Christine, our resident scrapbook guru at the Mad Cropper is holding a “Random Acts of Kindness” contest to win one of these fabulous Kodak Easyshare 5300 all-in-one printers:

The catch? You’re not entering to win something for yourself - you’re nominating someone that you feel deserves to win!

Go spread the love and enter :-)

image source: Kodak

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Is the glue completely dried (if not, don’t try to sew it - you’ll end up with a big, gummy mess)? If it is, you can start to embroider!

I want a loose, free line of embroidery, so I’m not marking anything onto the surface of the silk paper. I do know where I want to embroider though - using a graphic design program can be a great way to help you plan out where you want to stitch.

I’m using plain black sewing machine thread for this piece, with a free-motion foot and dropped feed dogs:

I’m essentially making the same black lines as the first sample, just with thread, not paint. I’m not trying to outline the flowers, but to show their sense of movement and enhance the composition.

I still haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to touch up the embroidery with a little bit of black paint… stay tuned, I’ll share my decision with you tomorrow :-)

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Do you still like the way your canvas background looks? I like how this one works with the painted silk paper:

I’m going to baste the silk paper onto the canvas using some good quality fabric glue (I’m a big fan of The Ultimate) You don’t have to glue the silk down, but I find it’s easier to have it mounted on the canvas before I start embroidering it.

Make sure to only put glue on the thicker parts of the paper - like this:

If you put glue on the thinner layers of the silk, it will do funny things as it dries - like leaving clear polka-dots! If the underside of the paper is completely opaque, it should be safe to glue.

Let it dry on a flat surface for a couple of hours, or until it’s completely dry.

image source: C Findlay-Harder

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Hello my lovely Tangled Thread readers - I hope you had a wonderful weekend & Mother’s Day :-)

Ah, back to the silk paper… In my last post, I showed you how I was using wax crayons and fabric paint to color a background to mount the paper on. I’ve now embroidered on the canvas using two colors of variegated rayon machine embroidery thread:

I’ve used different floral motifs and the red thread to enhance the red & pink stripes. I used a simple zig-zag stitch and yellow thread to enhance the thinner yellow stripes.

Now, you could sew the paper onto the canvas at this point, but I’m a firm believer in letting artwork sit over night in between major steps. It allows you to come back into your studio, with fresh eyes in the morning and be a little more objective.

So let’s meet back here tomorrow and keep on creating!

image source: C Findlay-Harder

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Time to work on the background!

I’m using standard artist’s canvas as the foundation layer for the background. You can also use cotton fabric & quilt batting, or even work directly onto a stretched canvas. Play around and see what you like best.

I show you the sketch I’m using to create the background in my last post. Here’s how I’m translating my sketch into the finished piece:

I’ve started off by marking out the edges of the background. I’d recommend using chalk or erasable fabric markers if the edge will be visible. I then used standard wax crayons to draw soft stripes onto the canvas.

Wax crayons are a lot of fun to use on fabric - just make sure to use a pressing cloth if you’re going to iron it. They’re not particularly color-fast, so don’t use it on garments that are going to be washed (they will stain still!)

The crayons aren’t quite as strong as I want, so I’m using a combination of Dye-Na-Flo and Jacquard textile paint to add more color and stronger lines.

It still needed a little bit more color, so I dry-brushed more red Dye-Na-Flo (the same color I used to paint the flowers on the silk) onto small patches of the canvas.

The paint needs to dry throughly - and then I’m going to stitch it :-)

all images: C Findlay-Harder

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