for good art is always bound by technique, and the ability to share technique extends everyone’s ability to share vision.
In prepping for class, I’ve done some things I really haven’t done for a while. I wrote and published a new classroom book for the class. Classroom books are all about technique, and this one is chocked full of different ways to use free motion: zigzag stitching, straight stitching, garnet stitch, hard edge applique, soft edge applique and bobbin work, with extra chapters on silk flowers, globbing and Angelina fiber. Bookmaking is a skill. It was nice to come back to that again.
And I’ve brushed up that lecture. It was shocking to realize how much my technique had changed in three years. The revised lecture needed to cover that. My stabilizer techniques, my drawing techniques, and my stitching techniques are massively different.
To celebrate the class, I’ve put quilts on sale. I’ll have them at lecture and class but you can also purchase them on my Etsy site at www.etsy.com/shop/EllenAnneEddy
What was more shocking, was that I had enough quilts to do a full trunk show out of that three years of work, with no older work included. Old work is fun for a lecture, but I think my new work is much more exciting. Yes. I will let you touch them. It’s astonishing what gets done if you are doing it daily.\
My point is that life isn’t linear. It’s a spiral, just like time in a garden. It doesn’t start at one place and just go to another. It cycles, it stalls, it spins out, It shoots up. Flares down. But even when things stop, they come back again in a different form at a different time in a different way. I don’t think I need a thing for this birthday, except, note to Don, some new books. The journey is the gift.
You are so welcome to come to my lecture. for Gems of the Prairie. It’s at St Paul Lutheran Church 1427 W Lake Avenue, Peoria, IL, United States, May 3rd, at 6:30 PM. I’m bringing piles of fabric, books and hand-dyed threads so people can play with the toys I use.
All time is a spiral. Wait long enough and things lost come back in their own way and time. I am grateful.
This classroom book takes you through all the techniques I use to create my art in 5 easy exercises on 9″ squares. Then you take those exercises and bind them into your own reference book, there to remind you what works best for you.
I love classroom books. I think it’s important to give people the whole recipe for something, with nothing left out. That’s what I tried to do here.
It includes free motion techniques on straight stitch, zigzag, bobbin work, hard edge applique, soft edge applique, rocks, Angelina fiber, globbing, couching, silk flowers and leaves, and all machine binding.
The Thread Magic Stitch Vocabulary Book went up yesterday on Kindle and is now available! I’ve been sharing my chapters with you so you can get a taste. This is the classroom book that shows you most of the technique
es I use for my work.
I will be teaching the class, Thread Magic Stitch Vocabulary Book for the Gems of the Praire Guild in Peoria on May 4th with a lecture on May 3rd.
This is my first guild gig in about 10 years. There are a lot of reasons for that, and I don’t know that I’m back to a gig I have to travel for yet. But I am so excited to be back in a classroom, and I’ve found there are so many techniques that have changed or modified over that period of time. And so many more things I can do with those techniques..
So I did this booklet, especially for this class. But it should stand alone as a set of exercises you can use to build your skills and stretch your abilities. There is a full toolbox of free motion techniques you can include in your work with just a little practice.
You can see several chapters up on earlier blog posts.
Skills covered Free motion straight stitch Free motion zigzag Bobbin work Hard edge applique Soft edge applique Working with Angelina Fiber Working with dyed cheesecloth Couching Adding silk flowers and leaves Globbing
I tried to write a book that would cover a lot of information in a small space. I’m hoping you find it useful. You can order the Kindle Stitch Vocabulary Book right now. The print book will be out at the end of the month, and it’s part of your kit if you are taking the class.
I’m so excited to be sharing this material with you and to be out teaching again with the best people in the world. Quilters!
