Tag: sewing machine

What are you doing on Saturday?

Due to pressure of work and family committments there will be no Be Creative in July. However, here is a chance to be as creative as you like and be rewarded for your efforts with an exchange!

Saturday August 2nd has been designated the National Celebration of Stitch. Various UK branches of the Embroiderers’Guild have organised venues for stitching, but what about those who are not members of a branch – or who can’t get to a venue – or just want to stitch where they are ……. Well, here is an event for you!

Artist Trading Cards are small works of art that can be made using any technique, but in celebration of Stitch this post is to announce an exchange of the little stitched cards. There is no specific theme, the only criteria is that some stitch must be included somewhere – hand stitching, machine stitching – your choice. ALL STANDARDS ARE WELCOME – YOU ONLY NEED AN INTEREST IN STITCHING TO TAKE PART.

If you would like to take part please complete the form below with your name and address. By completing the form you are committing to making an ATC and sending it to the participant whose name you will be given. This form goes directly to me – you will receive details from ATCexchange (at) gmail.com – you can also email directly if you prefer. Please pass the word too.

The old techniques are still fun

Painted Bondaweb has been a favourite technique for many for almost as long as I can remember. I first saw it demonstrated about 30 ago (goodness, that’s a bit scary) but there are still occasions when nothing else will do. Another technique from about the same time is one that uses up scraps of threads, and I recently found myself returning to it to make some quick cards. I actually remembered to take some photographs, so I thought I’d share them with you to either bring back memories – or show you something new. It’s quickly started on the sewing machine.

You need:

A backing fabric (I used a space dyed one, but almost anything will do), hand threads of almost any description (maybe this is an ideal opportunity to use all those odd ends that you can’t bear to throw away), a chiffon scarf in a suitable colour, an embroidery hoop and a toning multicoloured machine embroidery thread

stitched chiffon

I’ve already started to prepare in the above picture. I’ve chopped up a mix of hand threads and scraps of machine embroidery thread. You can see them on my background fabric. A red chiffon seemed the best for this mix, but always audition several to make sure you are achieving the right effect.

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Spread the chopped bits out onto your backing. If it’s space dyed you can leave a few small gaps, but you will probably want to covei the whole area. Next cover with a single layer of chiffon and place into the embroidery hoop.

I dropped the feed dogs of my machine, set it for the widest zigzag but made sure that the stitch length was zero. It isn’t essential to use free machine stitching, you could always stitch a grid using ordinary straight stitch.

Stitch at random, moving the hoop fairly quickly. The idea is to secure the edge and the threads so that they don’t escape during the next step.

Once everything is safe you can remove the fabric from the hoop and trim it. I used a Madeira Polyneon, it’s ideal for something like this. This is just one of the colours available – and they are all yummy.

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Now audition some hand threads

Mix and match. Your choice will change the character of the finished item.

Cover the surface with areas of stitching. French knots, seeding, little woven wheels, they are all good – and create very interesting effects

Add beads, cords, whatever takes your fancy. I can’t show you the finished item yet as it’s for a special card that’s still a secret. The technique, however, is suitable for a number of other items including little bags or book covers. Let me know if you give it a try – sometimes the ‘old’ techniques are worth remembering!

Be Creative!

Creativity can take many forms and sometimes it’s good to indulge. Over the years I’ve found that doing something regularly is the best way to warm up the creative juices and find something we really enjoy. I’ve blogged about this before when I first joined postaday a few years ago and now I still post every day – but in a variety of places according to topic. It isn’t the blogging every day that has been important but the doing something that has enabled me to go on and do more. Every day I squeeze in just 15 minutes (obviously more if I can) and do something creative. I keep misquoting Picasso – but as he said ‘Inspiration comes, but it has to find you working’. My circumstances don’t always allow me to indulge as much as I would like – so those 15 minutes are precious.

This coming weekend is destined to be a CREATIVE WEEKEND why not join us? Find 15 minutes – more if the fancy takes you – and do SOMETHING! Maybe try something new – or indulge yourself in something you LOVE! Take a look here on Facebook This is the Friday page – but if Saturday or Sunday suit you better then there are events scheduled for then too. Then join us in the group It’s a closed group – that just means that you have to be approved. As it’s me doing the approving you can always let me know who you are blogwise if you wish. So far there are people from the UK, USA, SA,  Aus and NZ. Several from Europe too. After last year’s illness I’m still finding it difficult to do the things I really love – but I’m determined to get back into full flow this year and finish all my outstanding commitments and work on some new ideas.

I hope you will join us, but even if you can’t maybe you will spread the word. It could be a GREAT BUMPER WEEKEND. What qualifies? Almost anything – photography, writing, poetry, carving, collage, blogging, art, textiles, stitching, embroidery, journaling, quilting ….. even numbers are creative – so…… what’s your excuse? 😉

See you there…..

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